Buried car in Tulsa being unearthed after 50 years

[AndyA]

As part of Oklahoma's Centennial celebration this year, a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere is being unearthed this Friday. It was a brand new car when it was buried in a concrete vault time capsule in June, 1957. At the time, no one knew how prone to rust the 1957 Chrysler cars were.

The car was coated with cosmoline, sealed in a plastic bag, placed on I-beams and lowered onto stands in a concrete and metal vault, which was welded shut and covered with soil. The time capsule has been left untouched ever since.

This morning, the top was removed from the vault and the car was seen for the first time since 1957. Several feet of water were also found in the vault.

At any rate, there are people in town from all over the world for the celebration this weekend. The car is to be removed on Friday at noon, and will be on display at the Convention Center that night and through the weekend.

All hotels rooms in the city are booked.

Here are pictures taken this morning:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47422262@N00/sets/1320520/

Official site:
http://www.buriedcar.com/ (this site is slow due to very heavy traffic right now)

[karlrschneider]

1. I watched it being buried. Hope the water didn't get in & ruin it.

...

[CatWoman]

16. OLD GOAT

:P

[karlrschneider]

22. Har de har. I'll have you know I'm still a young goat

from the waist down. :D

[CatWoman]

41. !!

:)

[Nomad559]

29. Here Is a video

of the car being buried.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6fQZhua6d0

:)

[karlrschneider]

38. How cool, thanks! I was somewhere in the crowd...

:D
I recognized one of the cameramen, Henry Lile...he worked at KOTV for years and I used to fly his plane for him while he took moom pitchers of stuff. :-)

(A few years after that...I was only 15 in 1957)

[BOSSHOG]

2. Thats not your run of the mill time capsule enclosure

The water in the vault is somewhat troubling. I hope a good time will be had by all.

[ComerPerro]

3. The DeLorean in Back to the Future was buried for 70 years and it was fine

[YOY]

5. DeLoreans were made of Stainless Steel

They have this habit of not rusting.

[ComerPerro]

6. True, that might have been a big part of it

[karlrschneider]

19. I had a Delo back in the 80s. The body didn't rust but there were plenty of

places under the skin that rusted just fine. I loved that car for about a week. :puke:

[YOY]

23. I assumed there were plenty of spots in the engine that could have corroded as well

Not to mention the tires and interior.

Hold on to your lunch: http://www.delorean.com/

[karlrschneider]

35. LOL! I didn't think there were any still running.

:D

Did you know they had to fit a 150 pound slab of lead in the floor of the front "trunk" to help make it somewhat stable? And the electrical system was a nightmare, as was trying to reach the distributor & plugs. I got lucky, managed to sell it for what I paid. I bet that kid still hates me. ;-)

[BrotherBuzz]

10. Being made of stainless steel might have helped some, too.

:)

[meegbear]

4. I hope Geraldo won't be there ...

remember the last time he was around when they opened something like this.

[ComerPerro]

7. In Geraldo's defense, no one realy knew anything. At least he had the guts to do it live

[meegbear]

28. That's true ...

If he is there, I can at least hope a skinhead hits in the face with a chair.

[ComerPerro]

31. I still can't believe I typed the words "In Geraldo's defense".... wow

[meegbear]

33. Happens to the best of us ...

:hi:

[Posteritatis]

9. Now you've got me curious...? (nt)

[ComerPerro]

14. you mean about the reference, or what will be revealed?

[Posteritatis]

27. Well, yes, but specifically the reference. (nt)

[ComerPerro]

32. Probably a reference to Al Capone's vault. Wiki Link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mystery_of_Al_Capone's_Vault

[ET Awful]

8. The cosmoline will save it!

:P

[Fridays Child]

11. Will it still have that new car smell?

:shrug:

[AndyA]

12. Uh-oh...updated from local TV station:

The vault was briefly opened Wednesday so hazardous materials crews could inspect the 10 gallons of gasoline and motor oil cans that had been placed in the time capsule in case internal combustion engines became obsolete by 2007.

Excavators found water halfway up on the car's fenders and more evidence water could have been to the top of the vault at one point, said Art Couch, who is heading up the unearthing project.

``I don't know how bad it is, but it's not good,'' Couch said. ``We were hoping it would be dry in there.''

Some water was pumped out, and the city was to bring in a truck to remove the last foot or so.

