[speeder]

Well, a little bit of misinformation here. The intersection where he died, California highways 41&46, is definitely still there. I have driven past/through it many times, including hauling ass in my Porsche in the same direction that he was going on my way to the Rgruppe gathering in Cambria last year.

The car that he hit entered 46 from 41 at a 45deg. angle, it is one of those "X" shaped intersections, if you can imagine craning your neck to look over your left shoulder for oncoming traffic you would get the picture. The guy that he hit, (name was Donald Turnipseed for trivia buffs), had a stop sign and Dean didn't. I think, but wouldn't swear to it, that Dean was exceeding the speed limit by quite a bit. It was kind of a "perfect storm", very low slung silver car cresting a small rise, about 4 or 5 in the afternoon in September, so the sun was low and made the car momentarily invisible to Turnipseed, poor guy didn't mean to kill him obviously but never saw him and entered the highway. I might have the position of the cars mixed up, (which one was on which highway), but I am sure about the rest. He had just picked up the new Spider @ Competition Motors in Hollywood, maybe even that AM, and was familiarising himself w/ it as well as breaking it in on the way up North to Salinas for a road race. To this day I have no idea where they would have been racing in Salinas in 1955, but that is the official story. I have wondered if it wasn't Laguna Seca, (very near Salinas), maybe Dean mistakenly told others that he was going to Salinas, or near Salinas, who knows? He had already owned at least one other Porsche, a 356 cab or speedster, which he had tracked or autoX-ed. Not sure how talented a driver he was, but he was addicted to speed and motor racing, that much is sure.

The barn/shack that they towed his car to still exists in Cholame, a short distance from the site of the crash, it is on 46 and is next to a cafe or store. Kind of a tourist spot, I think that they sell pics like the ones above. According to legend, two or three different people who bought parts from his car, (engine and transaxle were about the only salvagable parts), met unfortunate ends. This can be explained by the general danger of sports car racing, especially in those days and w/ that car. It was basically a fast aluminum soda can.

James Dean was a very special and talented actor, but whether he would have had a long and distinguished career is open for debate. He was an extremely troubled person, with a prediliction for getting really really drunk and being self-destructive. I was a big fan as a teenager, I have never believed that he would have experienced old age even if Donald Turnipseed had been "a minute sooner or later". Just my opinion, of course. I have met several people who knew him in my 20 years here, they tend to agree, FWIW.

Lastly, they did not leave him dead in his car covered up, I have seen the rare picture of him on the stretcher being loaded into a big Buick ambulance, they rushed him to the hospital in Paso Robles, about 20 miles away, he was DOA.