James Dean's 550 Spyder

[Hester]

Wow, too cool. I have a framed poster hanging in my office that is a picture of that car after the crash, a copy of the speeding ticket that Dean got earlier that day with his signature on the "promise to appear," and the title "The Last Autograph" Across the bottom. My wife bought it for me because I get a lot of speeding tickets.

Reading Mr. Krueger's post is like listening to a witness to history. Too cool.

[Paulporsche]

Notch,

Apparently "noone" knows where the car actually is. The story is that the wreck had been on a cross country series of showings @ auto shows etc and was finally shipped back to CA by enclosed truck. When the truck arrived and was opened the car had vanished, never to be seen again!

[KevinP73]

From "Road and Track"

Consolation race winner Dr. William Eschrich posed with the checkered flag James Dean wanted for himself. Dean might have scored another class victory had he not burned a piston in this, his final outing.

[TRE Cup]

that looks like a modified healey- very cool front end. anyone have other pics of it ?

[KevinP73]

Death Car Myth and Mystique

By Warren Beath

In 2005 its last owner George Barris (who actualy was in possession of only the motorless body shell; the essential components are in the possession of Tyler Eschrich, son of William Eschrich who aquired the car from insurance salvage) claimed for the first time to have restored the passenger-side door from the car among the other artifacts of the fatal crash. In 2005 the Volo Auto Museum in Volo, Illinois offered $1million for the missing car--although George Barris would have to authenticate the wreck. Their money was safe, though because the death car will never re-surface, and the answer to the mystery most likely was reduced to a cube of mangled aluminum by a salvage yard crusher.
Link to entire story

[Laneco]

Bkreuger
Thanks for posting and painting color to the black and white pictures that are the only things most of us know about racing in the era you describe.

Without any doubt yours was one of the most interesting posts I've ever read on this forum.

angela

[defcon65]

I love a good story - check this one out, from a Howard Hughes Biography:

Howard was told by his doctor to take some time off. It was 1945. He disappeared with an employee of Hughes Tool Co. and they just criss-crossed the country aimlessly for about a year. No one knew where they were. The employee was along with Hughes to handle travel and lodging details and also had a special task given to him by Howard himself. He was to carry a long wooden box, similar to a small child's coffin, with them at all times. It was tied up with rope and Hughes offered no explanation of what was in it or why they must have it with them at all times.
They went to a restaurant, he put it on a chair. They checked into a hotel, it was in the room. They boarded a train, it was in the berth. You get the idea.
After Hughes decided it was time to go back, the box was placed into storage at a Hughes Tool Co. facility and forgotten about.
Fast-forward to 1976. Hughes dies. Lots of fighting about the will(s), the fortune, the holdings, etc., it went on for years. The guy who had carried the box for Hughes was still alive and told the story. It got legs and they looked for the box. In 1980 they found it. It had never been opened and had sat in a storage locker for 35 years. They opened the box and examined its contents.
Inside, they found a stack of comics clipped from the Houston Chronicle, a small playground ballbat and (drum-roll, please):

Two douche-bags.

[81turboporsche]

i was just going to copy that link ,car has a hell of a story,sorry im posting so late to it,maybe the car is still around im someones cryptic car museum

[hkiang1]

Originally Posted by Laneco

Bkreuger

Without any doubt yours was one of the most interesting posts I've ever read on this forum.

angela

I couldn't agree more.

Henry

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by Laneco

Bkreuger
...Without any doubt yours was one of the most interesting posts I've ever read on this forum.

Agreed.

Of course by posting this in the "'Porsche Temple" - which is what Pelican is, he's opened the door to someone or a lot of someones starting the search anew.

If there IS a shred of accuracy in all this (not calling his veracity into question its just that "Dean's Spyder" stories surface every few years) and if the right someone (perhaps bkreuger himself) could be persuaded to act as an intermediary with the current owners recovery of the remains MIGHT be possible. If an interested observer (someone like Wayne for example) could get in contact with someone from Porsche or maybe the Petersen Museum(would either want to be associated with this?...for historical reasons?... to kill off the "curse" once and for all?) so that the current owners wouldn't feel like they were being taken for a ride...could all this be brought together?

