Yeah, the letter D.S. wrote mentioned he couldn't get the Offy heads off the engine... that implies a flathead.
Yes, Bill Hickman was a Warner Bros. stunt driver and was accompanying JD by driving the Ford Country Squire towing the two-axle trailer with Sanford Roth, the photographer...they were about 10 minutes behind the Porsche Spyder. Hickman helped to free JD from being trapped in the cockpit of the Porsche and held JD as he was dying in his arms. Bill Hickman later became a very famous stunt driver/ actor in 'The French Connection,' and driving the 1968 Dodge Charger in 'BULLIT.' Bill Hickman died in 1986.
Most of the above story...I'm thinking it came from MotoRacing News...is embellished. The POTUS was a 1955 Lotus Mk IX rolling chassis... that was purchased from nearby Jay Chamberlain's Lotus dealership in Burbank, CA. by Dr. Wm. Eschrich. Dr. Eschrich installed the ex-JD 4-Cam Porsche engine ( which was completely undamaged) into the front compartment. Dr. Eschrich also used some of the Porsche instrument gauges...but no Porsche suspension, no Porsche wheels, no Porsche brakes...nothing else Porsche. He installed a transmission from a MG-TD and the rear end came from an Austin-Healey 100-6. Besides being a talented orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Eschrich was a brilliant motorsports engineer....calling his FM sports racer..POTUS. How clever....he should have taken out a copyright / trademark on that name! The ex-JD Porsche engine lives on in secrecy near Palm Springs, CA ...still owned by the Eschrich family. Source: James Dean On The Road To Salinas, 2015/2020.
Here is the chronology of the #10 046 Porsche transaxle from the ex-JD 550-055 Spyder. This transaxle was lent to Dr. Troy McHenry by Dr. Wm. Eschrich in January 1956. McHenry died in a race crash at Pomona in Oct. 1956....the transaxle was not on McHenry's car...only in his possession. It then is sold... goes to So. CA Porsche racer Al Cadrobbi, who fixed the jammed 4th gear in the transaxle. Cadrobbi then sold the transaxle years later to Porsche owner Ned McDaniel in No. CA. McDaniel then sold the transaxle to Porschephile Jim Barrington of Piedmont, CA. Barrington sent me photos of the 10 046 transaxle in the early 1980s as I was writing about James Dean for the Porsche Panorama magazine in 1984.. Barrington sold the transaxle to East Coast Porsche restorer, Jack Styles of MA who owned a 550A. Styles did not use the transaxle in his 550A. He stored the transaxle in a wooden box and kept it for three plus decades. Jack Styles sold it to Porschephile Don Ahern in 2020 who auctioned it in May, 2021 on Bring-a-Trailer for $382k. It was purchased by Zac Bagen for the Haunted House Museum in Las Vegas ...for a ghoulish display of what will be promoted to be: ' James Dean's cursed Porsche Spyder transaxle,' Really? As one can see: the ex-JD #10 046 Porsche Spyder tranaxle has been completely separated from the 550-055 chassis for over 66 years. Source: Photos courtesy of Lee Raskin, James Dean / Porsche historian/author and James Dean: On The Road To Salinas, 2015/2020.
Lee - thank you for your information and insight! I pulled these from newspapers.com and it says they are from The Valley Times in North Hollywood - 10/30/56 and 8/10/56. They are from the newspaper archive, newspapers.com. I was curious after watching the Autobiography special and wanted to do some more research. I purchased copies of your books years ago, which you so kindly signed and admire the research. I have had a chance to visit Fairmount, Indiana several times and see all of the Dean family sites there. This has always been very interesting to me.
"dying in his arms"? previous posts said he was alive until he got to the hospital. Also, if he pulled Dean outta the car with a broken neck he probably contributed to his demise. I call bullshit on many of these conflicting stories
There was an article in Car and Driver around 1986 about James Dean and the Porche. The author wondered if the family had tired of the notoriety of the car and had it destroyed. I know the drivetrain is still around, and supposedly Barris kept the passenger side door.
