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20th Century Man

Sharing beauty from the past
since 2012

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2023-10-03 01:03:35

    James Dean / September 30, 1955.

    Photo 1: Dean in front of Competition Motors at 1219 N. Vine St., Hollywood, in his Porsche 550 Spyder, nicknamed “Little Bastard”.

    Photo 2: with his mechanic, Rolf Wütherich, in front of Competition Motors, preparing to leave Hollywood for Salinas.

    Photo 3: Dean and Wütherich on their way.

    Photo 4: Dean, while stopping for gas at the Mobil Station on Ventura Blvd. in Sherman Oaks around 2:00 p.m., in a photo taken by Wütherich. Behind the Ford station wagon on the left can be seen the trailer originally planned to be used to transport the Porsche. It had been decided that Dean would drive the Porsche instead, to get some seat-time and put some mileage on the car.

    Photo 5: Dean and Wütherich later in the day.

    Photo 6: Ambulance attendants preparing to put Wütherich on a gurney, at the scene of the crash, near the junction of Route 466 and Route 41, outside Cholame, California, about twenty-five miles from Paso Robles. Photo from the San Luis Obispo Tribune.

    Dean had already been loaded into the ambulance. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the Paso Robles War Memorial Hospital at 6:20 pm.

    Rolf Wütherich survived his injuries only to die in his own crash 26 years later, in July 1981.