To personalize the car, Dean enlisted friend and custom car painter Dean Jeffries to paint the number 130 on the hood, doors, and rear deck lid. But the Spyder bore more than a number—it carried the nickname “Little Bastard,” painted in script across the rear cowling. The nickname was reportedly born as a cheeky nod to Warner Bros. studio chief Jack L. Warner, who once called Dean a "little bastard" after a dispute on set. Dean embraced the defiant moniker as a badge of honor, hand-painting it onto his racing machine.
“Little Bastard” was part of Dean’s racing identity. But this Porsche carried a shadow. Prior to the tragic crash that claimed Dean’s life on September 30, 1955, British actor Sir Alec Guinness had an ominous warning about the Spyder’s sinister vibe, cautioning Dean not to drive it.
That fatal night, speeding along Route 46 en route to Salinas for the race, Dean collided head-on with a Ford Tudor at an intersection, instantly killing him. His mechanic, Rolf Wütherich, was thrown from the car and survived with severe injuries. The crash wrecked “Little Bastard,” but the Porsche’s story didn’t end there.
Stripped for parts, the “Little Bastard” segment by segment seemed cursed, with several people connected to it suffering misfortune or injury. Despite being declared a total loss, the Porsche chassis and parts passed through several owners and continued a macabre legacy, earning the “cursed car” legend that persists to this day.
James Dean’s Porsche 550 Spyder is forever woven into Hollywood lore. That day in 1955 when Jimmy got his keys marked the start of a legend that no race or film could ever outshine.
