http://www.cnn.com/2005/AUTOS/08/30/dean_death_porsche/index.html
isn't there some curse on the car or something? like whoever drives it dies. i dunno i thought i heard something like that.
It's actually a very interesting story about that car. First when it was getting towed it fell off the truck and broke the tow truck drivers leg or something. then somebody took a piece of metal from it and gave it back shortly thereater saying take this thing away from me, my wife has left me, etc, etc. Also parts from the car such as motor and suspension were put on other spyders which then crashed owner killer or whatever. In the end Chuck Barris himself had all sorts of heath problems when he owned the car and in the end the car pretty much just vanished in miami while on tour as a kind of public service announcement about dangerous driving or something. All they left him was the title to the car. It was on behind the headlights on Speed channel
Good luck driving it, it was in boxes the last time anyone saw it. http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art19523.asp C.
I knew that I had seen a photo of the wreck before.. not pretty considering the safety measures in place during those days. C. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Mr. Donald Turnupseed. Turned in front of Dean causing the accident, 5pm Sept. 30, '55. Nice move turnuphead! Terry
Given enough time, effort, money, documentation, and forensic examination, I'm sure that my 1969 Porsche 912 junker will indeed be discovered to actually be built on 80 per cent of the floor pan of Dean's 1955 spyder.
I think Barris has embellished his version of the "cursed car" story a bit, but some of it is true. Here are some interesting tidbits that can be found on the Web: Details of the crash here: http://www.hallowfreaks.com/cursed.html According to one site, this is Donald Turnupspeed: Image Unavailable, Please Login
The last time I saw the transaxle listed by Jack Styles on Ebay was mid 2002, only the one bid at $25,000 reserve not met. I would guess that it might now raise some more interest. Text from that auction:
A couple more pics of the wrecked 550. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I've been thinking about the so called $1 million dollar reward for Dean's Porsche. If the car disappeared in 1957 or whenever while enroute to a car show, wouldn't it make sense that George Barris would have filed a stolen vehicle report on the car? After all, he thought that it was valuable enough to purchase from Dean's insurance company and then utilize as a traveling display for the car shows. If Barris did indeed file a stolen vehicle report on the car, then legally speaking, there is NO real reward being offered, is there? In other words, if the car was ever located in a barn in Alabama or a garage in Montana, the car IS STILL A STOLEN VEHICLE and therefore subject to immediate seizure and impoundment by any law enforcement officer, is it not? And therefore, nobody would be required to be reimbursed with ANY reward money in order for the car to be returned to Barris (or HIS insurance company if Barris had the car insured at the time it was stolen from him.) Is the so called $1 million dollar reward just a line of baloney to entice everybody to be on the lookout for the car, but in the end, Barris would never have to pay a penny to obtain possession of the car if it was ever actually located?
Mr. Turnupseed, like the rest of his family, was very nice. The cloud always hung over his head & he passed away @ 1 decade ago. Trust me, the dip in this road isn't as deep as it used to be. This dangerous, perilous "y" intersection which I've made the same left turn on at least 50 times wasn't called "Blood Alley" for nothin'. Yup - thought it was deva vu all over again...
I haven't heard if the "James Dean" 550 has been found yet, but I think that the owner could possibly get more than a million for it. In Pebble Beach this year, a 550 went for north of 1 mil and recently, one was sold within the U.S. for nearly a million. You would think that the Dean car could surpass these, even though it may be in many pieces and crunched to oblivion. I surely wouldn't pay that much though.
