hypothetically speaking if a guy was selling the so called james dean wrecked 550 spyder , would it still be considired stolen property after all these years? and who is the last recorded owner , im not sure but was george barris? but let me know your thoughts, thanks
That's like asking if you found it would it still be a wrecked Spyder. Maybe no one cares any more but it is still a stolen vehicle. I can't imagine why anyone would want it.
It's still stolen property if it was reported stolen. There is ton of stories on the web of people getting cars back that turn up 30-40 years later.
From what I found => 6 years SOL. SOL is if you can be arrested or not, does not mean property cannot be confi****ed. Contact somebody that actually knows, then contact the La$ Vega$ casinos, is my thought.
From what I've heard ( pretty sure it was posted here on the HAMB too, at some point ), George never really owned that car. But appearently he does have bragging rights to inventing that bogus cursed story about it...
I would not trust that the article posted in snopes carries any weight whatsoever, it never metioned that it was reported to the police that it was stolen, just that it supposedly was stolen from the fatal crash. I personally think it would be very hard to steal a car, with all the drivetrain supposedly sold to these other people, from the scene of a fatal crash. Snopes merely reprinted legend their, not fact.
Wikipedia reports that: the doctors Troy McHenry and William Eschrid, both 550 Spyder owners, purchased the car directly from the insurance company. They removed the drivetrain, steering and other mechanical components to use as spares in their cars, then sold the shell to George Barris.<SUP cl***=reference id=cite_ref-62>[63]</SUP> William Eschrid used the engine in his Lotus race car.<SUP cl***=reference id=cite_ref-63>[64]</SUP> Troy McHenry was killed at a race at Pomona 1956 when the Pitman arm in his 550's steering failed; however this was not one of the "cursed" parts fitted to his 550. Historic Auto Attractions in Roscoe, Illinois has claimed to have the last known piece of Dean's Spyder (a small chunk a few square inches in size). However this is untrue, as several other large parts are known to exist. The p***enger door was on display at the Volo Auto Museum.<SUP cl***=reference id=cite_ref-64>[65]</SUP> The engine (#90059) is reported to still be in the possession of the son of the late Dr. Eschrich. Lastly the restored transaxle–gearbox ***embly of the Porsche (#10046) is known to be in the possession of car collector Jack Styles.<SUP cl***=reference id=cite_ref-65>[66]</SUP> <SUP></SUP> <SUP></SUP>
Let me get this straight-you have a hypothetical question about a car you don't even know exists anymore and is a wrecked sports car even if it does. Kindly explain to me how and why this is pertinent on a traditional hot rod site and why you are wasting time pushing relevant posts off the page.
waisting whos time??? its not like im shoving a gun to a persons head and sayin Hey !! read this , now WASTING my time is trying to explain myself to a person who oviously thinks he knows it all such as yourself . there allways has to be that one ball buster in the bunch.
If you're interested in some neat recreations of events, go to the following link and scroll down to the 9th video in the Exponent archive. It's a video of the Dean accident recreation. http://www.exponent.com/multimedia/
James Dean has come up before on the HAMB. And Vintage Sports Racing cars have too. And besides that, the letters were done by Dean Jeffries ( or Barris, if you chose to believe him...) And there is a George Barris connection. And the other car in that crash, driven by Donald Turnupseed, was a mildly customised Ford. Some more trivial Info... James Dean had bought a Lotus, but it arrived too late. He never got to see it. I've read that he had planned to race that with a Offy engine swapped into it.
the insurance company sold the car to a doctor and the motor and transaxel have been floating around for a long time. the rest of the car is supoedly in tampa FLa.
wheres the VIN tag? what...... stolen car? is there a problem here officer? its s**** iron i plan on hauling in.
Seems like those 32 Ford guys cannot stand it when precious forum space is used on something that is not a 32 Ford. Sad really..... I for one enjoy these adventures into our rich automotive heritage. Especially because of the Barris/Jeffries/Kustom/Racing connection.
I've heard the rumor that its still around too. I dont know if thats true, but it makes sense. If it was really lost, somebody would have faked & cloned it by now. Claiming they'd found the real thing...
wrecks are commonly parted out , 1 car ends up in a few it happens a lot. . some police reports never get updated ..my friends sister is on a missing children website she ran away 15 years ago and has been found 15 years ago, the site will not remove her
I'd never read about the Dean Lotus, would that have been a Lotus 11? It would have been a great piece with an OFFY!. Bob
With all due respect to my Deuce brothers and sisters, I am a damn Model A guy. I think it's a cool story, I just don't think it really belongs here, tangential connections or not.
The Jalopy Journal
