Have you heard about the brand new 57 Belvedere yet?

[Charger_Fan]

This is amazing, simply amazing...

http://www.buriedcar.com/history.html

[moparguy01]

yup. In fact I usually hear about it every 6 months or so. for the past 5 years since the article went into the mopar magazines..... thats not including reposts of course. haha. ive probably seen it about 2 dozen times.

[BLACKWOLF]

THEY SHOULD HAVE USED A "CHRISTINE". THE RETURN OF THE DEAD!

[BigBlackDodge]

Throw a fresh battery in there and turn the key!

VRRROOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!...........cough.....sputter.........gasp!


Of course the 10 gals of gas has become varnish at this point.


Either it's going to a in very good shape (I hope!)..........or a rust ball.


BBD

[72chargerSE]

The way 57's were....a rust ball!!

It would be cool if it did survive, what a time capsule!

[Charger_Fan]

Yeah, I'm betting it's a rust ball when they drag it up.

[Old Moparz]

I read that last year, I'd like to see it too. I don't think it'll be much more than a parts car though, concrete isn't very waterproof & any water proofing 50 years ago can't be in the best of shape today.

[TruckDriver]

Yeah, I'm betting it's a rust ball when they drag it up.

[RD]

but if isnt a rust ball, what a restorer's resource.

[4402tuff4u]

I think the arabs in the middle east bury their expensive cars too in the desert to keep and save them for later on. I couldn't open the link so don't know what's about, but sounds interesting.

[Charger_Fan]

I couldn't open the link so don't know what's about, but sounds interesting.

This is from the link;

On June 15, 1957, a new gold and white 1957 Plymouth Belvedere Sport Coupe was buried in a time capsule in downtown Tulsa, OK. The time capsule was part of Golden Jubilee Week: Tulsa‘s celebration of Oklahoma‘s semi-centennial. The car is buried under the sidewalk in front of the Tulsa County Courthouse, approximately 100 feet north of the intersection of Sixth Street and Denver Avenue.

The car was seen as a method of acquainting twenty-first century citizens with a suitable representation of 1957 civilization. According to event chairman Lewis Roberts Jr., the Plymouth was chosen because it was "an advanced product of American industrial ingenuity with the kind of lasting appeal that will still be in style 50 years from now."

The contents of a women’s purse, including bobby pins, a bottle of tranquilizers, cigarettes and an unpaid parking ticket, were added to the glove compartment of the car shortly before burial.

Other items included in the time capsule were:

*10 gallons of gasoline and 5 quarts of oil
*A Douglas Aircraft Co. aerial map of airport facilities and legend
*Statement from Tulsa council of Churches â€" and prayer for greatest good next 50 years a recently completed history of churches in Tulsa and a directory of the present churches
*Statement from board of education â€" historical data related to 50 years of education in Tulsa and copies of "School Life" all-high school publication issued by Tulsa high schools each month
*Statements from Mayor and Chamber of Commerce officials
*Flags which have been flown over the national capitol, state capitol and in the county and city
*Other aerial photos of the area
*Statement from Tulsa Trades and Labor Council
*Statements from all former mayors of the city â€" their record of service and civic accomplishments in the city, state and nationally
*Tulsarama! souvenirs including wooden nickels (15 cents worth), flags, T-Town Tom-Tom neckties, ash trays, miniature oil barrels filled with crude oil furnished by Sunray Mid-Continent Oil Co., playing cards, key chain, souvenir historical plates and a copy of the "Riding into Tulsa" recording by Ralph Blane
*Copies of the Tulsa World and Tulsa Tribune
*A copy of the 1957 Tulsa Chamber of Commerce program of work and a copy of the 1956 annual report of the Community Chest Red Feather agencies
*A sound-and-motion picture print of "24 Hours of Progress" produced by the Oil Information Committee of the American Petroleum Institute and furnished by Sunray Mid-Continent Oil Co.
*A can of Tulsa manufactured motor oil furnished by D-X Sunray Oil Co.
*A copy of the official Tulsarama! program, Oklahoma semi-centennial program and a Tulsa I.T. historical volume produced around 1957

As part of the "Tulsarama!" festivities, citizens of Tulsa were asked to guess what the population of Tulsa would be in the year 2007. The guesses were then recorded on microfilm and sealed in a steel container buried with the car. When the car and artifacts are excavated, the person whose guess is closest to Tulsa‘s 2007 population is to be awarded the Belvedere. If that person is dead, the car is to be awarded to his or her heirs.

