September 30, 1955

[David J Marguglio]

50 years on Friday. There is a pretty good show on Speed this week about it and here is an interesting piece that I found on the subject.

http://www.hallowfreaks.com/cursed.html

I'm sure Martin has something special planned for the occasion.

[martinreinhardt]

David,

I will be watching SPEED for sure. Thanks for the link

But I am a little afraid of this September 30th. Normaly, I don't want to bore the forum with my life stories, but here it is anyway:

On September 30th 1993 I was on my way home from work to watch a special show on TV about James Dean and his death in his Porsche 550 Spyder on September 30, 1955.

Problem is I never saw the show that day. but instead I was involved in a bad crash with my Porsche 944 Turbo Cup on my way home. An Opel Kadett caused the accident by cutting me off doing a U-Turn on a hidden spot on top of a mountain pass in Switzerland. I hit the side of the Opel at approx 80mph, which cut the Opel in two pieces just below the windshield. I ended up being the only one injured in the accident and nearly paid the ultimate price. The problem wasn't the first impact, but the second one since my trip ended into the tracks of a kind of Cran/Bulldozer parked on the side of the road with the throttle stuck at all the way down and the wheels and brakes ripped off from the first impact. (The Bulldozer didn’t move by the way)

When I got back from the Hospital (I have no idea how I survived) I spoke to my parents to evtl. go to a language school to San Diego and enjoy live a bit traveling, which I did in 1994. In 1998 I decided to relocate to San Diego.


My guess James Dean would be driving a Carrera GT, since it is pretty much the 550 Spyder of today.

[Tim Comeau]

Saw the show last night....really fun footage of some early,early 356's.
Glad you made it through that one, Martin.

[Otto]

Martin:

I did not know you had such an accident but know now why you don't have your 944 Turbo Cup any more. We are all happy to hear however you made it thru that terrible ordeal.

[martinreinhardt]

Otto,

People do stupid things But at the time these cars were not that special especially in europe and were replaced with the 964 Cup Series. The car was rebuilt like new or better and I drove it until 1996 when I sold it for approx $15k with spares, broken from impact factory engine and 968 engine with a turbo in the car.

It was quite a car, but I wanted a new Boxster at the time, it was like a 550 Spyder . I receiced mine in March 1997 (one of the first onces delivered). Looking back it proably was not my smartest move since the 944 Cup cars are worth some money these days.

[TheStig]

I can tell you the short story of my haunted 928 S4!

When you sit inside it and close the door it has the tendency to lock itself, and you in it. The door also doesn't hold too well and if one of your legs isn't in the car, the door will slam itself on your leg. Scared ya yet? By the way, the only person that the car doesn't do this to is me

My dad's nickname for the car is......*drum roll*

CHRISTINE