1957 Plymouth about to be unearthed in Tulsa

2742 Views 28 Replies 15 Participants Last post by Stoneage_Caddy, Jul 4, 2007

noahsdad

Discussion Starter · Jun 8, 2007

In 1957 several local dealers, in cooperation with the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, buried a brand new Plymouth Belvedere in a sealed concrete vault under the courthouse lawn. On Friday June 15th, 2007 - the car will be unearthed.

Boyd Coddington and his crew will be on hand to assess the car and hopefully get it running. In 1957, people were asked to guess what the population of Tulsa would be in 2007. The person with the closest guess (or their heirs) will win the car.

Fun stuff!

Here's a pic of the car being lowered into the vault...

and here's a link to the website: http://buriedcar.com/

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1 - 20 of 29 Posts

Elvis

· #2 · Jun 8, 2007

Now THAT'S cool.

EcSTSatic

· #3 · Jun 8, 2007

Cool ! Is that Christine??

Benzilla

· #4 · Jun 8, 2007

It's Christine's older sister.

Thanks for posting that! I've been trying to follow it, but I have shit for memory.

AlBundy

· #5 · Jun 8, 2007

EcSTSatic said:
Cool ! Is that Christine??

I believe Christine was a 1968 Plymouth Fury.

I~LUV~Caddys8792

· #6 · Jun 8, 2007

Nope, she was a '58 Plymouth. In the book and movie, it's said that she's a Fury, but you couldn't get the Fury in that blood red color...only cream and black. But you could get a two door Belvedere hardtop in that blood red color.

AlBundy

· #7 · Jun 8, 2007

I~LUV~Caddys8792 said:
Nope, she was a '58 Plymouth. In the book and movie, it's said that she's a Fury, but you couldn't get the Fury in that blood red color...only cream and black. But you could get a two door Belvedere hardtop in that blood red color.

Thanks.:thumbsup: I got my years messed up. BTW, congrads on your Moderator status.

Benzilla

· #8 · Jun 8, 2007

In the book is says LeBay custom ordered it in red. Also in the book she's a 4-door fury... which was never made.

I~LUV~Caddys8792

· #9 · Jun 8, 2007

Yeah, I remember reading that part. King must not have done his research.

AlBundy

· #10 · Jun 8, 2007

If you ask some people about what type of car was in that movie, don't be surprised if thay tell you it was a 57 chevy.

Kev

· #11 · Jun 8, 2007

Benzilla said:
In the book is says LeBay custom ordered it in red. Also in the book she's a 4-door fury... which was never made.

Books of fiction as with movies and television shows are not limited by that little thing we call .... reality ....

G

· #12 · Jun 8, 2007

That is amazing!. Cant wait to see it run. It'll be on Ebay a week later.

slk230mb

· #13 · Jun 8, 2007

That's awesome :thumbsup:

Rolex

· #14 · Jun 8, 2007

I read abot this somewhere else. I'll betcha that thing is so rusted it won't even cast a shadow. :stirpot:

Elvis

· #15 · Jun 9, 2007

Rolex said:
I read abot this somewhere else. I'll betcha that thing is so rusted it won't even cast a shadow. :stirpot:

I'm worried that you're right. It could be really nasty down there. Embarrassing. I wonder if Jay Leno is on this case.

They say they coated it with cosmoline, but we don't know how secure that vault was. It would've had to have been perfectly air and water-tight for it to work. I don't understand why they put it underground like that. Way too much can go wrong. And what happens to cosmoline over 50 years? Wouldn't it break down by now? How does coating a large flat horizontal surface work? Lubricating the working parts of a gun is one thing, but a car?

My guess is that the motor and tranny are probably fine (as long as they didn't put any gas or motor oil in it) but that body is probably shot. I'm sure moisture got through the walls of that vault, they probably used cheap driveway-grade concrete.

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G

· #16 · Jun 9, 2007

Elvis said:
I'm worried that you're right. It could be really nasty down there. Embarrassing. I wonder if Jay Leno is on this case.

They say they coated it with cosmoline, but we don't know how secure that vault was. It would've had to have been perfectly air and water-tight for it to work. I don't understand why they put it underground like that. Way too much can go wrong. And what happens to cosmoline over 50 years? Wouldn't it break down by now? How does coating a large flat horizontal surface work? Lubricating the working parts of a gun is one thing, but a car?

My guess is that the motor and tranny are probably fine (as long as they didn't put any gas or motor oil in it) but that body is probably shot. I'm sure moisture got through the walls of that vault, they probably used cheap driveway-grade concrete.

I cant wait to see what it looks like. I hope they did their homework and the car comes out looking as it did the day it was put there.:thumbsup:

Rolex

· #17 · Jun 9, 2007

Elvis said:
And what happens to cosmoline over 50 years? Wouldn't it break down by now?

IIRC it turns to concrete and has to be removed with FIRE.

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DILLIGAF

· #18 · Jun 9, 2007

I think the car will be fine,my guess is the cloth and rubber will be rotted.I don't see how the car could be all rusted out.The cosmoline will be fine also,that car's gonna run.Either way this is cool!

Red_October_7000

· #19 · Jun 9, 2007

I hope they don't turn it over to Boyd Coddington and his butchers; but rather put it back to be the way it was. Can't wait to see how it turns out, though. Anyone ever hear of the freightcar that was found when some rail company computerized, all full of cars that were about 25 years old? I wonder what kind they were and what happened to them...

noahsdad

Discussion Starter · #20 · Jun 9, 2007

Elvis said:
I'm sure moisture got through the walls of that vault, they probably used cheap driveway-grade concrete.

There's a brief video at the website that shows some of the preparation. Apparently they tried to think of everything. The engine is wrapped in plastic, the seats are all covered, and the entire body is wrapped in some kind of material that looks like absorbant paper.

One thing that's really strange - they put cans of gasoline and oil in the vault in case those items didn't exist in 2007. Hopefully those didn't leak, or there could be a heck of a mess.

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