Fairmount Indiana, home of James Dean. The 50th Anniversary,and Remembering James Dean Days is one large event that last a few days,with one of the largest custom rod car shows. It was a great time to be had,with 550 Little Bastards driving around in town. Fairmount is awesome if you are into James Dean, and want to hear Dean stories from real friends of James Dean. The photo below is a 550 spyder relica owned by Vic Bent,and shown driving with a James Dean look alike during the parade.

550 Sypder driving in the parade with Dean look alike. This James Dean Look alike lives near me in Michigan.

Vic Bent the owner of this great looking replica, was in California on 9-30-2005 making the James Dean drive to Cholame. I was wondering if any Porsche guys out there saw him with his 550.

Rear view of the 550.

This photo shows the Fairmount Historical Museum ,with another 550 replica on display. This 550 is one of six made by a group of engineers that worked for Studebaker. I will show more of this one later,it was many good details. The Museum is a must for James Dean fans,with many real items of Dean, even a note with how much the 550 spyder will cost after selling the 356,and a bike with the balance of 3,600.00 to pay for the spyder.

This photo show the Fairmount Bank on Main Street,in which photos of James Dean were taken with the bank in the background.

Vic and his 550.

How many times in life do you see two Little Bastards together? Now only if they were aluminum body ones.

550 up front.

The scale of this car is shown with normal people standing around it.

Results:
3 listings matching "bent, v, NY"
2 non-published listings

Side view of this little 550.

Front tip view of the 550.

The detail on this 550 from Ohio is one of six from Studebaker engineers. The detail around the exhaust is awesome!

Long time 550 researcher here....

Here is the most ultimate 550 replica ever created- no doubt... And its getting RAT power..

Here is the coachbuilt aluminum body as it was finished just last week. The customer is from the UK.





As you can see here this is no old school tube frame as original.. This is a true space frame..



The powerplant is retro custom with Silver carbon fiber abound.. just under 2400ccs of 9,000 RPM revvin power.. We are even installing twin plug heads (Thanks to Len) and its getting every trick under the sun including EFI and direct fire ignition.. a healthy dose of CR and a vengeful cam make it even better..


I do a ton of Spyder engines, but this one has beaten them all.. 1200 pounds and 250 HP!

It'll be seeing time at SPA, Monaco and Leman including a tour to the classic Leman in 2006!

Wow - Vic's car even has the driver's turn signal lense missing like Dean's car. That's attention to detail!

But he could have gotten rid of those beck versions of the turn signals and got the originals from dario

QUOTE (Jake Raby @ Oct 7 2005, 10:34 AM)

But he could have gotten rid of those beck versions of the turn signals and got the originals from dario

Hey Jake, great photos of the aluminum 550. Do you have more photos from the side, and front? Please post them if you have more,thank you...Nick

A view of Vic's interior.

A view of the seats, and firewall of the interior.

Another Dean look alike if Dean would have been older,in Vic's 550.

One photo of an older Dean. This guy did a great job with James Dean movements during the James Dean look alike contest.

Back to the Studebaker 550 replica, with front ,and rear open for viewing all the great detail.

3qtr. rear view of the 550.

From the front top view.

Front storage, and fuel tank area. Very nice detail!

Another view of the fuel tank,and all the close out panels in the storage area.

Engine detail of the studebaker 550.

I had the pleasure of pitting with my brother next to J D at Santa Barbara when He first started. My brother also had a 550 then but Ken Miles was The top driver of the 550 then. He would race in the over 1500 class and blow most of the big boys off.

Bernie

I admire and lust after the porsche spyders, even the replicas....but that being said I don't understand why people want to paint them like someone else did, no matter who that person was or how famous. I guess I just don't get the cult of celebrity...own the car for whatever reason but make it yours...ok, flamesuit on, Dean fans blast away.

QUOTE (jimtab @ Oct 7 2005, 08:09 PM)

I admire and lust after the porsche spyders, even the replicas....but that being said I don't understand why people want to paint them like someone else did, no matter who that person was or how famous.  I guess I just don't get the cult of celebrity...own the car for whatever reason but make it yours...ok, flamesuit on, Dean fans blast away.

Hey Jim, you could take off the flamesuit, and you are right. Owners of Spyder replicas should be more creative and come up with their own graphics that say something about themselves, that's what James Dean did. I guess the 130 stood for top speed of the 550,and Little Bastard was a nickname given to him by some director from the movie Giant. I have to say,after all that it was very cool to see the Spyders painted like the Little Bastard . There were three 550's there, one was from the James Dean Gallery in Gascity just north of Fairmount,second one from New York inwhich Vic Bent uses the car for special events like this James Dean Event, and the third Spyder was used as a display for the Fairmount Museum,but to also talk about aluminum body replicas that Marvin Simms from Ohio will be building for customers who could afford them. I think the graphics on Deans 550 had a very good design,that was clean and did not distract from the shapes,and seeing the three 550's it still looks great 50 years later today. I was hoping to see a Indian Porsche Club there,but I guess the Hot Rodders feel they have more in common with James Dean. James Dean was a true Porsche crazy guy, with owning two in his short life.

QUOTE (bernbomb914 @ Oct 7 2005, 08:00 PM)

I had the pleasure of pitting with my brother next to J D at Santa Barbara when He first started. My brother also had a 550 then but Ken Miles was The top driver of the 550 then. He would race in the over 1500 class and blow most of the big boys off. Bernie

Hi Bernie, it's good to hear from people that lived these experiences first hand. Last weekend at Fairmount Indiana for the James Dean 50th Memoral,one of the guess speakers was Lew Bracker a friend,and insurance agent of Deans. Dean got Lew into porsche racing inwhich Lew bought a red 356 and raced it. He later bought Dean's white 356 super speedster when Dean bought the 550. We all asked Lew questions about Dean,and I walked away with.... this young guy was crazy about Porsches,and girls, but he was also very shy when it came to meeting some girl he was really attracted to. I guess we all have to think back when we were all in our early twenties,he was just a normal guy with a special talent for expressing himself on film.
Hey Bernie, would happen to have photos of you and your bother with the 550 Spyder? Maybe you could post them if you have them. Thanks again for writing in.
Nick

Another view of the engine from the passenger side.

Spare tire detail.

Interior of the Studebaker 550 replica.

Steering wheel,and cluster of the 550.

Front view with open front ,and rear panels.

Rear open qtr.panel view.

Front open panels view.

Low angle photo of the 550.

Straight on front top view.

Rear view.

Another rear view of the 550.

This 550 Spyder is from the James Dean Gallery in Gas City just north of Fairmount.

Bike to match the 550 Spyder.

Rear view of the 550 bike.

Side view of the 550 bike.

This bike has alot of the detail of a 550 Spyder,from the tank matching the fenders,the fuel cap similar to the 550, the wheel design matching the 550. Rear fender of the bike matching the rear of the 550,and of course the paint and graphics.