Tulsa hits snag unearthing '57 Belvedere time capsule
Plans to unearth a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere as part of a 50-year time capsule project in Tulsa may be all wet. Tulsarama crews had cracked open the vault to get ready for Friday's unveiling, but what they found was several feet of water surrounding the car. Witnesses said the water looked like chocolate milk and a hazmat team had to be called in to pump it out, just in case it turned out to be toxic. They are still expecting the best for the car because it was greased and wrapped in several layers of plastic and canvas. We're not sure that will be enough to safeguard the Plymouth from years of continual flooding, but we'll keep our fingers crossed for the Tulsarama organizers and partygoers. KOTV provided pics and video of the discovery. Click here for the news report or here for video of the soggy discovery ahead of this Friday's official reveal.
[Sources: Hemmings, KOTV]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
BCM 3:09PM (6/13/2007)
I wonder if anyone imagined that 50 years later Plymouth would be long gone from the world.
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used tolive inok 2:02AM (6/20/2007)
just like tucker.. just like buckminister fullers car..yes ford did..................
Amber 3:10PM (6/13/2007)
How could it have been covered in plastic? Plastic was not invented yet in 1957. Plastics like we know today were invented at the Dupont labs in Delaware in the 1960's and came into use in the 1970's. Remember, even into the 1970's, toasters, radios, stereos, appliances, blenders, and everything else was made of metal. Also, hard plastic was invented first. Soft plastic that could wrap things like a sheet or bag were not invented for a long time after this car was buried.
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Jonny Rock 3:39PM (6/13/2007)
If you watch the news videos, they say the car is wrapped in 3 layers. Sounds like she says Cosmolene, Metalum Carbag, and Vitrious Rust Inhibitors.
The Rest Of The US (except the East Coast which sucks too) 4:12PM (6/13/2007)
What are you, 12? Cellophane was invented in the early 1900s.
Barney 4:27PM (6/13/2007)
"Plastic was not invented yet in 1957. Plastics like we know today .."
Perhaps not like we know it today but I can assure you it existed all my life time and I'm pushing sixty. Henry Ford made plastic from Soya beans on his Model As and actually had plantations to grow the beans.
Fabulo 5:24PM (6/13/2007)
"People experimented with plastics based on natural polymers for centuries. In the nineteenth century they discovered plastics based on chemically modified natural polymers: Charles Goodyear discovered vulcanization of rubber (1839) and Alexander Parkes, English inventor (1813—1890) created the earliest form of plastic in 1855."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic
1855 < 1957
Gubbins 2:21PM (6/14/2007)
Sorry Amber, incorrect.
Plastic sheeting was around as early as WW2--the Normany invasion soldiers had their rifles encased in plastic bags--so this car could well have been shrouded in the stuff.
discussed 11:58AM (6/16/2007)
I agree with Amber. Everything in the 70's was made of metal.
Bronze, to be precise. My nephew kept making some tools from stones, sticks and sinews.
Then in 1976 came iron, the Elamites conquered Babylon, and Jimmy Carter won the elections. But I digress.
Albert 3:20PM (6/13/2007)
Belvedere!
I love it. Im 58 years old and I fondly remember the days when cars had names and a soul. Now all I hear is TSX and CTS and DTS and CLK. What happened to the days of naming a car something glorious and meanigful?
My brother bought a Zephyr last year. Went to have it serviced he found out it is called MKZ. The guy said its pronounced Mark Z. Then went for service just last month and found out its now just called MKZ. Letters spelled out. Its stupid. What the hell was wrong with Zephyr?
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Jared. 3:29PM (6/13/2007)
Five bucks says its a rust bomb.
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bernie 3:27PM (6/13/2007)
Yeah, but when all the hard work is done, you'll just have a '57 Plymouth -- a very average car.
A '57 Vette, T-Bird or Nomad would get people excited, but a Plymouth was a stodgy family truckster.
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Exner 3:48PM (6/13/2007)
Your ignorance is showing. The "Forward Look" '57 Chrysler products were advanced designs that made everything else on the road look old.
The Plymouths in particular were seen as a design revolution, and inspired GM to throw out the 1959 models on the drawing board at the time and start over.
Thunder 4:19PM (6/13/2007)
Bernie,
If you consider the car that would later introduce the 426 Chrsysler Hemi to the world in 1964 to be boring, that's your choice.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Belvedere
joey 3:29PM (6/13/2007)
"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"
And we all have robot maids and fly around in jetpacks.
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Paul 3:45PM (6/13/2007)
how cute... they actually thought we would have made progress!
Hamm Sammich 3:41PM (6/13/2007)
@ Amber
Plastic films and wraps have been in use since the late 1940's. When this car was wrapped up in 1957 there were dozens of commercially available plastic films...
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Frank 3:47PM (6/13/2007)
Look at these pics of what it looked like "back in the day"
http://www.misterw.com/Plymouth/57PlyBel06.html
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Barney 4:31PM (6/13/2007)
They were great lookers, weren't they? I had a Savoy of the same year.
Jon 11:20PM (6/13/2007)
Even the gas tank door has style.
Today's cars just aren't works of art anymore. Old cars were works of art inside AND out. Compared to the cars of Yesteryear, even Cadillacs and the Chrysler 300 are bland.
Ah, the good ol' days.