GERARD CHRISTIAN ZACHER'S JAMES DEAN SITE

BELOW IS AN INTERESTING ARTICLE I FOUND ON THE INTERNET:

CURSED CARS:

SPYDER WEB

LEGEND: Parts Of James Dean's crashed Porsche Spyder were re-used in other automobiles - with disastrous results.

ORIGINS: At 5:45pm on September 30th, 1955, James Dean was killed in a car accident when his new Poesche Spyder crashed head on into another car. Rolf Wutherich, Dean's friend and mechanic (who had riding with the movie star) was thrown from the Spyder and survived the wreck. But James Dean was pinned inside, his neck broken. Donald Turnupseed, the driver of the other car, suffered only relatively minor injuries.

After the accident, many fans refused to believe that James Dean was dead. They believed that he was still alive, although terribly disfigured, and, in true urban legend fashion, this tale took on a life of its own.

Eerily, only a short while before his death, James had appeared in a car safety television spot, admonishing young people not to speed, because "The life you save might be mine."

His mystique had staying power. For example, his tombstone was stolen twice in 1983, and in 1985, had to be replaced because of the damage done to it by fans chipping away at it in order to acquire James Dean "souvenirs".

Back to his "Haunted Porsche"...The following "information" comes from a newspaper atricle:

"After the accident, the Porsche was sold to a second-hand car dealer who put it up for public view.(supposedly in support of a campaign for road safety). He charged viewers to look at it

Car desinger George Barris next bought the car and planned to sell it for parts. When the car was delivered to his yard, it rolled back off the truck and broke a mechanic's legs.

Troy McHenry, a Beverly Hills doctor, bought the Dean engine and used it to replace the engine in his own Porsche Spyder. The doctor was killed in a crash the first time he took the car out. Troy McHenry died on October 22nd, 1956 during amn automobile race at the Pomona Fairground near Los Angeles. He was driving his own Porsche Spyder.

Another doctor - whose name has been kept from the public - bought the Dean transmission. He, too, was later seriously injured in a car crash.

A New Yorker bought two of the Dean tires. His car crashed when both tires mysteriously blew out at the same time.

The shell of the Dean Porsche was being transported to a road safety exhibition in Salinas, California (near where James himself had been headed when he died) when the truck carrying it skidded and crashed. The driver was killed.

Stolen from the scene of THAT fatal accident, the shell of Dean's car has never been returned or recovered.

James Dean nicknamed the Porsche Spyder, "Little Bastard". Maybe "Christne" would have been more accurate."

This Article Was Written By Barbara Mikkelson For A Website Titled, "Cursed Cars".