[4402tuff4u]

Thanks CF! very cool indeed! I guess a fresh battery, fresh gasoline with lead additive, oil change and an engine oil prime should do it. I wonder what engine it had - wait did I miss that?

[Charger_Fan]

It doesn't say which engine...of course, I'm hoping for a HEMI!

[4402tuff4u]

I did a search and it said that they came with either a  301 V8 or V6. Hemi was not a option.  I thought Hemi was an option, I guess in later models it was. 

[PocketThunder]

was it burried in a coffin of some type or just dirt thrown on top of the roof?

[4402tuff4u]

When I did a web search, a picture came up showing them lowering the car with a crane. It appears that they cofferdamed (steel sheeting wall) the excavation, dug the inside and lowered it in place or buried a concrete rectangle culvert box and set the car inside. They probably placed steel cross beams across the excavation opening and set precast concrete slabs on top of the beams and then paved it or placed soil for grass.

[70charginglizard]

the Plymouth was chosen because it was "an advanced product of American industrial ingenuity with the kind of lasting appeal that will still be in style 50 years from now."

    Makes me sad

Times sure have changed since then.

Remember the day's when you could actually be proud of your heritiage, ingenuity and history.

You do that today and you get labled as a racist or offensive.

Twisted

[BigBlackDodge]

I don't believe they put Hemi's (first gens) on the old plymouths.....only Dodges,Desoto's and Chryslers got'em.


BBD

[TruckDriver]

I found this link with 3 pics and more of what is inside the car. More informative...

A quote from a writing about it (there is a lot more on the site)

"And what, exactly, will the lucky winner get when the car is unearthed in 2007? No one is really sure. Sitting on a steel skid, the white and gold car was wrapped in a cosmoline-like substance to help preserve it and then buried within a concrete bunker"

http://www.forwardlook.net/19571958Plymouth/countdown.asp

[dkn1997]

it's all in the drainage.  if the characteristics of the surrounding soil are such that water was directed away from the bunker, then it could be fine.

I have seen plywood wall swimming pools last 30 years if the drainage was ok.  I have seen steel wall pools rot out in 7 or 8 years when the drainage was lousy.

if that soil was pitched so that the water ran away from the building, over the sidewalk and to the street, that bunker might have stayed pretty dry.

[4402tuff4u]

it's all in the drainage.   if the characteristics of the surrounding soil are such that water was directed away from the bunker, then it could be fine.

I have seen plywood wall swimming pools last 30 years if the drainage was ok.   I have seen steel wall pools rot out in 7 or 8 years when the drainage was lousy.

if that soil was pitched so that the water ran away from the building, over the sidewalk and to the street, that bunker might have stayed pretty dry.

dk has a point. If you keep the oxygen away from any material, you will prevent oxydation and decay for that matter. I've have excavated untreated pieces of timbers in NY city that were approx. 150 yrs old that were in pristine condition because they were buried in fill without exposure to oxygen.

[Charger_Fan]

The car's glove compartment contains two other interesting items: a parking ticket (unpaid!) and a boftle of tranquilizers. Depending an the Belvedere's condition, the tranquilizers may be the most important part of the package.

That's funny!

Buck Rudd, deputy chief of building operations for the county court house, mused in 1987, "There's a lot of traffic going by only 15 or 20ft from that thing. We've been curious to know it vibrations from the heavy traffic might have caused it to crack. If moisture starts getting in there, it's going to cause things to deteriorate over fifty years time," Rudd continued. Unknown to the committee - or anyone else then - 1957 Plymouths were terribly prone to rust. Asked what type of maintenance was done on the time capsule, Rudd replied, We just cut the grass on top of it."

If the cement cracks, I wonder how much moisture would be allowed in? I would think that if it does crack, the cracks wouldn't be very wide.

Is the Tulsa area very humid?

[hemigeno]

I don't believe they put Hemi's (first gens) on the old plymouths.....only Dodges,Desoto's and Chryslers got'em.


BBD

Unfortunately that's the case...

Plymouth did not have an early Hemi variant, so the first Plymouth to get a (factory) hemi was the '64 B-body offerings with a Race Hemi.   The V8 offerings in 1957 were as follows:

277 Poly "A"
301 Poly "A"
318 Poly "A" - they did offer a dual 4-bbl option from 57-59, but IIRC it was only for use in Sport Furys...  

[Charger Aficionado]

Is the Tulsa area very humid?

VERY.

[Charger_Fan]

Is the Tulsa area very humid?

VERY.

That's what I thought. This thing's gonna come out looking like Christine did after she caught on fire.