Tulsa's buried Belvedere revealed! It's a rust bucket
by John Neff on Jun 16th 2007 at 12:05AM 
click above image to view more pics from the '57 Chrysler Belvedere's unveiling
Tonight was the big unearthing and unveiling of the 1957 Chrysler Belvedere that was buried in front of the courthouse in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma 50 years ago. After the car's underground tomb was opened earlier in the week and it was discovered filled with water, no one was sure what condition "Mrs. Belvedere" would be in. Brenton Burke, a friend of Autoblog, was present at the unveiling and filed this report.
"Three men from OSU's automotive school pulled the cover back and there she sat. Mrs. Belvedere was in ruins. Just destroyed... I was totally bummed and the old people around me really took it hard... They then continued to show flicks of interviews with people who watched the event, while Boyd et. al. tried to open the various compartments. They succeeded with the trunk and hood, but were having difficulties opening the side doors. In the trunk was some fun stuff. They had put the gas in glass jugs, then placed those in steel containers. There was a six pack of beer and some other destroyed memorabilia. The beer was still in tact! They opened the hood and removed the plastic cover that disintegrated over it, and showed us the mold/algae covered engine. At that point, there was nothing much left of the car.
They proceeded to cut open the big steel boiler that doubled as the real time capsule. It was perfect. They cut it open and pulled out an American Flag that looked brand new. Awesome! There were postcards, letters from the school districts, etc. Most of the stuff was random memorabilia that the people of Tulsa threw in, last minute, and un-documented."
More after the jump.
[Photos: Brent Burke]
The local news in Tulsa also reported that the car's keys were rusted inside the ignition. Any hope the car could be started was out of the question, as the engine is apparently now one giant oxidized block of metal.
Yet hope springs eternal. As Brent mentioned, Boyd Coddington was present in Tulsa as the car was revealed. Hemmings has reported that the custom car builder will be restoring the '57 Belvedere to its original condition. It's also understood that the car will eventually be given away to the person who correctly guessed what the population of Tulsa would be in 2007 some 50 years ago. The guesses were buried in the time capsule and reportedly survived intact.
All this nostalgia kind of got us wondering what 2007 model year car we'd bury if given the opportunity. A Mustang? A Prius? After seeing what 50 years of flooding can do to a car, perhaps the Aquada would be more appropriate.
Get a WordPress.com Blog
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
AMcA 12:24AM (6/16/2007)
Such a shame. The thought of a pristine '57 Plymouth had me salivating.
Who'd have thought Tulsa would be so wet?
Reply
brian 9:21AM (6/16/2007)
when we moved here for work a few years back we expected to find the dust bowl. To our surprise Tulsa is nothing like that. Kind of hilly, lots of trees, very green and very rainy. I've had to drain 6-8 inches of water out of the pool over the last few weeks. Oh, and almost no one has a basement here, water tables are too high. If we did have a basement it would be full of water much of the year, kinda like this vault I guess.
Funny thing we noticed watching the unveiling last night. Before hand I guess Boyd had offered to restore the car for the winner. Just before pulling the tarp back he commented that he thought the new owner should keep it exactly as it is. LOL I guess he doesn't want anyone taking him up on his offer to restore it....
jim dee 12:11PM (6/17/2007)
Leave the car as it is.Restoring it would necessitate removing so much of the car and adding so much to it that it would in no way be the car that was buried 50 years ago
jim dee 12:20PM (6/17/2007)
Leave the car as it is.Restoring it would necessitate removing so much of the car and adding so much to it that it would in no way be the car that was buried 50 years ago
Steven T. 12:44AM (6/16/2007)
In a way this is poetic justice. The '57 Chryslers were known for being rust buckets.
Reply
Nick 2:45AM (6/16/2007)
The '57 anything was pretty much known to be a rustbucket.
Atlanta Andy 4:47AM (6/16/2007)
Watch it sell at Barrett-Jackson (a.k.a. Idiot Fest Scottsdale) to some idiot for $100K.
Reply
Lucien W. Dupont 1:10AM (6/16/2007)
It's sad to me that they did mess up the vault for that thing - and that the old folks there were sad.. I wonder if a lot of them saw it buried 50 years ago.
