The supposed curse of late Hollywood icon James Dean’s car has been laid bare in a new History Channel show.
At the age of 24, the beloved actor was killed when his ‘Lucky B**tard’ Porsche 550 Spyder slammed into a Ford coupe near Cholame, California, at high speed on September 30, 1955.
He was pronounced dead on arrival at Paso Robles Hospital.
In the aftermath of Dean’s death, some believe a curse was born due to a mysterious series of accidents involving parts of the car after the wreck was sold at auction for $2,500.
Those eerie events are revisited in the first episode of History’s Greatest Picks with Mike Wolfe by several contributors, who call into question the strange pattern of unfortunate happenings.
Suspicions of a curse on Lucky B**tard first took off after Dr William Eschrich installed the Porsche’s engine into his Lotus IX race car.
Kirk Brown, transportation historian, pointed out that it was usual to interchange parts on old Porsches.
‘One motor will fit many, many different vehicles, so it doesn’t take long for the parts to get parted out and put onto other vehicles,’ he said.
Some believe James Dean’s ‘Lucky B**tard’ Porsche 550 Spyder was cursed
The acclaimed actor died aged 24 after crashing his car at high speed on September 30, 1955
But, soon after the installation, Dr Eschrich crashed his Lotus at the 1956 Pomona sports-car races – only narrowly walking away with his life.
Fellow racer Troy McHenry was not so lucky, and he was killed after his car hit a tree during the same race.
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It was thought that he had borrowed transmission and suspension parts from Dr Eschrich, believed to have been the parts from Dean’s car.
Recalling the incident, brand historian Jason Liebig said: ‘One of the buyers puts an engine into a Lotus IX and he’s at a race a year later driving that car with that engine and he gets in a terrible wreck.
‘He survives, but his friend isn’t so lucky. His car had been fitted with the transaxle and his car slams into a bale of hay, and he does not survive the accident.’
Martin K.A. Morgan, author and historian, explained that Lucky B**tard’s transaxle survived the accident intact and so it was salvaged again.
Besides the transaxle, rumor has it that two of the tires from that car were said to have been on a vehicle in New York – but those tires blew too and the car veered off the road.
And if that wasn’t enough, Morgan revealed that yet another accident took place during a car show.
Remaining parts of the car were sold at auction and a string of deaths and incidents followed
‘Does the curse really exist?’ asked international antique dealer Billy Leroy
‘The body of James Dean’s Spyder goes on display in Sacramento,’ he said. ‘And, as the story goes, when it’s being put up on the display stand it rolls over and crushes a worker.’
The transaxle was then stored away for decades until 2021 when it was sold for a staggering $387,000.
American Pickers star Wolfe explained that this figure was way above the industry average, which he claimed was a couple thousand dollars.
Whether the curse is genuine is up for debate.
‘Does the curse really exist?’ asked international antique dealer Billy Leroy. ‘Doesn’t really matter because people are prepared to believe it.’
