As times go by, the living memories of the brief Hollywood star James Dean are fast fading. Those who remembered him are mostly gone. James Dean isn’t from my era, but 80s British pop trio Bros introduced me to him. Anyhoo, for those who remember, you can have a piece of the Rebel Without a Cause’s star, thanks to Amalgam Fine Model Cars. The premium scale car model maker has just dropped the Porsche 550 RS Spyder Little Bastard (1955) James Dean Figure Edition.
This collector’s grail captures Dean on a warm 1955 afternoon, looking every bit the cool icon who made even a roll-up cuff look dangerous. Paired with his doomed 550 Spyder, chassis 550-0055, the 1:8 scale model stretches over 45 cm (17 inches), complete with opening doors, trunk, and engine cover. The accompanying figure of Dean, standing 21 cm (8 inches), was digitally sculpted and hand-painted in Venice, and yes, every crease in his jacket is lovingly rendered.
Limited to just 30 pieces, each set includes a vintage Getty photo of Dean behind the wheel with mechanic Rolf Wutherich—moments before fate took its final curve on Route 466. It took over 4000 hours to develop this tribute and more than 400 hours to hand-build each unit. Yours for US$30,830.
The real car vanished in 1960 under mysterious circumstances, fueling decades of curse theories. This one won’t disappear—unless you blink and miss the order window. Anyhoo, the mysterious nature makes this 1:8 model particularly collector-worthy. But man. How rich did you have to be to shell out real car money for a scale model? Definitely out of league—no matter how big a fan I am of this star who had gone too soon. But it is OK that we cannot afford it because we have photos:
Images: Amalgam Fine Model Cars.