Spyder In the early 1950s, Porsche dealer and racer Walter and
Helm Glöckler in Frankfurt, Germany privately modified
rear-engine Porsche 356 for racing purposes, mostly with open top. By 1953, the factory decided to offer a race-ready car with similar styling, with
mid-rear engine layout, the
Porsche 550 Spyder. In 1955,
actor James Dean crashed and died in a 550. Already in 1957 Porsche upgraded to the
Porsche 718. Pittman not only had one of the few Glöckler-Porsche, but also one similar to the one that had been fitted in early 1954 with a significantly modified closed top, which did not race in the
1954 Mille Miglia, only in the
Liège–Rome–Liège. The car was with Pittman in the USA in 1957, still carrying the
distinctive German oval-shaped export licence plate. On October 31, 1958, Pittman was driving home after a
Halloween party when his Porsche went off the road at a sharp curve in the
Hollywood Hills. After he failed to return home, his father filed a missing persons report. Weeks later, on November 19, Los Angeles police officer Roy Kerton retraced the roads Pittman's father said his son liked to drive and found the wreckage of Pittman's Porsche at the bottom of a 150-foot ravine. Pittman died after crashing through the
guard rail, his car landing at the bottom of the ravine where it remained out of sight. ==Filmography==