10 replies to this topic

[cabianca]

As we stumble toward the 50th anniversary of James Dean's fatal crash in a Porsche 550, I'm doing a little research. His passenger was German mechanic, Rolf Weutherich. Weuthrich survived the Dean crash, but later perished in an automobile crash of his own in Germany. Does anyone have details of this crash, including the date? Google's not cooperating.

[conjohn]

Try Rolf Wütherich instead... and increase the number of hits sevenfold.

[ReWind]

The correct spelling of his name should help:

http://www.sfsite.co...erag/rebel.html
http://www.thursdayfile.ca/tf/259/tis/
http://www.kn.p-net..../dean/dean.html

Edit: Oops, Conny was faster than me...

[cabianca]

Many thanks. I think the American press added the e because they did not have a u with an umlat to use.

[uechtel]

yes, but then it is of course Wuetherich.

[P 4 Staff]

Well...at the accident...Rolf was luckuly thrown out of the car. Whitch apparently saved his life.
To my knowledge...either Rolf or Donald has ever spoken of the accident.





Staff.

[Nanni Dietrich]

Was he the same Rolf Wuetherich, second at the 1965 Montecarlo Rally, co-driver of Eugen Boehringer in a Porsche 904 ? or winner of the 1966 Deutschland Rally, co-driver of Gunther Klass?

[jarama]

Yes, he was the same man. He was usually navigator by the mid-fifties and early sixties.


Carles.

[Nordic1]

A film about the life of James Dean is being put togeather. This is from the web page.....


"To mark the 50th anniversary of James Dean's death, Zig Zag Productions are currently making a tribute documentary for Channel 5 UK and National Geographic USA. The documentary will be shot on High Definition, focusing on Dean's love of sports cars and racing, a successful side of his life not so publicly recognized, while using fresh science to analyze the controversial events that led to his death" www.zigzag.uk.com

The production company is looking for a 550 to help with the filming in the US in april.

[Rosemayer]

They should look at a Beck Spyder.

[ReWind]

Originally posted by cabianca
Rolf Weutherich survived the Dean crash, but later perished in an automobile crash of his own in Germany. Does anyone have details of this crash, including the date? Google's not cooperating.

The crash happened late on Monday evening, July 20th, 1981 in the town of Kupferzell. This is a newspaper article from July 22nd, 1981 ("Heilbronner Stimme") :

I also can do with a short biography of Rolf Wütherich:
Rudolf Karl Wütherich who generally was called „Rolf“ was born on August 5th, 1927 in Heilbronn. On November 1st, 1950 he joined the Porsche firm in Zuffenhausen and made a quick career as a gifted mechanic. In 1955 he was sent to the USA for four years. There he met James Dean.

When James Dean crashed to his death Rolf Wütherich was thrown from the car and survived with both hips broken and a fracture of his lower jaw. He was unconscious for four days and spent nearly one year in hospital. In 1959 he returned to Germany but he was a changed human being. He was mentally unstable and sporadically depressed. He couldn’t get along with superiors – in fact in the long run he couldn’t get along with anyone. Four marriages failed – in 1967 he stabbed his wife with a knife. While she survived he temporarily was sent to a psychiatric hospital.

In February 1968 he left Porsche for whom in the 1960s he had contested rallies finishing second in the 1965 Rallye Monte Carlo together with Eugen Böhringer.

He went to Northern Germany then to Cologne and in 1979 he joined a Honda dealer in Hohenlohe near his native Heilbronn. After that he had a job at Neuenstein where he assembled Turbo engines for Porsche. Together with his tom-cat he lived at Kupferzell when he was invited to a game of skittles on July 20th, 1981 in the nearby village of Haag. At 10:50 p.m. the Honda Civic he was driving at high speed left the road in a sweeping corner in the town of Kupferzell and smashed head-on into a house wall. Wütherich who hadn’t put the seat belts on died on the spot at the age of 53.

PS. Maybe our host can correct the spelling of the thread's name.