I'd love to see it happen.

[KevinP73]

I've never been a big fan of conspiricies. I believe there was only one gunman in the Kennedy Assasination, Amelia went down in the pacific and Elvis and John Lennon are dead. I also belive that the James Dean Spyder no longer exists. Let me share what I know.
What I know as fact.
I worked for Barris in the '70's. George is and will likely remain one of my personal hero's for a long long time. My job amongst many other menial tasks was to transport show cars to various venues for display or cars to lacations for the movie industry. As a result of this duty I knew of every car George had in inventory. Even the cars that were "not available for public display" (ie the real Ford Futura) If George had in his posession the James Dean 550 Spyder during this time period I would have known it.
What I also know is that George Barris is the ultimate showman. He knew what the people wanted to see and he would give it to them and sometimes he would get very "creative" to accomplish this. Barris had a car he promoted as the "Bonny and Clyde Death Car". It was a 1934 Ford Fourdoor Sedan that was riddled with "bullet" holes. I'm sorry did I say "bullet" holes? I meant pick hammer holes. We beat this poor car to death with a pick hammer, a sharpened tire iron (for those larger caliber rounds) and just about anything that would penetrate the sheetmetal. No one really believed this was the actuall car that Bonny and Clyde died in but it never failed to draw a crowd. "Creative" not missleading or decietful just creative.
Fast forward a couple years and I'm working in Burbank at American International Racing, also known as A.I.R. The occasional work related injury was treated by Dr. William F. Eschrich, During my years with A.I.R I became acquainted with a gentleman by the name of Bill Lanphear. Bill was a very close friend of the Eschrich family. So close in fact that I have heard him referred to as "the fourth Eschrich boy". This friendhip dates from the boys in thier early 20's to this date.
I called Bill today and asked him what he knew about this topic. I also sent a link to this thread in the hopes that he personally would join the conversation. He shared with me a story that reads very similar to the original post of Bkrueger. Similar expect for the final resting place of the 550. Bill's version of the story has the 550 after having the engine and driveline and assorted parts removed going to a scrap yard in San Fernando. He didn't say exactly which one, I quess I could have asked but I didn't. It was from the scrapyard that Barris got the rear body shell and the right door. These two parts were added to a wrecked 550 that he had acquired elsewhere. This is the car that Barris promoted for a short time as the actuall James Dean 550 Spyder. He adds that the rumor of the actuall 550 driven by James Dean being in possesion of any remaining Eschrich family member is 100% false. The conversation included Bill sharing with me the history of most of the parts that were removed from the 550, thier whereabouts,and states that the people who are in posession of the parts have varified the authenticty of those parts.
I've known Bill for a good many years and I have every confidence in his sincerity and his belief in his version of this little mystery. I guess we'll all have to decide for ourselves which story we'd like to hold as truth.

[grudk]

Kevin, I'm not much for conspiracies, either. One has to interpret stories from memory with caution (even when they are your own!) as they are subject to some 'drift.'

You mention that some of the parts that still exist have been authenticated, and based on various accounts, it seems that the engine may have been salvaged. Perhaps the Eschrich family does have it? Consensus seems to be that the body was indeed scrapped.

[Soterik]

From what I know.....

The engine is in the possesion of a Dr. in Stone Mountain, GA.

The gearbox/trans is in possession of a noted Mercedes/Porsche restorer in New England (I've seen it and touched it!!). The gearbox was in a tube frame and presented as a display piece at a Porsche Parade some time ago, I can't remember which one.

Eric

[kycarguy 935]

Great thread. There was not much left of the 550 after the crash.

I use to stop at the crash site from time to time on the way to Monterey for the races.

P.S. I edited the photo "the white box" because Dean was in the picture.

[ljowdy]

That's not Dean. That's Rolf, his mechanic who was ejected from the car. Rolf lived.

Dean was still in the car at the conclusion of the collision

[kycarguy 935]

Originally Posted by ljowdy

That's not Dean. That's Rolf, his mechanic who was ejected from the car. Rolf lived.

