In high school, I developed a fairly serious interest in James Dean. Not sure why, I think it was the youthful death and the racing and, of course, the Hollywood side. But he was mysterious, which I loved. A lot of people knew about him, some even knew a lot about him, but very, very few people knew him. Actually knew him. Everything they knew seemed to be published information, available to the general public. So, we all ‘knew’ him. But what did we know? Not much. So, I dug in and found out all kinds of cool little tidbits, and still love finding out more as life unfolds. (Just like this episode of Break/Fix podcast below with the world’s foremost expert on all things James Dean, take a listen!)
For example, and I wrote about this in a column, years back, but the term “Little Bastard” painted on the back of the Porsche 550 Spyder he was killed in was a term of endearment given to him by the guy James Dean referred to as “Big Bastard.” This guy was his friend and racing coach, Bill Hickman – his name might be vaguely familiar, but he’s absolutely well known as the driver of the black Dodge Charger in “Bullitt.” Oddly, or maybe not, I began collecting Hickman stuff in the past 10 years too, “Hollywood’s Wheelman.” He could get a car to do just about anything, incredible skills. Anyway, through the years, I’ve amassed quite a little collection of James Dean pieces, nothing terribly valuable, but unique. Old books about him, a replica of his license plate on the 550, a copy of the speeding ticket he got on the day he was killed, a pen, and who knows what else. For the most part, I’ve been gathering the James Dean pieces together in one place, which has been a chore, but a fun one. Of course, when I set out to find things, they’re unavailable – they turn up by accident, so I don’t push myself too hard. But the bottom line is, I think I’m going to sell this collection within my collection. I’ve enjoyed it. I know everything I want to know about him and now, 30 years after my interest began, I’m kind of over it. Time to move it along to the next caretaker. Anybody else do this?
In that same vein, this issue meets with Morphy Auctions, who’s got an event coming up packed with things I think any of us would love to have, and Luna Replicas, who began making exquisite knockoffs of NASA originals and expanded into motorsports. In fact, they produced the apparel seen in “Ford v Ferrari.” Good stuff all around – stuff to fill the void of the old James Dean collection. Thanks for stopping by – enjoy!
Thanks for stopping by!
