Actor James Dean was killed in an automobile accident on Sept 30, 1955. The car he was driving, a rare 1955 Silver Porsche Spyder, was mangled and almost torn in half. The car was bought by car customizer George Barris, and sold for parts, but Barris had bad feelings about the Porsche as soon as he purchased it. (He was quoted as saying “it had a weird feeling of impending doom.”) And whoever bought parts from Dean’s car (who he affectionately named “Little Bastard”) would soon have those same feelings, as unexplained mishaps and tragedy followed anyone who bought parts from the wrecked automobile.
Barris decided to put the wreck in permanent storage, but was persuaded by the California Highway Patrol to lend it out for a highway safety exhibit, but the “curse” (as it started to be known) did not stop there. More mishaps followed during the exhibits run, and in 1959, the car, while on exhibit in New Orleans, mysteriously broke into eleven pieces. The cause was never determined.
In 1960, while in Miami, the car parts were put onto a truck bound for the west coast, and was never heard from, or seen again.
The cult power and mystique of James Dean continues today, as anyone young and famous with a tragic ending might have. His gravestone was stolen twice in 1983, and because of his fans chipping away at his stone for souvenirs, had to be replaced once more in 1985.
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