I read through the posts as best I could, trying to sort through the B.S. and facts. I like many others often wondered just what happened. I'm not sure if what I am talking about was listed here, but I think not. Back in the 1992 a company named Failure Analysis did a computer analysis of the accident, and pretty much debunked much of the accepted story. The depth to which this analysis studied the accident is overwhelming. They even core drilled down through the pavement to see what color the pavement was, and how it affected vision at the time of day, location of the sun, and weather in general. Fascinating.... Dean had been traveling at about 70, but had slowed before the accident to 55-60, based on skid marks, impact damage, and auto locations, and the time the ticket was written. Go to the site for Failure Analysis and it will clear up any misconceptions. As to fault, I think that is obvious. But, again, depends on who you talk to. I had a very good friend who was a fireman in Las Vegas. In his younger years, he was a reporter for a radio station in Bakersfield. When the first police report hit the scanner, Dick jumped in the station's helicopter with the pilot and went to the scene, which was still an accident scene. Nothing had been moved. Dick interviewed the first CHP on scene, and without looking at the obvious facts, the WWII Vet simply said "It was the guy driving the kraut wagon's fault"...... Unfortunate but true.....
I don’t understand the fascination with “solving” this mystery. An accident happened, someone lost their life. Let it be what it is. Ask yourself if it would matter if he wasn’t famous. At this point trying to point fingers or solve something that doesn’t need solving feels disrespectful to those that were involved. My take, nothing else.
Hey, Fargo; It's because most folks that care want to actually know, not guess or speculate - which is quite a good time-wasting effort. Mysteries are the interest created by the resulting un-known facts shrouding a particular event(s), so people being what they are, try to fill-in the blanks. Just the way the human mind works to process things, in an attempt to get a "final result", aka:"closure". If not, there would be no interest in history, including even finding out the true(correct)aspects of that. Notice I didn't/don't include "history revisionism". Marcus...
If I had to guess, I'd suggest a pilot flying a hopped up flathead powered plane pulled out in front of an oncoming Amelia ... but I'm not guessing.
I’m currently working with a guy in Los Angeles who wants to purchase my collection The Original Transaxle was separated from the “wrecked Porsche “ before Barris starting renting out the wreckage to auto shows around the United States as part of a “Drive Safe Campaign” . The last person that had possession of the remaining wreckage was A Show Promoter in Tampa Florida named Leroy Gonzales. He supposedly put the “5 pieces “ on a train and shipped them to the next auto show in Arizona that Barris had rented them to. This wreckage was supposed to make its way around the auto show circuit and Barris was set to get the rental fees! The remaining pieces or the wreckage never showed up” In Arizona, but regardless of that or of any other half truths or what nots, I can provide a clear paper trail and can prove without a doubt that the car was loaded in Tampa Florida and it was shipped to Arizona! I also have two pictures of the car being displayed at the auto show in Tampa and I also have personal letters that were written between George Barris and Leroy Gonzalez . It’s clear by the tone Of those letters that George was blaming Leroy for the Porsche never arriving in Arizona ! Leroy also owed a bunch of money to the people who backed his auto show venture and he eventually went to Cuba to “let things cool down” I also personally asked George about the incident and he stated that the Porsche never arrived at its next destination. I honestly do not care where the car is! I just enjoy the comments from people who think they have the facts when clearly they don’t! But like you always say: “Germ is full of shit”
That comment about the hood swap tells every hotrodder that "someone" isn't into old cars ! I was patiently waiting for one of us to blast that crap out of the water. Thanks, arkiehotrods.
