The final stretch of James Dean, the shooting star of cinema

data-modal-image-caption=A car and racing enthusiast, actor James Dean had just bought a Porsche 550 Spyder. Before heading to Salinas, where he was due to take part in a race, he stopped at a gas station in Los Angeles. data-modal-image-credit=PHOTOSHOT/MAXPPP>
Every day, Le Figaro recounts the fatal car accident of a celebrity. Today, the story of the American actor who was killed at the wheel of a Porsche 550 Spyder on September 30, 1955.
Youth, who believed themselves eternal, left their innocence and dreams on Route 466. James Dean, their idol, lost his life there on September 30, 1955, in the late afternoon. In the Cholame Creek Valley where only a few pickups and trucks cross. A shame for the Hollywood hunk who had filmed Rebel Without a Cause . Leaving Los Angeles at dawn with racing mechanic Rolf Wütherich, he was heading to Salinas, near Monterey, to participate in a car race at the wheel of his latest acquisition, the new Porsche 550 racing spyder: less than 600 kg of aluminum for a power of nearly 160 hp. Initially, it had been planned to transport the steel gray car on a trailer pulled by Bill Hickman's Ford station wagon, but the German mechanic had recommended that Dean go by road. It was the best way to test and get to grips with the brand-new Spyder he had just acquired. A real racing car compared to…
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