james deans 550 .....

[ian c]

anybody ever researched this ??
wtf !!!
i did over weekend ....  scary stuff 

i dont believe a car can be "jinxed" , but that is more than coincidence !!!

[Rick Meredith]

Yes... very spooky stuff.

[ian c]

i'm gonna get LITTLE BASTARD painted on the back of my oval .....  kinda having second thoughts now !!

[Jim Ratto]

I'm kind of into that car, etc.

I've driven out to the spot where the accident occured in '55, looking for nuts and bolts, etc.... well, this was 1990 or so... no luck.
There was a cool documentary about the day it happnened, watched it on VHS about 15yr ago....I forget title now.

Showed some cool photography of the car, the roads driven and the accident.

I believe Dean's route was GS Freeway north, over Ridge Route, up 99 past Bakersfield and then west on 466 (now known as 46), colliding with Ford at intersection of 41 and 466. Bad deal.

[ian c]

jim ,
was the japanese guys tribute there when you went ??

i'm gonna make my way over there one day ....

[Jim Ratto]

jim ,
was the japanese guys tribute there when you went ??

i'm gonna make my way over there one day ....

no there was nobody there except for me and Sheep. It's pretty remote out there. I hear it was a Japanese fan that built the shrine and so on around the tree.

We stopped @ Balckwell's Corner (north of McKittrick on 33, @ crossroads of 33 and 46) for sodas on our way home from Famoso VW show...there was some sign that said "Place of James Dean's Last Stop". Kind of eeire.

Here's a pic I got off of Google of the area of the crash


Interestingly, about 15 miles from here is the shakiest place in CA, as far as earthquakes go (Parkfield, CA), where geologists can "predict" 6.0 or greater scale earthquakes with uncanny accuracy.

[ian c]

We stopped @ Balckwell's Corner (north of McKittrick on 33, @ crossroads of 33 and 46) for sodas on our way home from Famoso VW show...there was some sign that said "Place of James Dean's Last Stop". Kind of eeire.

iirr , he met up with other racers there whilst he was waiting for his buddies in the truck .... they had all had speeding tickets on the way there ?

did you know he was involved with the witches in l.a

never really publicised as it would have been bad for the public image

[Jim Ratto]

We stopped @ Balckwell's Corner (north of McKittrick on 33, @ crossroads of 33 and 46) for sodas on our way home from Famoso VW show...there was some sign that said "Place of James Dean's Last Stop". Kind of eeire.

iirr , he met up with other racers there whilst he was waiting for his buddies in the truck .... they had all had speeding tickets on the way there ?

did you know he was involved with the witches in l.a

never really publicised as it would have been bad for the public image

no I never heard that. I am more interested in the car than JD anyway 

Time to go watch "GIANT"

[ian c]

the witches are one theory to why it all happened ....................

yes , google is my friend

i had it in my head the car was called "lil bastard" but wanted to make sure so i did a google , i knew a nice car got wrecked , and i thought a guy died in the rebuilt car in germany .......  guess  the only thing i got right was that a nice car got wrecked !!

certainly was an eye opener though .
i suggest anybody that is into cars , especially aircooled vw's and porsches read up on it .  its an amazing story !!!

[Sam K]

I bet that somwhere somebody has that car (or what's left of it) tucked away in their garage.

[ian c]

its allegedly in england .

the are a couple of interesting privatel collectors , one in ca , one in uk .
there collections contain cars that celebrities where killed in .

thats off the net , but come to think of it , i do remember hearing something about dodi alfayed's mercedez ...

[Lee.C]

i'm gonna get LITTLE BASTARD painted on the back of my oval .....  kinda having second thoughts now !!

I call my Manx "Lil Bitch" kind of a play on the old 550 name, plus she causes me nothing but heart ache 

[black_bullitt]

This is a copy( allegedly ) of the speeding ticket issued to him just before the crash, copped at 65 in a 55 zone.

[Zach Gomulka]

The transaxle was on ebay maybe 5 years ago, starting bid was $25 grand I believe

[Soddli]

Yeahhh......great topic.

Very scary surroundings of this car....spoooooky!

