The Mystery of James Dean's Missing Porsche

Little Bastard

Arguably the most appropriate name ever for a car, the 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder that James Dean died in. The car also took the life of another man who ran the salvaged engine and chassis from the same vehicle. Strange, but not as strange as what ended up happening to the car itself…

image courtesy of jalopnik.com 

The Heist

Worth an enormous amount of money, the car was being transported from Miami to Los Angeles sometime during the 1960s when it was stolen from its shipping container. No leads were made in the case and it vanished without a trace. Rarely do thieves get away with things this expensive and notorious but whoever stole it had to have known something no one else did. An inside job? A lucky break? No one has made a peep about the car. Until a few years ago… 

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Odd Ends

In 2015, reports surfaced of a man who claimed to have had seen the car back when he was six years old and gave the Volo Auto Museum a tip regarding the car's whereabouts. Said gentleman—who remained anonymous—claimed that the car was stashed away behind a false wall in a building nestled away in Whatcom County. He was even given a polygraph test—which he passed. The story didn’t generate a lot of buzz and largely went unnoticed. This leads to some interesting conclusions.  

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Headline News

If the car was actually located here then someone would have likely uncovered it. As famous as this car and Dean were this would be virtually impossible to cover up or keep quiet. The fact that the car was never found after the only tip in decades was received is probably evidence that it has been destroyed. Then again, if you’re familiar with the Gardner Museum heist you know that some crimes like this actually do go unsolved. Who knows, maybe someone does have James Deans 550 sitting in a warehouse somewhere. 

image courtesy of flickr.com 

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Big Money

Volo Auto Museum put up a reward of $1,000,000 to anyone who knows the location of the car. Again, another reason why if it was still around someone more than likely would have said something by now. The biggest mystery is that no one conclusively found a damaged car so we will always wonder if it really does exist. 550 Spyders were among the rarest of most unique Porsche models ever manufactured so it’s a shame to lose one due to mindless theft. Oh well, you can always get a replica, right?

Thanks for reading. 

image courtesy of flickr.com

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