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Porsche Spyder's detailed cross-country journey movie-worthy
BY RACHEL KIPP
Stopping in front of the silver Porsche Spyder parked near the entrance to the Days Inn along Ind. 18 and Interstate 69, a hotel employee asked owner Robb Greenberg a question
"Did you drive that all the way from California?"
"Yes. Am I crazy?" Greenberg answered.
Crazy or not, the two-and-a-half week, more-than-3,000-mile trip was the realization of three years of work by Greenberg. After researching the car and fellow Spyder owner James Dean, Greenberg and partner Andrew Garver plotted the journey they would turn into a film called The Porsche 500 Spyder Road Trip.
They drove the car cross-country, starting in Hollywood and ending in Marion to open the James Dean Fest. Along the way, the pair braved weather, traffic and construction to meet car enthusiasts and Dean fans alike.
"This car is a magnet, it attracts almost anyone and everyone," Greenberg said. "We get the 'hi' signs or the big 'OKs' or frantic waves or people yelling out the window."
The Spyder - a replica of the one Dean was driving when he was killed in a car accident in 1955 - is so low to the ground that Greenberg could see his reflection in the hubcaps of semis going by. The men had to be careful when planning pit stops because the car needs high-octane fuel and holds only about 10 gallons of fuel.
"It flies and it handles extremely well for not having any kind of power - no power brakes, no power windows, no power steering, the faster it goes the better it likes it and the easier it is to handle," Greenberg said. "The car has a very low center of gravity and the tires on it are not very wide so it's not difficult to park. The only problem is we want to park it somewhere where it's not going to get hurt."
The car has very little storage space, so another vehicle trailed Greenberg and Garver, who has shot about 25 hours of film so far. They also had to keep hydrated during days spent exposed to sun and wind.
"We burned, tanned, peeled and burned again and we're using 35 (SPF) sunscreen," said Greenberg, whose nose was bright red from sunburn Thursday. "The sun going to Las Vegas and coming down to Phoenix was just scorching. The day we left Phoenix was 96 degrees."
One of their favorite stops was Marfa, Texas. The small town was the primary filming location for Giant, Dean's third and final movie.
"They put on a huge parade for us and just treated us like royalty," Greenberg said. "These people have a very good memory, there are still people in town who were teenagers, youngsters or even married couples at the time the movie was shot. For a small town, a huge movie like that coming in makes a huge impact."
Taking the road trip did create some frustrations. The custom cover to the vehicle was stolen in Marfa and commitments with Dean Fest organizers to stop in certain cities kept the pair from traveling to or spending more time in some locations.
"It's pretty tough," Garver said of filming the journey. "You get lots of shots of the road going by. The project we envisioned was taking a little more of the back roads."
Greenberg and Garver also planned to drive back to Hollywood from Marion, filming themselves and onlookers along the famed Route 66. But a request to sell the car at a Saturday auction of James Dean memorabilia at the Marion Municipal Airport has put that journey in jeopardy.
"I'm not really a possessive guy," Greenberg said of giving up the car. "If a fan out there wants to have a piece of history and wants this car we drove all the way out from Los Angeles, I'm willing to share it."
Originally published 06-03-2005
Source: Chronicle-Tribune
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