The Motorcycles of James Dean; First and Last

The Motorcycles of James Dean; First and Last
by Laurie Rockwell

If James Dean was still with us today he would have been 77 years of age on 8 February 2008. Marilyn Munroe would have been 82 years of age on 1 June 2008 and Elvis Presley would have been 73 years of age on 8 January 2008. Like Marilyn Munroe and Elvis Presley, James Dean continues to be an icon in popular culture through re-runs of movies, posters, pictures, music and the sales of assorted memorabilia.

All three will be forever young – James Dean, the youngest of all.

James Byron Dean was born in the farm country of Marion, Indiana, USA, but grew up in nearby Fairmount which is 60 miles north of Indianapolis. When he was six years-old the family moved to Santa Monica, California. Dean’s mother died from cancer when he was nine, and since his father couldn’t care for his son alone, Dean was sent back to Fairmount to live with his uncle. After high school graduation Dean moved back to California to live with his father and step-mother and to attend UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles).

His first experiences with a motorized two-wheeled vehicle were in 1945 on a Whizzer – which was basically a balloon-tired Schwinn bicycle with a 2 hp gasoline engine under the cross bar. On a good day, with the wind at your back, the Whizzer could hit 30 mph (50 kph) and the daring 14 year-old tested its limits every chance he could.

When Dean turned 15, his uncle and guardian, Marcus Winslow Sr., gave him a 1947 CZ 125cc motorcycle purchased from a local Indian Motorcycles dealer, Marvin Carter, just one-quarter of a mile down the road from where they lived. This was a favourite place for Dean to hang out when he was growing up.

In the saddle of the CZ young Jimmy became hell on wheels. He only knew one speed and that was wide open! He would frequently lay prone on the bike and crank the throttle hard to the stop and hold it there. He seemed to be copying Rollie Free who set a land speed record in that position at Bonneville in 1948 on a Vincent Black Shadow clad only in swimming trunks.

When Dean graduated from high school his uncle gave him a trip to the Indianapolis 500 auto race as a graduation present and as a send-off prior to his move back to California. Dean certainly loved speed and racing and the spectacle and excitement of the 500 seemed to cement racing in his blood.

Dean became restless and bored with university and soon dropped out of UCLA. Acting was also in his blood and he set his sights on that as a career. He supported himself through small acting roles on television and doing commercials in Hollywood, but he later moved to New York to totally immerse himself in stage acting.

Fairmount was still home to Dean and were his roots were and he frequently returned there for holidays and Christmas. It was on one of those winter respites in 1953 that the 21 year-old actor traded the CZ in on a Royal Enfield 500cc twin. Although Marvin Carter warned him to not over-stress the freshly rebuild engine he instead bundled himself up and set off for New York at top speed in the dead of winter. He made it to Harrisburg on the Pennsylvania Turnpike before the engine threw a valve.

The nearest motorcycle dealership that could repair the RE was Huntzinger’s Indian Motorcycle Sales & Service in Harrisburg. The bike was hauled there for repairs and as Dean was casually looking over the bikes in the showroom he spotted a maroon and gold-striped 1952 Indian Warrior TT prominently displayed in the shop window. It was love at first sight! Dean negotiated a trade for the damaged Royal Enfield, his agent in New York wired him the money, and the bike was his.

Back in New York with the Indian motorcycle, Dean stored it at a Greenwich Village garage where budding actor, Steve McQueen, worked as a part-time motorcycle mechanic. The two became “fast” friends in every sense of the word.

Not long after returning to New York, Dean was hired by film director Elia Kazan to appear in the film, East of Eden. Kazan had watched Dean’s performances in a few stage plays and knew he was perfect for the role. Dean had played small roles in a few other movies, but his was to be his first major motion picture. To celebrate, Dean took Kazan for a wild ride down Broadway on his Indian. Kazan passed away in 2003 at age 94, but that was a ride he didn’t forget for the rest of his life!

Dean signed a long-term contact with Warner Brothers in Los Angeles and moved there permanently. He used some of his salary advance to buy a Palomino horse, then a used and race-prepared MG TD, followed by a Ford Country Squire “Woodie” station wagon as a daily driver. It’s not known what happened to Dean’s Indian motorcycle, but his next motorcycle purchase was a shell blue 1955 Triumph Tiger 110.

After East of Eden had wrapped he traded in his T110 for a 1955 Triumph TR5 Trophy at Ted Evans Motorcycles in Culver City. It was also the shell blue colour, but Dean soon customized it to suit himself. He fitted Flanders high handlebars, a straight-through off-road high exhaust pipe with no muffler, knobby tires, and a single 6T-type spring seat with a pillion seat bolted to the rear fender; backwards, the way Marlon Brando had the pillion seat on his Triumph Thunderbird in The Wild One.

