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Tue Mar 10, 2009 4:34 am

gotowo wrote: don't know how much cred this shot has :? especially when there is no hole for the fuel filler :lol:

Nice wall art but its not bent enough,the numbers are painted way too small, the red flashes on top of the rear wings arn't recreated and does it even have "little bastard" logo?

Tue Mar 10, 2009 10:07 am

thats cool wall art.. has anyone on here seen the door from james deans spyder on display at the volo museum as i cant find any pics of it on the net anywhere.

Tue Mar 10, 2009 3:57 pm

Did you find this bit ?
Its not quite a door and I don't really see how it can be authenticated in the way claimed.

http://www.historicautoattractions.com/Pages/jamesdean.html

Tue Mar 10, 2009 7:27 pm

I agree with you. They claim this makes it real:

"It has been verified as being legitimate by a painter who used a special shade of green primer when he painted the actual car."

The car was brand new! The only painting it got was the lettering and numbers.
I can't remember, but the painter is well known. Who can remember?

Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:37 am

Dean Jeffries..

Wed Mar 11, 2009 10:09 am

where is that display to?

Wed Mar 11, 2009 1:49 pm

Its at Illinois Andy, here's the home page:

http://www.historicautoattractions.com/Pages/home.html

Wed Mar 11, 2009 2:32 pm

its interesting,not sure i believe its a part of the car,would be very hard to tell,i want to see a pic of the door on display at the volo museum but cant find any pics of it anywhere,theres rumors of the wreck in LA somewhere but i doubt it as its been missing for so long now,be interesting to see what bits will turn up and what bits george barris has if any.

Sat May 02, 2009 1:25 am

no one found his car yet?

Mon May 11, 2009 6:54 pm

cseely wrote: Wikipedia reports the vin number of the speedster as (Chassis number: 82621)

Not correct, the chassis number is 80126.

http://www.my356speedster.com/index.php?contentid=38&start=100&

Tue May 12, 2009 8:37 am

so james deans speedster is located in france,thats cool,would love to see a recent picture of it.

Tue May 12, 2009 3:27 pm

Bruce wrote: The title exists. Problem is, if you find the car, you don't own it.

This might not be entirely true. It should be like any other stolen car that has a 7 year statute of limitations. IF its considered a national treasure, another story. I guarentee if work leaked out the car sols for $25 mil, the IRS would find it in 10 sec flat for their cut. less sympathy than the mob and charge more juice.

Tue May 12, 2009 11:47 pm

xirxious wrote: Bruce wrote: The title exists. Problem is, if you find the car, you don't own it.
. It should be like any other stolen car that has a 7 year statute of limitations.
There's no such thing as a statute of limitations on a stolen car. Where do you get that crap?

Last year I read a story about a guy who's Porsche 356 was stolen in the late 60s. He just got it back last year.
Same happend to a woman who's 65 Mustang was stolen in 1970. Found and returned last year.

If James Dean's car was ever found, the current legal owner would have NO trouble taking possession. And whoever's been storing it all these years would have to do some 'splainin'

Wed May 13, 2009 8:27 am

They vary from state to state. If it was reported over x years (usually 7 to 12) ago, there is a set period of which they can't prosecute anymore. Maybe I misunderstood and that was just to be able to prosecute the person with the car. I had an issue with a Firebird I have that i got through the family of someone who had passed away. There was no info on the car in any Mich files and it had an incorrect title with it. I knew the family so I wasn't worried, but the officer who had to verify the VIN said 'It doesn't matter, if the car was stolen and has been stored for over xx years, the limitations have run out and the car can't be returned anyway..."

Murder and tax evasion are the only ones I knew of that do not have a limit of when they expire. I did some research and there have been many cars returned after decades, but it looks like the problem is usually tracking down old records. Only higher end cars that maintain registries would be easier to track down. Someone should be able to see if a stolen car report was actually made. The other issue is with insurance companies. IF they paid out for a claim, they own the item. There was a lot of them claiming rights to items lost on the Titanic.

