While it wasn’t technically seen in any movies, actor James Dean’s Porsche 550 Spyder (affectionately known as Little Bastard) could be the most iconic, and cursed car Hollywood has ever seen.
This was the car that the young actor was driving when he was involved in the fatal road accident in 1955, and while we know Porsche to be a master creator of race machines, the 550 was the manufacturer’s first road-legal race car and is the reason the brand is the household name in racing it is today.
James Dean was an actor and an amateur racer, and while he had a short career before his untimely death, his legacy lives on. So how has this car, and the late actor become etched in this cursed history during the Golden Years of Hollywood?
Dean bought a brand-new Porsche 550 Spyder on the 23rd of September 1955 – only a week before the accident which would claim his life.
After saving up his paychecks, the actor also had it customised with tartan seats, the number 130 emblazoned on the hood, and the name “Little Bastard” painted just under the Porsche emblem on the engine cover.
However, despite driving around LA and showing off his latest fast purchase there was something unsettling about Little Bastard, enough that friend – British actor Sir Alec Guinness – warned James Dean very specifically about the car.
In an interview with BBC, the superstitious Alec spoke about meeting James Dean and said when he saw the Porsche 550, he warned him “not to get in the car” and if he did, “he would not be alive by the following week” however, these comments didn’t seem to bother Dean, who laughed off the remarks and proceeded to drive without a care in the world.
On the 30th of September 1955, the unthinkable happened and cut a young life short. On his way to attend a race in Salinas, California, Dean decided to put his new Porsche to the test on the open roads. Having been pulled over and ticketed for speeding just a short time earlier, Dean left Blackwells Corner on US Route 46 with Rolf Wütherich, a Porsche mechanic, and sped away, leaving the rest of his friends to fall behind.
As they approached an intersection, an unsuspecting student, Donald Turnupseed, was driving home in his Ford Tudor. Turnupseed was turning left to take the turn towards Highway 41 at the intersection but he soon realised that James Dean’s 550 Spyder was fast approaching and while Turnupseed hesitated and backed out from turning left, Dean – at the same time – was speeding well over the limit and there were no options to find a way around the Ford Tudor.
In the light aluminium Spyder 550, Dean crashed into the front driver-side of the Ford Tudor. Due to the high speed he was driving, the Porsche was immediately sent flying with its hood wholly crushed. Wütherich was sent flying from the car upon impact, but James was crumpled under the car’s carcass with his feet stuck between the steering wheel and foot pedals.
Although he was removed from the car and taken to hospital, James Dean was pronounced dead upon arrival. Wütherich also sustained numerous serious injuries, including a broken neck, while Turnupseed only suffered minor injuries.
This wasn’t the end of the story for the 550 Spyder, however, the remains of the car were auctioned off by the insurance company, and eerily, the engine of the Spyder remained unharmed and intact despite the horrific crash.
Passionate part-time racer, Dr William Eschrid, purchased the 550 Spyder and stripped it down and used the four-cylinder Spyder engine in his Lotus IX chassis. As some Spyder parts were specific to the 550, Eschrid lent parts from the transmission and suspension to another surgeon named Dr Troy McHenry.
Both doctors then went on to participate in the 1956 Ponoma Race with the cars that had the cursed Spyder 550 spares installed.
Eschird, happy with how the Porsche engine was performing, disappeared mid-race when the Lotus suddenly lost control and crashed. Thankfully, Dr Eschrid suffered minor injuries in the accident, but the car was totalled.
Troy McHenry would also be involved in an accident that day when he lost control of the steering wheel and crashed into a tree. Sadly, Dr McHenry passed away at the scene.
Both accidents created a new buzz around the curse of the Porsche 550, with many saying the use of parts from James Dean’s Spyder meant they were cursed from the start.
So, what happened to Little Bastard? George Barris, who was known as the “King of the Kustomizers” was a car customiser from Hollywood and purchased the wrecked and infamous Porsche.
He displayed the car in various car shows in its wrecked condition, as the mysteriousness surrounding the cursed Porsche kept growing. It’s said that visitors who touched the carcass of the 550 Spyder got cuts and mysterious wounds, which kept curse rumours swirling.
There were reports of numerous incidents until 1960 when the car was going to a safety exhibit in Miami. It had all but mysteriously disappeared during transit and was never seen again.
