Rome
Samba Member
Joined: June 02, 2004
Photos: 4423
Location: Pearl River, NY
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| VW "heritage" in Porsche Spyder, "Autopsy: The last hours of James Dean" |
Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2020 8:06 am Views: 69
Rating: Not rated
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| TV show, 2018. A Los Angeles-based forensic pathology expert examines evidence of the circumstances and activities leading up to the tragic death of actor James Dean in 1955. Dean was involved in a major accident when driving his new Porsche 550 Spyder in central California. His German mechanic Rolf Wuetherich from the purchasing dealer Competition Motors (Hollywood, CA.) rode with him. as Dean was driving the car to a road race in Salinas, CA to enable the complicated, 4-cam "Fuhrmann" engine to break in. The recreation shows Dean first looking at the Porsche at the dealer which he bought only the week before. Unfortunately the car shown here is not a 550 Spyder, but a replica of its successor the 718 RSK Spyder. Note the '66-style VW wheel cooling slots. I've seen replicas of the RSK being either rear-engined, or more upscale versions using a mid-engine layout. The engine in this one has a red-painted VW doghouse fan shroud and air cleaners that appear to be the typical ones for Weber 34ICT single-throats. You can see the front swaybar, typical of Beetles as of 1960. There is also an old newsreel film segment where a '58+ golden-green Beetle (diamond green?) drives past a KFC. Shot of photo with Dean as boy with his parents has a Porsche Type 64 (Berlin-Rome racer) to the left! Period photo of Dean with the actual 550 Spyder, most likely at Competition Motors, has Beetles at left. Man at right is friend and driving coach Bill Hickman, who later became famous as the driver of the black Dodge Charger in the movie "Bullitt" (1968). |
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