Remember that time you logged in with another username and wrote about what an amazing fist fighter Germ was? That was the best…
“I still was not responsible for any of that nonsense “ i do remember that I think. I think I also remember a network administrator contacting the IP address of my employer because of trolling or whatever. Didn’t you save my job? Here’s a letter and a real picture of the wreck on display at the Tampa Florida Show
Now that is cool. Has it ever been proven the car Barris was touring was the actual car? Again, I’m no expert on this subject… Hell, I’m not even a James Dean fan. In 2000 or so, I asked Barris about it during an interview and I remember him saying he couldn’t even collect insurance on it as he couldn’t prove the origin of the car. A few years later, one of his then employees made a snarky remark about the reason he couldn’t prove it… And then, there are stories from the family that owned the garage where the wreckage was taken saying the car was still in their storage facility while Barris was touring the wreckage. Personally, I can’t imagine having the stones to tour a fake Dean wreckage scene if you know good and well the real one is in a storage facility somewhere. So many weird stories and conspiracies and… all for ego… and none that really matter. I have zero first hand knowledge on the subject, so I have very little confidence in any of my hunches either.
I’m not gonna clog up the board with this stuff because I’m not a regular contributor anymore! It was my understanding that Barris could not insure the wreckage because it was just that, it was 4 or 5 pieces or the wreckage that was toured around! Shipping companies were used as the transport services for the remaining parts of the car! When I was with Masterson and we were doing the shop I asked Dean Jeffries a bunch of info on the day he striped “little Bastard” on the car! That was right before Dean headed north . I’m gonna show you another couple of documents This is clearly the shipping manifesto for the Dean Car as it was Leaving Florida for Arizona and another letter regarding the car! I will also dig out some letters from Leroy that he sent from Havana Cuba which was where he went to after he lost the money on the Auto Show venture! The dates on that invoice clearly line up with the dates of the transportation conspiracy! It is my belief that the car was shipped from Florida and someone knows why it never arrived in Arizon. George has always said that someone stole the car and I’ve heard countless rumors and things that aren’t factual about the story behind the car. im still very heavily into the history or hot rodding and Kustom car building and I have spent the last ten years buying up collections and doing research on key cars and key people from these eras. I still do Kustom work and I’m a metal fabricator/designer/welder by trade. My money is just made working with engineering companies and building other things other than cars. Conveyor systems and pipelines pay my bills! I own ELNAH Fabrication out of Nebraska and Iowa and I have a contract with Tyson Foods and a Eobotica company out of Canada. I’m waiting on my best friend, Brad to get better and clean his life up and then I’m gonna see if he wants to make another run at building a winner.. I miss it all, but my passion has turned to collecting and contacting people and visiting with them! we had a lot of fun fucking around here in the early days. I’m just not the same fuck up that I used to be! xoxoxoxo Germ
come on GERM... THIS IS YOUR TIME TO SHINE! many of us older guys followed you when you were full of piss and vinager.. and I {we } dont have time to mess around anymore...tell more
You are correct, it was a Business Coupe, although the CHP accident report erroneously called it a Tudor. The trim was from a '55 Pontiac. You're the first person I've seen who wondered what happened to Don's Ford. Given the extent of damage, and Don's statement he salvaged some engine components, my professional opinion is his insurance totaled it and it was sold for junk. It probably went to a local wrecking yard in or around Bakersfield. Being barely five years old, what was left probably found a ready home and the leftovers soon went to the crusher once all the good stuff was sold off. Remember when everyone was making all kinds of "what ifs" about D.B. Cooper? What if some souvenir hunter bought the wreck from Don't insurance auction and hid it away in a secret garage...
Barris acquired the Porsche after all the Porsche enthusiasts had bought and pilfered everything usable from the car. All Barris got was the body scraps, but that's all he wanted. He did a flim-flam rebuild job so he could parade it around the country for the next several years, in the name of promoting teen traffic safety, or some such alleged profit venture. Barris was famous for creating legends and stories that would make him money. When its novelty finally wore off in favor of more interesting subjects, Barris destroyed what was left. In the meantime, he created the legend the car disappeared from an enclosed railroad car while en route from Florida to Hollywood, California, then announced a $100,000 reward to anyone who could come up with the car.
The Jalopy Journal