Dean was still in the car at the conclusion of the collision

I apologize if I was incorrect. I saw a dead body on the ground next to the gurney that looked like Dean.

[TRE Cup]

The Iron Bottom No Frills Motoring Tour goes right by there, using a lot of the same roads, and stopping at the memorial this April 10-12 weekend

[KevinP73]

misc. picture found

Ace Porsche mechanic Rolf Weuterich (James Dean's passenger in fatal accident) discusses race strategy with driver Jack McAfee next to John Edgar's Ferrari 3.5. Is McAfee wearing Paul O'Shea's hat from the previous photo? Next to the Ferrari is John Edgar's Porsche 550. Pete Vanlaw stands at the right.

[Bkrueger]

I am the "old man" that the first guy on this thread talked to at the San Clemente office of the Calif. DMV and I had written two previous very detailed replies to his recollection of our conversation but they did not take and so I am reluctant to go to all of that effort again until I know that this works.
I would like to correct a few things however:
I was 62 years old at the time that we met at the DMV (not 65 -75!)
My dad was not a racer.
I grew up in Burbank not LA.
Dr. William Eschrich bought Dean's car and initially stored it under a tarp between his Doctor's office (a converted house - but not his home) and his shop in the rear of the lot.
Doc had been racing an Offy powered Simca bodied sports car in So. Calif. Sports car Races with my dad as crew from 54 and was a "middle of the pack" runner.
We had seen Johnnie Von Neumann (Porsche dealer in Hollywood from whom Dean bought his Spyder) with his new Porsche Spyder doing quite well and even better when Ken Miles took over the driving chores.
After the Dean accident Doc ended up with the entire car. Doc purchased a Lotus IX rolling chassis from Jay Chamberlain (Lotus Dealer in Burbank) after test driving Jay's IX at a Palm Springs race.
My dad and doc put the 550 engine into the front of the Lotus. At that time my dad was going to go into business for himself (aircraft valves and seals) and during the break between jobs he drove the family around the US in the summer of 56. While in Florida my dad designed a tuned exhaust system for the "Potus" (not "Pooper" - that was a Porsche powered Cooper F1 car raced at Torry Pines by Pete Lovely) now that the engine sat up front and there was room to fit such a system. My dad mailed the sketch to Doc from Florida and buy the time we got back home Doc had the system made, installed and one race (Paramount Ranch) under his belt. The next race was at Santa Barbara and Dean's mechanic (who survived the wreck) was there (on crutches) and provided larger carburator main jets required because of the new exhaust system. This did not make him very popular with the Von Neumann camp because he worked for them and the "Potus" ran really well after the change.
Doc Eschrich was not killed in the car. A friend of his, Dr. Troy McHenry, with another Spyder that had some of Doc's Porsche parts on it, was killed at Pomona, Ca. in late 56 in the same race that was the Potus's last. Doc Eschrich was racing with Richie Ginter for the lead when they both spun off the track in some gravel. The State of Calif. was conctructing the Golden State freeway right through his medical practice and he had to set aside his racing until he got relocated further down Olive Ave. When he wanted to start up racing again my dad told him that to rebuild the Potus the way it was would render the car obsolete and my dad draw him a sketch of a new car where the driver was more reclined and along the lines of the very low and compact "Pooper". Doc was not up for starting over and the Potus chassis was raised up into the rafters (with the engine on a floor stand) and that was the end of that.
Doc's boys were now old enough to go on outings so he converter an old Seal trainer's bus to carry motorcycles, in place of the water tank, to the dessert.
Doc was I great Doctor and Mechanic. He reattached peoples fingers and made and maintained a large variety of vehicles from motorcycles, boats, cars, trucks, buses, mini bikes. Doc died of natural causes in Nov. of 89 and my dad in Jan. of 90.

[Paulporsche]

Bkreuger,

Thanks for that clarification. Fascinating.

Unless I missed it, though, you didn't say what happened to the Dean car chassis (such as it was) after Doc removed the engine.