69 replies to this topic

[c00mes30]

ive actually been to the place where the accident happened, it is in Barnes and there is loads of T-rex scarfs and pictures all around the tree! its a really small bridge but quite steep so you can see how they would have come off at speed

[mattprinn1997]

I think they are also still looking for James Deans Porsche........

Volo Auto Museum Offers $1 Million for James Dean Death Car
http://www.theautoch.../29/141455.html

http://phscollectorc...orsche-550.html

Yeh they are, the car was taken around america for a police 'safe driving' campaign by that time it had been heavily modified to keep up with the saftey regulations (top Row of pic's), here are some very rare pics of the car (from my own personal collection) before it was stolen:

Edited by mattprinn1997, 12 January 2013 - 12:48 AM.

[BolanBoogie]

Having been a Marc Bolan fan for well over 40 years now, I've read a lot about what happened on the night of the 16th of September 1977, and this is as I understand it what happened on that night.
Marc and Gloria were returning home from a night out at Morton's Restaurant in Berkley Square London, when Gloria lost control of the car on a humped-back bridge on Gypsy Lane in Barnes, less than half a mile from their home in Sheen.
The car crashed into a re-enforced concrete fence post, and came to rest at the infamous sycamore tree. Marc was killed instantly due to severe internal injuries, Gloria sustained a broken leg, jaw and various other injuries.
Strangely if the tree hadn't stopped the car in its tracks, it's possible it could have rolled down the steep dirt bank leading to the tree from the footpath below and Gloria could have sustained worse injuries, or even killed.
What makes this even more tragic is that he had an account with a local taxi firm, and apparently had a large white Bentley in his garage, so things could have been so different if he'd used either of these options.
Finally there have been various rumours about faults with the car itself. The car was said to have one of the tyres well below the recommended pressure of 28 psi and the nuts on one of the wheels were only finger tight. There was also rumours of a shimmying noise coming from the engine, though all these have been equally confirmed or denied over the years.
Hope that this info has been of some help to you.

[BolanBoogie]

There have been various strange coincidences regarding the death of Marc Bolan. Here are the ones I can remember.
1. In his first known recording for Joe Meek in early 1963 called MRS. JONES.
2. His first major recording session at the Maximum Sound Studios in Soho, London, he recorded the Dion Dimucci b-side called The Road I'm On (GLORIA).
3. In that song there's a line that goes "The Road I'm On girl won't take me home"
4. During his brief time with John's Children in 1967, he once played a game with the rest of the band members, he as the client. and they as his managers. At the end it was decided he should die in a car crash, someone suggested a Rolls Royce, but Bolan said "Oh no, a mini would be perfect for me".
5. The opening line to his 1972 hit Solid Gold Easy Action was "Life is the same as it always will be, easy as picking foxes from a tree". The registration plate of the mini 1275GT he died in was FOX661L.
6. He once said "Never trust anybody over 30", he died two weeks short of his 30th birthday.
7. In a Russel Harty interview in 1972 he asked what Bolan would be doing in five years time, Bolan replied "I don't think I'll live that long".
8. In the mid 70s he visited a museum and was transfixed for hours at a Rene Magritte painting of a tree, similar to the one he died at. The name of the painting was The 16th Of September. And the moon in the painting was in the same phase as when Bolan died.
9. The last record he released a month before he died was called Celebrate Summer which contained the rather prophetic line "Summer is heaven in '77".
10. In his best selling slim book of poetry The Warlock Of Love published in 1969 there was a poem entitled "The Sycamore Of Sorrow". The tree his car crashed into was a sycamore.

[BolanBoogie]

Just found what I think is the only colour photo of Marc Bolan's Mini 1275GT

https://goo.gl/images/N6vQkZ

[mab01uk]

Another thread from 2015 below which might be of interest:-

Marc Bolan

http://www.theminifo...ears-ago-today/

Edited by mab01uk, 05 December 2017 - 07:33 AM.

[BolanBoogie]

Re:mab01uk Think it's a bit sick to sell parts of a car that somebody died in.
Reminds me that about 30 years ago, somebody wanted to sell the blood-stained clothes that Marc Bolan died in.
Thankfully though his brother Harry got hold of them and ended up burning them.

[Homersimpson]

Re:mab01uk Think it's a bit sick to sell parts of a car that somebody died in.
Reminds me that about 30 years ago, somebody wanted to sell the blood-stained clothes that Marc Bolan died in.
Thankfully though his brother Harry got hold of them and ended up burning them.

Common decency would suggest that any car involved in a fatal accident should be destroyed but this is not the case, if any parts are salvageable the insurance company will sell it for bits.

 

Sadly I have personal experience of this. 

[CityEPete]

I remember going to scrap yards with my older brothers in the 80s and quite often the cars were blood stained or had blood stained rags left in them, ah the good old days.

[Abbot]

I did not know that MB was not driving the car.  Looking at the wreck it is not surprising that he did not survive the main impact being on the passenger side. I am really surprised anyone survived that impact.  I saw the results of various crash tests on Minis and an impact on the driver side usually resulted in the steering wheel finishing up in the back seat with the consequential horror story on the way.