Legendary Lost Cars

Cool link (below) about the reconstruction of the crash. See the bottom of the link for video animation of how they think the crash occurred according to a witness who was driving behind the 1950 Turnipseed Ford Coupe before it slammed into Dean's Porshe.

James Dean was enroute to an amateur road race in Salinas, coming from Los Angeles. He was driving his brand new 1955 Porsche Spyder 550, which he had just purchased for the purpose of his amateur racing activities. He was accompanied by Rolf Weutherich, a German mechanic, sent by Porsche to support new American owners of racing Porsches. They took a route that caused them to pass through Cholame, California on Highway 46. Shortly before the crash, Dean was pulled over by a CHP officer and ticketed for speeding.

At approximately 5:45 pm, Dean was westbound passing through the “Y“ intersection at Highway 41, one mile east of Cholame. At that point, Donald Turnipseed, driving a 1950 Ford business coupe, turned left in front of Dean, and the collision occurred. Dean was killed almost immediately, and Weutherich was ejected from the Porsche and found beside the drivers side of the car at final rest. Dean was found slumped against the passenger door, which sparked a long standing controversy about who was driving. Turnipseed rotated counter clockwise and slid sideways from impact to rest about 38 feet east of the impact point. Dean's Porsche traveled about 45 feet from impact to rest in a northerly direction. CHP officers attended the scene and took some photographs and basic measurements.

http://crashteams.com/Services/Special-Services/James-Dean/James-Dean-Accident-Reconstruction.html