History Was a custom involved in the James Dean wreck?

Pro touring CHP

 

The cop car would have had either 8.00 or 9.00x15s. They were pretty tall tires.

There is a lot floating around about the Dean crash. My opinions are not nearly as spiritual as others so I will not mention them. Well that and I have done things along the same lines so my finger pointing would be right back at me.

 

I think it's from this old National Geographic reenactment. Definitely the same CHP car.....doesn't have the baton or whatever on the officer's side and different background.....trees etc. But maybe a different shot that didn't make into to final cut for the show?

 

I found out that I was indeed mistaken. After a Web search of the Dean accident, I found many pictures of the Turnupseed car. Just as pictures posted here after my initial post show. One interest item I found was Turnupseed only gave 1 interview and wrote 1 letter and until his death from cancer 40 years later, never spoke about the accident again.

 

I don’t blame him for not saying anything. JamesDean or not being involved in an accident where someone loses their life is a hard item to overcome and some never do..

 

I really don't buy into this James Dean event. He was a movie actor and a good one at that, with a passion for speed from driving expensive foreign sports cars. He was taking Drama classes while most of us were taking Auto Shop. I cannot see the connection with James Dean and the performance world of home built hot rods. In summary he was a good actor. For the other guy, he served in the military and open his electrical business. It was an accident pure and simple.

 

Hickman was also the cop that gets blasted by Gene Hackman in a late scene of The French Connection.

 

As a part of his movie contract during the filming of Giant, Dean was forbidden to drive the Porsche until the film was completed and in the can.

 

Hickman's main job for the French Connection was the stunt driving in the iconic car chase (done without any permission from the authorities at the time, so it was about as 'real' as you could get)
Its why Hickman was considered to be one of the movie industries greatest ever 'wheelmen'.

 

The carcass of the accident vehicle (Porsche 550) was brought back to a garage but when it was unloaded, improper handling made it detach too early and collapsed on a mechanic driven to the hospital for a broken leg. Some sources even claim that he was killed. Shortly afterwards, the garage was the victim of a mysterious fire that ravaged the premises. George Barris bought the car. In his book Cars of the stars (1974), he stated that many people who had possessed elements of the cursed vehicle would have known strange fates. During a race, a man would have died losing control of his car…. which contained the engine of James Dean’s Porsche 555 Spyder! Better, a competitor who came at full speed behind, would have accidentally run over him, losing control of his car before injuring himself. Hers contained… an element of the transmission of “Little Bastard”! Funny coincidence… Years later, during an exhibition in Sacramento, the car detached itself from its support and came across a teenager who admired it.. And to top it all off, George Barris ends by explaining that «Little Bastard» suddenly disappeared in very mysterious conditions in 1960. While the Porsche was returning from an exhibition in Florida in a box sealed on a train, it vanished. At the destination, the box was still sealed, but empty..

 

All I can say is that Ford sure took a lick.