``The concrete must not have been as good as we hoped it was,'' Couch said. ``It had some failures over the years; the concrete didn't hold.''

http://www.kotv.com/news/local/story/?id=129390

[karlrschneider]

20. I'm thinking it will be a little hard to start...

shit.

[Xithras]

21. Look at the linked video. I suspect the car has had it.

The video has a couple of closeups of what appear to be tears in the plastic "bag" around the car. If the car has spent the last 50 years, or even the last 5, inundated by water, there isn't going to be much left to look at on Friday.

[Kingshakabobo]

45. gasoline ...had been placed in the time capsule in case internal combustion engines became obsolete

:rofl:

[Xithras]

13. Look at the water lines on the concrete.

By the looks of it, the vault has been nearly filled with water MANY times over the past 50 years, completely submerging the car. That isn't a good sign. Here's an even worse one. The car was filled with air. If the seal in the bag was tight, the vehicle actually should have floated when the tank became filled with water. If you look at the pictures, you'll notice that the car is still perfectly centered in the vault, indicating that it didn't float around. Why not? I'd bet good money that it didn't float because it was full of water too.

The rust lines in the vault seem to support me on that.

[AndyA]

25. They originally pulled a vacuum on the bag apparently.

At least, that's what I read on a local site. The car is sitting up off the ground on skids as well.

All in all, they said there were 3-4 layers of protection including the plastic bag, so who knows. It might look like it's been sitting out in a field since 1957, just a rusted hulk of metal.

It doesn't look good, though.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[AndyA]

30. People are coming from all over the world to see it.

Your unnecessary and rude comment has added so much to this. Thanks for participating.

[annabanana]

36. "coming from all over the world"?

really?

I'm sorry. I'm afraid I don't "get it" either.

[karlrschneider]

42. All over the world might be a little exaggeratory but there really are news crews in town

from several countries. I guess it's just enough of an 'oddball' story to get attention...

[AndyA]

43. I know there are people here from England, New Zealand, France,

Greece, China, Japan, just to name a few.

Old cars is a hobby, and some people just don't get it, but a lot of people do.

[DS1]

17. Engine said to be surprised it's more effecient than most cars on the road

also wonders what happened to that whole 'flying car' thing

[DavidDvorkin]

18. That's when I arrived in this country

It used to seem like yesterday, but suddenly it seems like ancient history.

[LiberalEsto]

24. What's the mileage?

:evilgrin:

[Jacobin]

26. concrete is hardly non-porous

neat idea, but crappy planning.

[moggie]

34. It's a lot of trouble to go to to get free gas n/t

[kskiska]

37. If it'd been a VW it would start right up.

[karlrschneider]

40. More likely would have floated out!

:D

[moggie]

49. That film occurred to me too

One of his earlier, funnier films.

[angstlessk]

39. You want to see some pristine 50 year old american cars? Visit Cuba

http://www.photos-voyages.com/cuba/cars.htm

AND they have not been burried for 50 years..they have been driven and cared for!

[madokie]

44. I've got an entry in the drawing

third grade student at the time, I was.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

46. Jimmy Hoffa? No, not old enough

Judge Crater? No, too soon...

[XOKCowboy]

47. OH CRAP!!

I'm flying in to Tulsa for Father's Day weekend! That little airport will be crazy! Good thing I didn't try to book a hotel room. Guess I'll just have to stay up on the ranch.

We'll be in Tulsa on Friday. Might have to stop by and check out the Grand Opening!

[Kingshakabobo]

48. Doesn't digging this car up after only 50 years defeat the idea of a "time capsule"?

I thought time capsules were for later civilizations/societies? They might as well park the thing in a garage and resist the temptation of looking under the cover.......the car could be in better shape and the Okies wouldn't have egg on their faces.

[ReverendDeuce]

50. I have my doubts that it is anything other than destroyed...

In those photos, look at all the water marks on the concrete? Unless that plastic was fully, and I mean FULLY, sealed, and strong enough to withstand the pressure, that disgusting, filthy muck that seeped in is going to have completely ruined ruined the car from top to bottom.

In looking at some of the other pictures, it looks like the car was put on a plastic sheet, and the sheet folded up around the car.

I am curious to see the unveiling. If the car looks great, then that is pretty effing awesome! If not, it will be interesting to see what effect time and standing water have had.