Unpublished photos of James Dean’s fatal California car crash go up for auction
Never-before-released photos of the crash that killed actor James Dean are going up for auction in August.
The unpublished photos, which were used in a court case, are expected to fetch $20,000 at auction, according to RR Auction.
Dean and his mechanic, Rolf Wutherich, were en route to a car race in Salinas on Sept. 30, 1955, when the fatal crash occurred.
As Dean and Wutherich drove west on the now-nonexistent Route 466 toward Route 41, near the intersection of present-day Highways 46 and 41 northeast of Paso Robles, Cal Poly student Donald Turnupseed pulled his Ford Tudor in front of Dean’s Porsche 550 Spyder.
The resulting collision ended Dean’s life at age 24.
According to RR Auction’s website, the collection of 30 glossy, black-and-white photos includes 12 overhead views of the junction where the crash occurred and 18 “ground-level” photos of the spot complete with “fresh skid marks.”
There are also nine pictures showing the “terrifying aftermath” of the crash, including Dean and Turnupseed’s “mangled automobiles,” RR Auction says.
Dean’s “significantly damaged” 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, with its “Little Bastard” sticker and No. 130 racing number, is visible in six of them.
Penciled on the back of some of those photos is “Wutherich vs. Turnupseed-Dean-Coulter,” referring Wutherich’s attempt to sue the insurance companies of Dean and Turnsupseed for injuries the mechanic sustained in the crash including “a double fractured jaw and a severely torn left hip,” according to RR Auction.
That lawsuit never came to fruition, but Turnupseed’s attorney, Robert Everett Coyle, held on the photos used in the court case, the auction house said.
“Being a history buff, (he) made sure they were not destroyed,” reads a signed letter of provenance from Coyle’s son, Robert A. Coyle.
“The early death of James Dean reverberates to this day,” Bobby Livingston, RR Auction executive vice president, told CNN. “These images offer an intensely unique perspective of the crash location and the resulting carnage — many of the photos taken only hours after the accident.”
The pictures are sure to attract the attention of movie buffs, who have made the site of Dean’s fatal crash a popular pilgrimage spot.
Japanese businessman Seita Ohnishi erected a memorial to the star of “Rebel Without a Cause” and “East of Eden” near the crash site in Cholame, an unincorporated community northeast of Paso Robles, in 1977.
Two signs noting “James Dean Memorial Junction” were placed at the present-day Cholame “Y” intersection of Highways 41 and 46 in 2005.
The James Dean photo collection goes up for bid as part of RR Auction’s Pop Culture Auction on Aug. 8, with the auction ending Aug. 15.
