. Resend Activation Email. To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button. The driver of that car was a college student by the name of Donald Turnupseed and he was only injured in the crash. what happened to donald turnupseed carBy, May 20, 2021 . Donald G. Turnupseed was the driver of the car that collided with Dean's, not Harold Turnupseed. Some almost different voice and I said, Look, I wont join your table unless you want me to, but I must say something: Please do not get into that car, because if you do and I looked at my watch and I said, if you get into that car at all, its now Friday, 10 oclock at night and by 10 oclock at night next Friday, youll be dead if you get into that car. What became of James Deans car after the accident? Dean laughed it off and set about preparing the car for the Salinas sports car races with his Porsche mechanic Rolf Wtherich. Ironically, in this film, we see Dean go from a young man to an old man on screen. As you drive west on the last mile to the crash site and look off to your left and you can still see whats left of the original two-lane road. redesign. forerunner ventures portfolio . Try again later. Dean tried to swerve, but collided almost head on with Turnupseed's 1950 Ford Tudor. One shot is of Turnupseed's wrecked Ford Tudor sedan, which collided with Dean's car almost head-on; the other two show the shattered remains of Dean's 1955 Porsche . Are you sure that you want to delete this memorial? Dean was barreling down Route 466 at an estimated 85 mph when a young Cal Poly student named Donald Turnupseed, driving a Ford Tudor, decided to make a sudden turn on to Route 41. Weve updated the security on the site. Photos of late actor James Dean's fatal car accident that were to be used in court are going to auction in August and are expected to bring in $20,000. The Spyder struck the Ford. Poor Donald simply did not see the Sypder coming because of the condition presented by the narrow road and setting sun. The email does not appear to be a valid email address. Police pulled over the convoy and issued a pair of speeding tickets just outside Bakersfield. 90 Day Fiance Stars Weve Lost Over the Years, Still Together? Turnupseed was only slightly injured with facial bruises and a bloodied nose. I refer you once again to the web page I cited. Two Friendly Ghosts: Directed by Parker Ellerman. Dean was the unwilling recipient of a steering wheel and dash, while his luckier passenger was ejected from the car. The idea that lights don't help in the daytime is justplain nonsense. Try again later. I do think a look at the level of damage sustained by the cars doeslead away from the old story that Dean was doing 100 or more at thetime of the crash. Dean was in route to a race inSalinas. He then beat on the aluminum panels with a 24 to try to mimic collision damage. Dean's vehicle crashed into a Ford Tudor, driven by 23-year-old Donald Turnupseed. You said much the same thing here when we discussed this in 1999. It was a>> light gray color, and the time of the accident was dusk. This evidence consists ofwhere the cars came to rest, and the level of damage they sustained inthe collision. It is not known exactly how Barris knew Eschrich, but in late-1956, Barris announced that he would rebuild the Porsche. Verify and try again. You can always change this later in your Account settings. The. . Shortly after the crash, publicity monger and self-proclaimed King of Kustoms George Barris bought the Spyder, promising to rebuild it. He lived almost 40 years after this accident, and gave only one interview, and that was a day after the accident, and that to his local paper. As they left the restaurant, Guinness heard the sound of running, sneakered feet behind them. Details of James Deans last hours on earth have been well documented but are worth revisiting. According to the postmortem report, it is believed that Dean's head impacted with the front grill of the other car. We didnt like him because he had all of the girls in the room fawning all over him and we couldnt get a dance. they said. By They remarked that when the young method actor returned to Fairmount after making a Pepsi commercial and a bit part on TV, Dean attended a high school dance. Dean died in a car crash nearly 65 years ago (September 30, 1955) but he remains a fixture on the pop culture landscape as the gold standard of cool. The group gathered for coffee and donuts at the Hollywood Ranch Market on Vine Street before leaving around 1:15 p.m. Paggi said. Oddly, I happen to have a copy of Dean's death certificate as Iknow some of the men who signed it (not my Dad, though). Nelson arrived just in time to see an unconscious and dying Dean being placed into an ambulance. at Beverly Glen Blvd. Dean was driving directly intothe sun. Jack Elsom For Mailonline Dean unleashed his Porsche 550 and left Hickman and the Ford station wagon far behind. From the location of the vehicles and the damage to thecars, an engineer working for Failure Analysis Inc. calculated thatDean was in fact not speeding at the time the two cars hit. The Best Celebrity Bikini Moments of 2023 So Far, Pretty Young Thing! Sign up for the latest automotive news and videosin short, everything for people who love cars. Turnupseed, 2nd driver in James Dean crash, dies at 63, Tularean built family electric business as he resisted publicity for 40years. In the wake of Deans death Turnupseed was quickly forgotten. 46 toward the junction. On the other hand, getting aticket does have a way of gentling you down for a while. A copy is posted here in Woodland at Chubby's Diner with other Dean> memorabilia. Try again later. The sheer velocity of the impact flipped Dean's car . Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel. Stop sign or not,though, Turnupseed turned into Dean's lane; there were skid marks toprove it. James Deans death cemented his reputation as a rebel and an icon of the 1950s. Turnupseed made a left turn in front of Dean's car as Dean was approaching an intersection. The Fresno Bee followed up with a newspaper story exactly two months later, stating that the fire occurred on the night of March 11 and only slight damage occurred to the Spyder without any damage to other cars or property in the garage. 23F, a 1954 Porsche Speedster. Answer (1 of 2): It would appear that the accident investigation came to no conclusion as to blame, in part possibly due to Dean's speed at the time, the small profile of Dean's car, and questionable light conditions. Shortly before the accident, Dean, dressed as his cowboy character from Giant, filmed a road safety television spot with Hollywood star Gig Young. Cant get much more California than that now can you? Imagine that, killing James Dean and never wanting to talk about it. The impact sent the Ford almost 40 feet down the road and ejected Wtherich from the Porsche. If you pull off to the side of the road, its still possible to walk on part of the crumbling pavement, with weeds sprouting in the middle, and imagine that little silver Porsche speeding past. Seems that retrospectively, Deans death, like his life, can easily get lost in the legend. 85mph. It was a very, very odd, spooky experience. The man behind the wheel of the car that killed James Dean. As the two cars converged on to the junction, the Ford veered over the centerline to turn left. what happened to donald turnupseed car. Today, the intersection has been widened and theres a left-turn lane to access Highway 41 requiring a stop and a 90-degree turn. Dean died instantly. Dean was driving around 55-60 miles per hour. Photo from James Dean: On The Road To Salinas, 2015 / Lee Raskin archives. Thanks, Shirley, but I don't think I get that channel! The car itself is a thing of absolute beauty, and its speed and power were enough to lure Dean into making a deal for it. How> could the sun be setting behind him? Dean, star of "East of Eden" and "Rebel Without a Cause" in 1955 and"Giant in 1956, died in an ambulance headed for a Paso Robles hospital.His mechanic, Rolf Wuetherich, was seriously injured but recovered.Wuetherich died in 1981 in a car crash in West Germany. Maybe I'm tripping on that. Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. Dean was pronounced dead on arrival at the Paso Robles War Memorial hospital at 6.20pm.