James Dean's 'Little Bastard'

Picture generated with AI
Location: U.S. Route 466, Shandon, California, United States of America
Dates Active: September 30, 1955 to 1960.
Category: Curses, Disappearances, Spontaneous Combustion, Villainous Vehicles
Cause: Car Accident
Status: Closed
Entry ID: 031824A-00086

Summery: 

The tragic death of actor James Dean was not enough to satisfy the dark forces surrounding this cursed automobile.

In Depth:

Actor James Dean loved a good, fast car, and the silver Porsche 550 Spyder he purchased was certainly one of those things. However, multiple friends of the actor have gone on record to state that of the two things 'good' was not a descriptor the car deserved. They would often tell him that they felt like the car gave off weird vibes, and that there was a dark presence surrounding it. He subsequently named the car 'Little Bastard', and had the name painted onto the vehicle's rear decklid.

It also happened to be the last vehicle that James Dean would ever drive. On September 30 of 1955, after being stopped by an officer of the California Highway Patrol less than an hour earlier for speeding, James Dean's Spyder collided head on with a Ford sedan, killing the actor instantly and ejecting his passenger, Porsche mechanic Rolf Wütherich, from the vehicle.

After that time, the wreck of the car was towed to a wrecking yard, where it was purchased by Dr. William Eschrich, a local physician and club racer (much like Dean). He salvaged as much of the car as he could and discarded the rest, which was presumably picked up by car customizer George Barris, who shipped the remaining wreckage around to car shows and schools to promote safe driving habits (and make money, obviously.)

Stories involving the parts from the car, and the car's wreckage, began to emerge: a doctor and fellow racer Dr. McHenry was killed in a wreck after using parts of Little Bastard in his vehicle. Dr. Eschrich was also injured in the same race, and his car was contained a drive train from Dean's Spyder.

George Barris began promoting that the car was somehow cursed, and made up several stories to further that idea. Such as the vehicle injuring people viewing the car's wreckage or falling off the transport trucks taking it to its next location.

However, in at least one instance the car was involved in fire at a storage facility near Fresno, California, scorching the paint but otherwise not damaging any other vehicles. The source of the fire remains a mystery.

Then, in 1960, the car's wreckage simply vanished. According to Barris, the wreck was being transported from Florida onboard a sealed boxcar, (or truck), and after verifying that the seal was intact opened it to find that the car was missing.

While some parts of the vehicle remain (the transaxle assembly is currently owned by Ghost Adventures host Zac Bagans), the location of the rest of the wreck remains a mystery.

External Links (Last Checked March 18, 2024): 

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Last Update: April 9, 2024

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