East of Eden was a financial and critical success and the young actor was on top of the world. He had fame and money and all those things that fame and money can bring, but two years later his fame and notoriety would soar to new heights.

In the meantime Dean had filmed Rebel Without a Cause and co-stared in the epic move, Giant, with Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor. His rapidly growing success gave James Dean the financial means to indulge in more exotic, expensive and faster machines.

When not filming movies Dean competed in sports car road races throughout California and won several first and second place trophies. He was a talented and daring driver and not just some moneyed Hollywood celebrity who showed up to attract attention.

His racing successes moved Dean to replace the red MG with a white 1955 Porsche 356 Super Speedster. Encouraged by more racing successes, the Speedster was later replaced by a 1955 silver-gray Porsche 550 Spyder (one of only 90 made that year), and the vehicle in which he lost his life on 30 September 1955 at age 24. He was driving to a race with his mechanic when a car turned left into him at an intersection near the town of Cholame, California. Dean was killed instantly, but his mechanic survived the crash.

In an odd twist of fate, Rebel Without a Cause was released to theatres 27 days after Dean’s death. Giant was not released until 24 November 1956. East of Eden had established James Dean as a legitimate Hollywood actor, but these two movies would make him the American cultural icon he still is today.

Ironically, three other cast members of Rebel Without a Cause, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo and Nick Adams all met violent deaths through drowning, murder and suicide in later years. Jim Backus (who played Dean’s father in Rebel), died from pneumonia in 1989. Of the 22 principal cast members in the movie, only 10 are living today.

In the late 1980’s, Dean’s cousin, Marcus Winslow Jr., went on a quest to locate the 1955 TR5 Triumph Trophy and have it put on display in Fairmount as a tourist attraction. After Dean’s death, his father, Winton Dean, tried to sell the bike, but didn’t advertise who the original owner was. Prospective buyers didn’t like the straight pipe or the knobby tires. To them it was just another motorcycle which were a dime a dozen in California. Realizing that the bike wouldn’t sell privately, Winton Dean sold it back to the original dealer, Ted Evans Motorcycles.

It was with the help of Ted Evans that the Triumph was traced to a man in Minnesota who had raced it and it was now heavily modified for that purpose. Through estate papers and VIN numbers it was verified that this was indeed James Dean’s Triumph. Winslow Jr. bought the bike and had it restored to as-new condition, but in the same configuration as Dean had customized it for himself.

Dean’s first bike, the 1947 CZ, was painted yellow and sold by Marvin Carter after it was traded in. By chance the bike was traded back to Carter a few years later. He still had the CZ and gave it to Winslow Jr. for the James Dean collection. For a time it was put on display at Paramount Studios in LA before returning to Fairmount.

The CZ was not restored but displayed as is. Both bikes were put on display at the Fairmount, Indiana, Historical Museum along with a large assortment of James Dean artifacts – even the bathroom sink from his New York apartment! The TR5 remains on display at the museum, but in 2005 the CZ was acquired by the Museum of History & Art in Bellingham, WA, where it remains on permanent display.

James Dean is buried in Fairmount, Indiana, and his gravestone has been stolen twice and vandalized many times by adoring fans wanting pieces of it. A memorial has been erected in Cholame about 900 yards (981m) from the crash site that took his life. In September 2005, on the 50th anniversary of Dean’s death, that section of California highway near Cholame was named The James Dean Memorial Highway.

The wrecked Porsche Spyder was bought by California car customizer, George Barris, for the sum of $2,500.00. Barris frequently took the credit for the number 130 and “Little Bastard” hand-painted painted on the rear of the Porsche, but it was actually Dean Jefferies (car customizer to Hollywood and the stars – now 79 years-old) who did the painting.

Barris sold the engine and drive-line to some amateur racers and over the next few years the shell of the Spyder was loaned to the California Highway Patrol and to schools for highway safety campaigns. Barris was often reluctant to let the remains of the car out of his sight, but these were worthwhile projects and gave in after repeated requests and assurances that the remains would be respected.

In 1959, Barris loaned the car shell for a highway safety display in Miami, Florida. In 1960, the display collapsed without warning and the shell of the Spyder was broken into many pieces. Barris was so furious that he ordered it boxed up and immediately shipped back to Los Angeles. Somewhere between Miami and the return trip to the Barris garage, the Spyder mysteriously vanished.

It has never been seen since.