The Death Car

James Dean’s 1955 Spyder 550 was the car he was driving when he was killed. The tragic event later gave rise to the rumor that the car was cursed when it later reportedly crushed the leg of a mechanic who was working on it and then also mysteriously went missing.

Reproduction Spyder 550. Via/ Wiki Commons
The Gräf & Stift Archduke Franz Ferdinansd was riding in when he was shot. Via/ Wiki Commons

The James Dean car myth bears a striking resemblance to the one involving the car of the assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The car that Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were riding in when assassinated in 1914 was a Gräf & Stift open-top 1911 model. That car was then involved in a number of accidents and deaths in the decades following WWI. It seemed anyone who purchased the car was destined for tragedy. The Gräf & Stift is now in the care of the Museum of Military History in Vienna. James Dean’s car has yet to be found.

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