As a few of you know, I've been hankerin' to own a Beck(Porsche replica) 550 Spyder for some time now, and have been reading up on these cars to catch up on any particulars regarding the ownership of these little beauties.
And as many of you know, back on September 30, 1955, James Dean, that icon of "The Rebel", was killed driving one of cars to a race being held in Monterey CA. I had heard that there was going to be somewhat of a 50th memorial celebration of his death on that same day and at the same place in the year 2005, and hearing that quite a few owners of these cars would be in attendance at the crossroads of CA Hwys 41 and 46, where he met his fate, I figured I'd ride the BA the 200 miles up to that central California spot, situated in basically "the middle of nowhere", to see if I could talk to these owners and get the in's and out's of their experience with these cars, firsthand.
When I pulled into this little roadside cafe that served as the central meeting-place for this shindig, there was this one guy there who quite a bit resembled the dead icon, and I found out that he was a computer programer who moonlights part-time as a James Dean impersonator in commercials and print adds. He was also wearing a copy of the red waist-length jacket made famous by Dean in the movie "Rebel Without A Cause".
50 years later, and to the exact date and time the notorious accident took place, this guy hopped into one of the owners' 550s and drove very near to the spot that it happened, and there were quite a few of what appeared to me to be professional photographers taking pictures of this event. So I took out my trusty(and cheap) little digital camera and took this shot.
I think it turned out pretty well. Kind of appears that "The Rebel" had returned for a moment to see what all the fuss was about......
Yep! As The Eagles said: He was too fast to live, and too young to die.
Cheers,
Dwight
(BTW...when I get one o' these little babies, don't worry...I'll try not to end up the same way)