I did some checking and they do return the cars. If it was bought within xx years by a new owner, they can go after the seller in civil court. The main problem was finding people after that long. Anything pre 1984 ish was on paper and they usually have long since got rid of the paperwork. The majority of cars do not increace exponentially in value over time, so it's sort of rare that it happens. There was an old wrecking yard near where I went to school that was found to have many cars parted out stolen in the 60's. These were big block cars and higher end muscle from back then. The current owner found that they were all stolen, but was told he could keep them. It may have been due to not being able to find the owners, that they were gutted (some of the hulks had very desirable VIN's) or there was no paperwork on them. I've no idea how they knew they were all stolen. There was a 1968 427 Impala frame/body I was going to buy at the time, but didn't because of the 'mystery' about where it came from. It was explained to me by a few people that should know, I would have no trouble keeping the car.....my mistake....

http://www.wheels.ca/article/19582

Thu May 14, 2009 12:25 am

xirxious wrote:
I did some checking and they do return the cars.

http://www.wheels.ca/article/19582
In other words, there's no statute of limitations on stolen cars. As demonstrated by your link.

Thu May 14, 2009 9:32 pm

I think that the confusion is that there is a statute of limitations on the crime so the criminal cannot be punished but this does not mean that the criminal ever owns what he stole.

Fri May 15, 2009 1:49 pm

The limit only applies to the punishment. If you steal a car, hide it for 7 years, then drive it, when you're caught, they just take the car back. They can't do anything to you. And that's IF they still have or can find a reference to it being stolen. Where I was from in Michigan, Vin numbers fall out of the computer after 5 years. Up until the last decade, with more detailed databases, the records usually were not saved and very hard to find. Because of this, people usually did get to keep the car, but only because no one knew. Strange, it was explained incorrectly to me by several people. The dozen or so people i asked this week all thought the same thing! Of course they wanted to know WHY I was asking...........

I live in Washington now and you have to get caught 7 (literally 7) times with a stolen car before you do time. Joy-riding is rampant and they find abandoned cars in all the large parking lots.

Bruce wrote: xirxious wrote:
I did some checking and they do return the cars.

http://www.wheels.ca/article/19582
In other words, there's no statute of limitations on stolen cars. As demonstrated by your link.

Fri Jun 19, 2009 6:03 pm

DMNCLNR wrote: 53 0val wrote: The car everybody is looking for is his Speedster that he sold to by the Spyder. :wink: Didnt someone offer a $5000 dollar reward for just the location of the car, if it could actually be verified as that car, and on top of that an additional 25k if he ended up buying it? Dean's Super Speedster was bought by his buddy (and insurance agent) Lew Bracker from Competition Motors the day after Dean traded it in for the Spyder. Bracker traded his own red Speedster for it, and raced it until he traded it in for a Carerra Speedster (Competition Motors again) in 1957. Where it went after it left their used car lot is not known, at least publicly. Makes for a neat mystery. Bracker's red Speedster supposedly got Dean interested in Porsches in the first place.

Lee Raskin's book is a great read. He did a great job researching not only Dean's cars, but all of his motorcycles as well. I'm a long time Dean fan and love old sports cars and motorcycles.

If the Speedster can be found, I suspect Dean's cousin Marcus Winslow can find it. He runs the JD 'empire'. Dean's Triumph TR5 motorcycle was lost for over 40 years until Winslow hired a private detective who was able to locate it. Winslow bought and restored it. It's on display at the museum in Fairmount, IN. The History Channel featured it in an episode of their 'History's Lost and Found' series.
It sure would be neat to see the Speedster there some day as well.
Winslow has offered a $25K reward for years for "the discovery, the authenticity, and the right to purchase the complete Porsche Speedster." Something tells me he'll have to increase the amount a lot (if he hasn't already) if he wants to find it.

Didn't mean to ramble, but it's a subject I've been interested for years.
I heard many years ago that the aluminum bodies on the 550s were so thin, you could bend them with your hands. Anybody know if that's true? :?:

Ronny Bailey
Dreaming of a Convertible D or Continental (even a replica)

Tue Jul 14, 2009 12:35 am

I read this thread over on Pelican http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?t=385299&highlight=dean

Fri Aug 07, 2009 8:24 pm

I was interested in the photo deemed a possible fake. I found another angle and it seems the car was moved into a different position. One of those cars in the background was the car that hit Deans 550. I have a background in Graphic Design and somtimes a real photo can look "fake". below is a link to the site @ which I found the picture.

http://deathofjamesdean.com/death-of-james-dean-donald-turnupseed.htm