Reply
lee warren 1:28AM (6/16/2007)
I'm 64 and I remember reading about this when I was a teenager. I knew then what would happen to the car if it wasn't sealed properly in nitrogen. What is disappointing is that they didn't spend the money to do it right. They've got nothing but junk now. They don't call them Okies for no reason.
Reply
CMDR 9:31AM (6/16/2007)
Well the car might be rusty, but as a proud okie... I must exclaim my distaste for people wherever you are from. Probably a state where the streets are paved with gold, and around your area - nobody takes time to bury a car in the ground. No no, that just wouldn't do. Not in your state would they make a mistake. Maybe one day, when Oklahoma gets the internet, I'll buy a plane ticket to your town, yes! then I'll know what its like to use cellular telephones, I'll call back home and let everybody know I'm training on-location, to be a moron.
Well, you're right "they don't call them okies for no reason," because that would require the use of a double negative. Heyo! You should come down here and take an English refresher course? We'll cook them fixins after class.
Holler!
Dinger 10:18AM (6/16/2007)
You knew the car would be a wreck if it wasn't sealed in a pure Nitrogen atmosphere when you were 14 years old?
I guess schools in the US were better back then!
Audrey 5:53PM (6/17/2007)
I was there last night when they unveiled it, and the atmosphere was actually very festive. I didn't see any old folks upset. Everyone knew by then that it had been sitting in water for 50 years. Those dumb Okies you allude to filled every seat in the Tulsa Civic Center (which is about the size of Madison Square Garden) with paying customers from all over the world to see this car. Christine wasn't pristine, but she looks like a work of art in her own way.
robz4 1:27AM (6/16/2007)
Kind of sad to see the old Plymouth all rusted .Maybe next time ( if there a next time) they should bury an F1 car.At least the carbon fibre will not rust and it would be interesting to see if that technology got any use on the cars of the future.
Reply
ironpony42 7:07PM (6/18/2007)
Well, they infact already buried the next one! It was done in 1998. They buried a Plymouth Prowler!!! It's for the I believe bi-centenial of the city of Tulsa. To be opened in 2048. Too bad they didn't have a chance to learn from this one before hand. Hopefully they took better measures to protect it. As far as restoring this car, I say let the winner decide. The $100 bond + 50 years intrest also awarded to the winner is worth more than the car!
iQuack 1:27AM (6/16/2007)
Interesting how sloppy the news was about all of this.
I first read on a Yahoo news website that the car was a Pontiac. Well, no, it does begin with "P" but it's a Plymouth, not a Chrysler as reported here.
I guess there aren't too many geezers like me who remember what car was what a half century ago.
Go here:
http://www.collectorcarmarket.com/content/profiles/plymouth57-60/1957_Plymouth_ad1.jpg
Reply
Bill 12:08PM (6/24/2007)
I wondered if anyone else realized that it was actually a Plymouth and not a Pontiac or Chrysler. Maybe I'm just too old but how many peolpe remember which manufacturer made the Caliente? No fair googling.
iQuack 4:05PM (6/24/2007)
Before I Google it, I'll say it was a Mercury Comet model. The Comet was a Ford Falcon in drag.
-----------------------
OK, just Googled it, and I was correct!
What do I win?
HotRodzNKustoms 1:45AM (6/16/2007)
As sad as it is, this was a very cool project.
Reply
Jim 2:05AM (6/16/2007)
'That thing got a HEMI in it??"
Reply
Bryan 2:25AM (6/16/2007)
I am pretty disappointed myself. This was such a cool thing to do. Maybe someone should bury a 64 1/2 Mustang with an 05 and unveil it 50 yrs from now. I would be 78. Anyhow this really saddens me. I really love older American cars. There is just nothing like them and there never will be. I might not have been around in the 50's or 60's but I hold a lot of those older cars near to my heart. Cars are just not the same anymore. They have become nothing but uninspiring plastic zombie mobiles..well ok thats most foriegn cars but still plastic bumpers just suck. At least I got to live in the 80's when cars still had real bumpers. Ya know I was just thinking there is one thing that people should have walked away with and that is cars may come and go but no matter how bad it gets this country will still be here..hence the flag in great shape!
Reply