Ep 159: James Dean & Little Bastard – Collision Course Part 2

Above photo by Jill and Roger Pingleton, ©2016, All Rights Reserved

 
 

“If a man can bridge the gap between life and death, if he can live on after he's dead, then maybe he was a great man.”

– James Dean

 

Background:

The accident that killed James Dean was the end of his life, but it was the beginning of a legendary story about the curse of his Porsche, ‘Little Bastard.’ Parts from the car salvaged by amateur racing enthusiasts caused numerous injuries and the death of at least one man on the track. The broken shell of the car traveled around the country as part of a safety exhibition curated by legendary car customizer George Barris. Along the way, several trucks that hauled it crashed, in once case, killing the driver. The car fell apart several times while on display as well and injured bystanders. In this final episode of this series, we’ll take a look at the Curse of James Dean’s Porsche, and when the show is over, you can decide whether or not you believe in it. Of course, the thing to remember about curses is that they don’t particularly care if you believe in them or not.

 
 
 

Location:

James Dean’s gravesite at Park Cemetery in Fairmount, Indiana. The funeral was held on October 8, 1955, at the Fairmount Friends Church.

 

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CREDITS:

Episode 159: James Dean’s & Little Bastard – Collision Course Part 2.  Produced by Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess; Audio Editing by Sarah Vorhees Wendel & Zach Bair; Sound Design by Ryan McCullough; Tess Pfeifle, Producer and Lead Researcher; Research Support from the astonishing League of Astonishing Researchers, a.k.a. The Astonishing Research Corps, or "A.R.C." for short. Copyright 2019 Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Notable Figures, Folklore & Legend, Landmarks Objects & Structures, Unexplainable PhenomenaForrest BurgessJames Dean, East of Eden, Jimmy Dean, Rebel Without a Cause, Giant, Maila Nurmi, Ray Bradbury, Alec Guinness, Porsche, 550 Spyder, Crash, premonition, Cholame, California, California State Route 46, California State Route 41, State Route 466, Little Bastard, Lil' Bastard, Rolf Wütherich, Speedster, Racing, Auto Accident, Turnipseed, Memorial, Method Acting, Curse, George Barris, Batmobile, racing, drag racing, Finding Jack, CGI, Computer Graphics, Computer Generated Graphics, restored, posthumous, movie, motion picture, Virtual Reality, CG, Performance Capture, recreation, Computer Generated, Digital, Fletcher Carson, Anton Ernst, Tati Golykh, Warner, Gig Young, 20192 Comments