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Originally Posted by Grizzly
The mishaps surrounding the car continued until 1960, when the Porsche was loaned out for a safety exhibit in Miami, Florida. When the exhibit was over, the wreckage, en route to Los Angeles on a truck, mysteriously vanished. To this day, the "Little Bastard's" whereabouts are unknown. "[/I]
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This is without doubt one of the few remaining mysteries about the Dean 550. George Barris has at times said the car was shipped by truck back to CA. On other occasions he has said it was shipped back from Florida by rail. In either case, when the container was opened, it was empty. Barris has said he retained "Pinkerton's Detectives" to track down what happened to the car, to no avail.
My suspicious and cynical nature smells a rat. The man doesn't KNOW how it was shipped back from Florida??? One of the iconic cars in automobile history, and it disappears out of a locked box, and the owner has no idea what happened to it.
There is little doubt that by 1960, after the numerous mishaps at different shows, the Dean 550 was rapidly becoming a shapeless pile of wrinkled aluminum. It's days as a useful, and perhaps profitable, display prop were approaching an end.
Was it, by any chance
insured? Could it be that the best outcome was for the remains to "disappear", and a quiet insurance claim be collected as a final tribute to James Dean, the Hollywood legend?
I wonder?
Hybrid Mode
