James Dean died on the 30th of September 1955 – in his new Porsche Spyder. James Dean starred in 3 films, which were: East of Eden (Release date in USA: 1955) Rebel Without a Cause (Release date in USA: 1955) and Giant (Release date in USA: 1956). Also, he starred in numerous TV-Shows. James Dean died at the age of 24, and a movie which definitely created a reputation of him as a troubled stereotypical high school rebel - Jim Stark. This fact appealed to the teenagers of those times. Even though his death was a long time ago, he clearly became an icon for the millions of fans and generally in the pop culture. Furthermore, the fact that he perished in a high-speed car accident, only contributes to the dramatic James Dean icon chronicle.
James dean, was of course not only an actor, he also took up competitive race car driving. In the process of filming his second movie (Rebel Without a Cause), he obtained one of the 90 “Porsche 550 Spyder” ever made. It had a numerical marking; 130. It also had two red stripes at the back, and was equpiied with a tartan seat design. This car was called “Little Bastard”.
A week before he died, James Dean met the British actor Alec Guinness who stated that the car appeared to be "sinister" and said to Dean: "If you get in that car you will be found dead in it by this time next week." A remark that would unfortunately establish itself in reality.
On the 30th of september, 1955, Dean was driving to a race track, beside his mechanic - Rolf Wütherich. They were travelling in the new Porsche 500 Spyder . At 3:30 PM, Dean was caught speeding and received a speeding ticket in the Kern County for travelling 65mph in a 55mph zone.
As Dean drove west on to what was to become State Route 46 in Cholame, California, Donald Turnupseed, who was a student driving a “1950 Ford Tudor”, drew near in the contrary road. The Ford driver tried to turn onto the State Route 41 at a fork in the road. The driver crossed into Dean's lane - and the two cars collided virtually head on. Dean survived immediately after the crash but - was manifested dead on arrival at 5:59PM after reaching the Paso Robles War Memorial Hospital. His last words, according to Wütherich who was ejected from the car, but survived with a broken mandible (jaw bone) were: "That guy's gotta stop... He'll see us."