Rumors of a good source of mine also indicated that it may be in England....
A lot of amazing cars hiding at collectors....as a "secret" 917-30 i know of in Scandinavia

[Black Sheep]

The transaxle was on ebay maybe 5 years ago, starting bid was $25 grand I believe

Didn't that get used in another race car ,and first time out the guy had a bad accident or got killed too   .
other parts re used from the car fared little better also I believe

[stealth67vw]

The car was parted out from all the documentaries I have seen and bad luck followed all the parts.

[Lee.C]

I have heard this about "bad luck" following these parts after they were parted out BUT if these parts were fitted to other "Race Cars" then Surely they are bound to crash/break at sometime - and let face it H&S (health and safty) was exactly BIG back in the day 

Just my 2 cents guys 

[Black Sheep]

BUT if these parts were fitted to other "Race Cars" then Surely they are bound to crash/break at sometime

Dont i know it  never accept hand me downs 

[ian c]

I have heard this about "bad luck" following these parts after they were parted out BUT if these parts were fitted to other "Race Cars" then Surely they are bound to crash/break at sometime - and let face it H&S (health and safty) was exactly BIG back in the day 

Just my 2 cents guys 

ITS MORE THAN THAT ...   READ IT .

[Jim Ratto]

anybody ever researched this ??
wtf !!!
i did over weekend ....  scary stuff 

i dont believe a car can be "jinxed" , but that is more than coincidence !!!

ian c...  if you ever get to The Spot, you may notice, it certainly does have a spooky feel to it.
Not something you can put your finger on.

[Lee.C]

I have heard this about "bad luck" following these parts after they were parted out BUT if these parts were fitted to other "Race Cars" then Surely they are bound to crash/break at sometime - and let face it H&S (health and safty) was exactly BIG back in the day 

Just my 2 cents guys 

ITS MORE THAN THAT ...   READ IT .

  more than what dude  its just a point of view, I have known all about this "Legend" for ages - if this car was owned by "Joe Public" would there even be such a story

Don't get me wrong dude James Dean is a LEGEND and the 550 is one of my all time favourite cars - its just my 2 cents

[ian c]

didnt mean no offence , but 1 person died and another came VERY close using parts from the car  . this happened the first outing after they where fitted .

(according to what now must be deemed "legend" )

[Lee.C]

its all cool, but what about the part where it appently fell off a transporter and seriosly injured someone  maybe there is more to this

[ian c]

IT "FELL OFF" MORE THAN ONCE .....  A FATALITY IN ONE OF THE INCIDENTS (DRIVER THROWN OUT OF CAB DURING ACCIDENT)

[Tony M]

been down that road - yes kind of spooky at night there - my dad was racing at the same time - speedster carrera 4 cam'r - said he dident drive all that well - too much car. he was going over the same road a little later and came up on the crash - he slowed to see what it was and did not stop - like most racers - they have some strange ways of dealing with death. those days you drove your car to and from the races. worked in indiana for a time in fairmont - home of james dean - the shop we were working in was right across the street from his house - same name still on the mail box - big open garage in rear with no doors - cars still sitting ithere with about 20in of dust on them - an old merc, and i think a old ford.

[Mike Lawless]

We drive by that spot pretty often as it's on our way to the coastal town of Morro Bay. We go there once or twice a year. We'll be going by there again next week (July 3). I'll try to remember to stop by, pay my respects and snap a photo of the memorial that was erected there. There's a bunch of cheesy memorabilia in the store that's there too.

[Jim Ratto]

been down that road - yes kind of spooky at night there - my dad was racing at the same time - speedster carrera 4 cam'r - said he dident drive all that well - too much car. he was going over the same road a little later and came up on the crash - he slowed to see what it was and did not stop - like most racers - they have some strange ways of dealing with death. those days you drove your car to and from the races. worked in indiana for a time in fairmont - home of james dean - the shop we were working in was right across the street from his house - same name still on the mail box - big open garage in rear with no doors - cars still sitting ithere with about 20in of dust on them - an old merc, and i think a old ford.

am I reading this right? Your dad raced a 4 cam car too? WTF dude, you never told me that...and I am like a son to you... you scarred me Tony. 

[Jim Ratto]

Tony, you better drop what you're doing and start telling us some stories about your father's cars....  OMG

you might find this interesting: http://www.356registry.org/Articles/Christophorus/index.html

[Jim Ratto]

and some stories about your dad hanging out @ Grace Slick's pad...