Another pre-A Speedster with a James Dean connection

[HistoryBuff]

I never heard this before today, but apparently
there is another white pre-A Speedster, purportedly SN 89736, which is said to have been the property of The Warner Studios and used by James Dean "occasionally". This doesn't make sense to me in a way because everybody knows Warner Studios was trying to discourage James Dean from racing (such as restricting him from racing while a film was still being filmed) , so why would they keep a Porsche around for him to drive? I haven't run that SN by Porsche but to you pre-A Speedster owners does that sound like a correct number for the period?

Even if this car is found, and even if it is established by documentation Warners' owned it and loaned it to Dean, I don't think it has the same cachet as a Speedster OWNED by James Dean.

Any opinions?

[930cabman]

From my understanding the pre-A cars were those in model year 1954 s/n from 80001 to 80200.

Possibly one of my larger regrets in this life is selling 074 and 159 in 1992 with an original hard cover workshop manual.

S/N 89736 would have been a later car produced after Dean's passing

[craig richter]

My '55 Speedy is 811xx. I don't think speedy numbers went that high.

[bobrestore]

1962 roadster .. gray with green interior ... check canepa website

[HistoryBuff]

In case you never used the 356 Registry, anybody can find it on the net and it's free, just
type in VIN DB for (VIN data base) and you type in the chassis number (don't write SN first) and on that number it came out

Chassis number 89736 is a 1962 356 roadster (T6 B) by D'Ieteren (built in 1961).

This car was originally fitted with an engine as follows:
•Type: 616/1 T6 (1600), with a serial number between 606801 and 607750.
•Type: 616/12 T6 (1600 S), with a serial number between 700001 and 701200.
•Type: 616/7 T6 (1600 S-90), with a serial number between 804001 and 804630.

Records in the database: 0
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So now I am wondering why I was told this was a SN for a Speedster?

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[HistoryBuff]

I looked back at the e-mail and realized the correspondent had already advised me that the SN number printed here before was a '61 roadster. But there was another pre-A car he mentioned,
owned by a former club member, and it's this one that was purportedly owned by the film studio who loaned it to Dean. So let me throw out that number and see if anyone remembers the Studio loaning a car to a guy they didn't want racing. If there are pictures of Dean behind the wheel of a Porsche Speedster with two different license plates, I give this theory more credibility. In a previous search for the Ferrari California spyder of Alain Delon I found out the reason his Ferrari was "lost" for 40 years is that he would borrow his friend's similar cars and so it was assumed he didn't own one himself. This often happens with celebrities who are loaned cars.

This picture here is fuzzy but shows the license plate on the Dean owned car http://www.speedsters.com/images/dean-19.jpg
I don't know if this is the same car but here the Calif. yellow letters on black license appears to be ZU73378

http://www.palmspringslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/28/33372-10-0204-JAMES-DEAN-at-Palm-Springs-Road-Races-March-26-1955-cc-1-1280x720_c.jpg

I ran this latest chassis number through the 356 Register VIN DB and got this info;

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Chassis number 80736 is a 1955 356 Speedster (Pre-A) by Reutter (built in 1955).

This car was originally fitted with an engine as follows:
•Type: 506/2 (1300), with a serial number between 22022 and 22245.
•Type: 589/2 (1300 S), with a serial number between 50104 and 50127.
•Type: 546/2 (1500), with a serial number between 34120 and 35790.
•Type: 528/2 (1500 S), with a serial number between 41049 and 41420.
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[930cabman]

The 356A series speedsters started with vin 80201, all numbers below that are pre-a speedsters, I believe.

Anybody want to put 5 on it?

[craig richter]

My Speedster 8117x is definitely a Pre-A, not an A, so it must have been built in '55. But it is shown as first sold and registered in '56, therefore as an A on the paperwork. I guess they weren't flying out of the showrooms back then, some liberties were taken, leading to some confusion and tall stories today.

[930cabman]

Craig,

You are one lucky guy, of all the vehicles I have owned in 45 years, I really miss the pair of '54 Speedsters I let go in the early '90s