VIN: James Dean's Porsche 356 A 1500 Super Speedster chassis 80126
Porsche - Porsche 356 - Porsche VINs - 356 VINs - James Dean - Lew Bracker - Actors
History of chassis 80126
The car most closely associated with James Dean was the Porsche 550 he acquired in September 1955 (chassis 0055). However, his introduction to the German marque came six months beforehand.
Fresh from his Oscar-nominated role in East of Eden, Dean was about to start filming his second Hollywood movie, Rebel Without a Cause.
Unbeknown to Warner Brothers (who had signed the actor on a multi-picture deal), Dean had decided he wanted to take up motor racing.
Two days before filming started, he lined up for his first event; a six lap Preliminary race for under 1.5-litre production cars at the Palm Springs airfield circuit.
His car was a brand new 356 A Speedster purchased a couple of weeks beforehand from Competition Motors, the Porsche dealership in Hollywood owned by John von Neumann. Equipped with the top level 1500cc Super engine and mesh headlight guards, the white over black Porsche bore chassis number 80126 and registration ZU73378.
By the time he arrived at Palm Springs on March 26th, Dean had already racked up over 1000 miles on the mountain roads of Santa Monica.
The Palm Springs event was organised by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and the Speedster was the ideal car for its under 1500cc F Production class.
In his first race, Dean took the lead and held on until the chequered flag. Victory meant he also qualified for the 27 lap main event the next day where under 1500cc production machinery ran alongside modified cars of a similar displacement.
Dean finished third overall behind the modified MG Specials of Ken Miles and Cy Yedor. He won the production class and was later promoted to second overall when Miles was disqualified for an infraction.
Mid-way through filming Rebel Without a Cause, Dean entered the Speedster for his next race which would be held at the Minter army air field base in Bakersfield.
This was an SCCA National level meet and the six-lap Preliminary on April 30th was open to production and modified cars of up to 1500cc. Dean finished third overall to win the production class behind the modified MG Special of Joe Playan and the Devin-Panhard of Jean-Pierre Kunstle.
This result meant he qualified for the following day’s main event, a 25 lap race with a packed field of machinery.
On the Sunday, Dean was beaten to production class honours by Springer Jones in another Super-engined 356 Speedster. Jones and Dean had diced for much of the race and eventually finished eighth and ninth overall respectively. Dean was second in the production class while outright victory went to John von Neumann in a Porsche 550.
By the end of May, Rebel Without a Cause was in post-production and Dean’s next movie, Giant, had just got underway.
He entered the 356 for an SCCA Regional event at the Santa Barbara airfield on Saturday May 28th but had to miss his Preliminary as he was working at the Warner Brothers studios.
Dean nevertheless took the three-hour drive up the following Sunday and contested a ten lap under 1500cc production car race. Having missed practice, he started well down the field (18th) and had to finish in the top three to qualify for the afternoon’s main event. By the fifth lap, he was up to fourth but the little Porsche then suffered a piston failure and retired.
When Giant director, George Stevens Sr., found out that Dean had been at Santa Barbara, he ordered the young actor not to race again until filming had finished.
Dean agreed, but began the search for a quicker car with which to compete at summer’s end.
On September 21st (the day before Giant wrapped), Dean traded the 356 plus $3000 in cash for a new Porsche 550 his friend Lew Bracker had seen at Competition Motors.
That day, Dean took the 550 to show Bracker who promptly went out and traded his normal-engined Speedster for Dean’s lightly used Super example.
Bracker used 80126 as an everyday car for a while before trading it against a black four-cam Speedster Carrera.
What happened next is a mystery; chassis 80126 faded into obscurity and is yet to be discovered...
Notable History
Dispatched to John von Neumann, Competition Motors, 1219 Vine Street, Hollywood, California
03/1955 sold to James Dean, 14611 Sutton Street, Sherman Oaks, California
Registered ZU73378
26/03/1955 SCA Regional Palm Springs Preliminary (J. Dean) 1st oa, 1st FP class (#23)
27/03/1955 SCA Regional Palm Springs (J. Dean) 2nd oa, 1st class FP class (#23)
30/04/1955 SCA National Bakersfield Preliminary (J. Dean) 3rd oa, 1st FP class (#123)
01/05/1955 SCA National Bakersfield (J. Dean) 9th oa, 2nd FP class (#123)
28/05/1955 SCA Regional Santa Barbara Preliminary (J. Dean) DNS (#33)
29/05/1955 SCA Regional Santa Barbara (J. Dean) DNF (#33)
21/09/1955 traded in at Competition Motors plus $3000 cash against a new Porsche 550 (chassis 0055)
Sold to Dean’s friend Lew Bracker who part-exchanged his red 356 A Speedster
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Warner Bros. - https://www.warnerbros.com
