James Dean’s Lost Porsche Located?
The Porsche 550 Spyder in which actor James Dean was killed may have been found after being lost for 55 years.
The rising movie star died on 30 September 1955 at age 24 driving the Porsche on a California highway to a race he was to drive it in.
The car was demolished, one of his competitors bought the engine and other parts, leaving the crumpled body to Hollywood auto restorer George Barris.
Mr. Barris opted not to restore the car, but loaned it out to the National Safety Council (NSC) for automobile safety promotions and car shows. It came up missing while being shipped to Los Angeles from Miami in Y 1960.
On the 50th anni of Dean’s death in Y 2005, Chicago’s Volo Auto Museum offered to purchase the car for $1-M. That brought in several leads, the best of which was a man in Whatcom County, WA, who claimed to have seen the Porsche hidden behind a false wall as a boy.
The man, who has not been identified publicly, passed a lie detector test, but does not own the building where the Dean Porsche may be hidden. Talks are ongoing with the building’s owner about the standing $1-M reward.
However, Mr. Barris, 89 anni, has his own claim of ownership since there is no paperwork transferring ownership from him to anyone else, the museum’s director said Tuesday.
“This guy’s story is awesome, and our most believable lead to date,” Mr. Grams said. “It’s kind of like Al Capone’s vault. If it is in there, it continues the legend of this car’s notorious history.”
Stay tuned…
HeffX-LTN
Paul Ebeling
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