I don't really get the fascination about James Dean's death.  Especially to the point that somebody would bid $128,550 (current bid) for a part of the car that he was killed in.  Perhaps it has to do with the romanticism of "live fast, die young", but there's really nothing romantic about it - dead is dead... doesn't matter when or how it happened.

Looking at some of the pics, it's easy to understand how somebody could have missed seeing his car hurtling along the highway with the sun low in the sky.  It was silver, low slung, and probably almost invisible with no lights on.  It was dwarfed by the large chunky cars of the time and probably virtually disappeared to other drivers looking out for larger cars, given its speed and the light conditions of the time of day.

One does have to question why he wasn't towing his car to/from the race, but I guess being young, invincible and excited makes it easy enough to understand.  I'm guessing the Ford wagon with the trailer at the pumps is his?

Regardless, it's amazing how his name is still well known to this day... if he hadn't died in that crash on that day he might still be alive as an elderly retired actor or ex race driver, and perhaps less famous... or more famous?  We'll never know.