From the 356 Registry.....seems that there is a 1 million dollar reward for the James Dean car that disappeared while on tour as an accident prevention thingy....

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>...

Hi...it's Lee Raskin. Interesting CNN report about George Barris and and
the Volo Museum having part of the 550-0055's door. Ok. Here's what I know.
George Barris told me last month in an interview that he had the skin off
one of the doors. I suspect that was a slip of the tongue by the King of
Kustoming.


As for George Barris and the Little Bastard: I will tell you that George is
a nice guy but who has drastically embellished the story over the past 45
years. Fact: George did not paint 130 or Little Bastard on the
Spyder....Fact; George did not buy the wrecked Spyder from the Estate after the accident.
Barris was a third party participant...I write about the entire sequence of
events in my latest book, James Dean: At Speed..coming out Sept. 30, 2005.

Back to the door at the museum....George is always looking for media
coverage on this James Dean mystery.... you draw your own conclusion.

As to the health of Little Bastard? I asked George if he "permanently
misplaced" the wrecked carcass in 1960? (and created a Hollywood elusion)
Barris replied, "Lee, it jsut disappeared into thin air! "

A million dollar reward for the Little Bastard?. Well...it's just part of
the hype expected from Barris and friends for the 50th Anniversary. If Jimmy
were around today...he'd tell GB and others to go straight to hell!


James Dean:At Speed be out on September 30th for the 50th Anniversary of
Jimmy's death. Bill Block/Registry will be receiving it as soon as it is
available from the printer.

This comprehensive photo documentary has been a labor of love for the past
25 years. I thank everyone who has ever helped me with JD information...
especially all the 356 Registry folks It will be the most definitive James Dean
book to date and covers all of Jimmy's motorsports activities from his
tricycle to his Spyder. I go into as much detail on the Speedster (VIN 80126)
being an extension of what I wrote about in the 2004 Porsche Speedster Typ 540
book published by Steve Heinrich (_www.speedster50thannivesary.com_
(http://www.speedster50thannivesary.com) )

I couldnt get the link to work, and I aint joinin 356 registry to find it.
I like a good mystery/folklore
Help

I know a guy who knows where it is.

Here's a hint for you treasure hunters.




Its up in the rafters and its never coming down.




Personally i'd rather have the car he ran into. At least that one is still driveable.

"James Dean:At Speed be out on September 30th for the 50th Anniversary of
Jimmy's death. Bill Block/Registry will be receiving it as soon as it is
available from the printer."

"Jimmy"? Jimmy Dean sells sausages and sings country music. I don't recall EVER hearing anybody refer to "James" Dean as "Jimmy", and I was around when he was ........... The Cap'n, thinking what a shame it is that James Dean remembered more for his death than for his life..........

QUOTE (Cap'n Krusty @ Sep 3 2005, 12:53 PM)

"Jimmy"?  Jimmy Dean sells sausages and sings country music.  I don't recall EVER hearing anybody refer to "James" Dean as "Jimmy", and I was around when he was ...........  The Cap'n, thinking what a shame it is that James Dean  remembered more for his death than for his life..........

There is a 80"s rock song where the singer sings "Jimmy Dean, rock on" and then another voices says James Dean.

Rock On
David Essex

Hey kid, rock and roll
Rock on, ooh, my soul
Hey kid, boogey too, did ya

Hey shout, summertime blues
Jump up and down in my blue suede shoes
Hey kid, rock and roll, rock on

And where do we go from here
Which is the way that's clear

Still looking for that blue jean, baby queen
Prettiest girl I ever seen
See her shake on the movie screen, Jimmy Dean
(James Dean)

here's the correct link...
http://speedster50thanniversary.com/

You could always go back to where Dean picked up his car on 9/30/55, and have a stealthy look see around (rafters ?). John Von Neumann's "Competition Motors" was at 11515 Ventura Bl. Studio City Ca. The addy is still good...but it's a different biz at present. Hey , go by there anyway on 9/30 and put some flowers down
Marty

QUOTE (Maltese Falcon @ Sep 5 2005, 01:20 PM)

You could always go back to where Dean picked up his car on 9/30/55, and have a stealthy look see around (rafters ?). John Von Neumann's "Competition Motors" was at 11515 Ventura Bl. Studio City Ca. The addy is still good...but it's a different biz at present. Hey , go by there anyway on 9/30 and put some flowers down Marty

I had read that Dean met George Barris at a gas station at the corner of Ventura Blvd. and Beverly Glen to look at the car before they trailered it to the track. He asked them to take it off the trailer and decided to drive it instead. The gas station is now part of a car wash.

The highway where he was killed..east of Paso Robles on the 101 on 41 has been rerouted. There is a cruddy little diner selling memorobilia and a marker....I think it's called Cholame or sumthin.....near the huge metropolitan area of Shandon

photo of the Cholame crash site, taken September 30, 2002.
Here is another photo which is similar to the one above, but this one is a little closer. Again the old Highway 46 (or 466 in 1955). We may be a little off on the exact area where it was indicated by the white arrows---we will have to check the official State maps. But, you can clearly see the gray area by the tree which was the old area of highway where James Dean drove down it. OK. Now where the purple arrow is--there is a "dip" in the road. Longtime residents with whom we spoke said the dip in 1955 was much more pronounced, but has
since been made better. Still looks bad to me, yes? Anyway, when Jimmy's car went into the recessed area he was "invisible" to oncoming cars. Coupling that with the other factors of that day the low slung silver Spyder 550 definitely seemed sort of out its element here...then again, very much in its element, as the long roads begged for sophisticated speed machine. The green arrow shows the approximate area of the the Dean crash site, from what the older residents of Cholame related to me.--John Anthony Miller

The 11515 Ventura Bl. add'y is now the attached lot (west of) to "Saller's International auto body" or 11511. There is no dedicated 11515 add'y no mo.
Last year on Speed there was a Dean program, and a few of his peer/ friends spoke of things leading up to that day. Dean was doing hot laps on Mullholland in order to break the engine in for his upcoming Salinas Ca. race, also doing the same thing on old rte. 466. One of his friends actually said if he (Dean) kept driving like that...it would be the last time he would see him alive.
Anyway...pic is of von Neumann's Porsche tuning shop on Highland Ave. L.A. (not Comp Motors) and shows Rolf Wuetherich ( far left), Dean's passenger and mechanic that survived that fateful crash
Marty

...rare photo of Dean, looks like a vintage MG next to him
photo John Edgar
Marty