James Dean was a popular American actor, regarded as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment of the 20th Century.
History
Career and Later Life
James Dean was a famous movie star in the 1950s, who developed an interest in car races and trained as a driver. On 30 September, 1955, Dean was driving his Porsche Spyder 550, (which he nicknamed "Little Bastard") towards Salinas, the location of a scheduled race. He was passing through a seemingly empty area when a speeding Ford Custom took a turn from a nearby junction. His silvery porsche crashed, instantly killing the moody and restless young star.[1]
Curse on Wheels
James Dean in his post-life
Dean died in that fiery crash, but his car lived on, and in its path there stretched 13 years of compounded death and destruction. After the crash, the car was bought by a man who had serviced it for Dean. But a moment later and in a manner never explained, the car jumped the safety blocks. Both the worker's legs were broken in that bizarre accident. The car was sold to Dr. William Eschrid of Burbank, who dismantled its engine and mechanical parts and installed the Porsche four-cam engine in his Lotus IX race car chassis.[1]
The engine was sold to Dr. Troy McHenry, a racing car enthusiast from Beverly Hills, but while an experienced driver, the doctor somehow lost control during a race and was fatally injured, and Eschrid was hurt in the same race, when his car containing the driving chain from Dean's porsche flipped over. A few weeks later, the car's body was being trucked to Salinas, which had been Dean's destination on the day he died.[1]
The sudden swerve and stop caused the cab door to fly open, sending the driver hurtling. Dean's car broke loose, and the curse --if curse it was, claimed one more victim. But the unmarred vehicle continued its path to destruction. For during an ironic trip to a highway safety display in Oakland, the car once again wrenched free of its moorings and rolled down the steep incline onto a major highway, resulting in a multiple crash. In 1958, in Oregon, while on exhibit the car again slipped its emergency brake, and 13 years after Dean's death, en route from Florida to California, the car seemingly vanished in thin air.[1]
Powers and Abilities
Abilities
Paraphernalia
Transportation
Notes
- This character is a fictional representation of James Dean, a real person. More information on this person can be found at Wikipedia.org.
Related
- 2 Appearances of James Dean (New Earth)
- 3 Images featuring James Dean (New Earth)
- Quotations by or about James Dean (New Earth)
- Character Gallery: James Dean (New Earth)
Footnotes