Hundreds watched Friday as a crane lifted a muddy package from a hole in the courthouse lawn: a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere buried to celebrate Oklahoma’s 50 years of statehood.
The wrapped car — a gold-and-white two-door hardtop — appeared brown and red as it came out of the hole.
The car spent the last half-century covered in three layers of protective material and encased in a 12-by-20-foot concrete vault, supposedly tough enough to withstand a nuclear attack.
Excavators found water halfway up on the car’s fenders and evidence that water could have been to the top of the vault at one point, said Art Couch, who is heading up the unearthing project.
The first news of the water crushed event organizers, with some wiping away tears as heavy rain fell.
«It was very disappointing,» said event producer Kelly McElroy. «I think we probably anticipated there would be some water; after 50 years you don’t know what you’re going to get.
The car was placed on a flatbed truck so it could be unwrapped, spruced up and officially unveiled Friday evening at the Tulsa Convention Center. Spectators packed the streets to glimpse its journey.
Whether the car will start was unknown. Those who gathered to watch it being pulled out of the ground did not seem to care.
Also buried with it were 10 gallons of gasoline — in case internal combustion engines became obsolete by 2007 — a case of beer, and the contents of a typical woman’s handbag placed in the glove compartment: 14 bobby pins, a bottle of tranquilizers, a lipstick, a pack of gum, tissues, a pack of cigarettes, matches and $2.43.
There was also a spool of microfilm that recorded the entries of a contest to determine who would win the car: the person who guessed the closest of what Tulsa’s population would be in 2007 — 382,457 — would win.
That person, or his or her heirs, will get the car and a $100 savings account, worth about $1,200 today with interest.
Sources:
PR Inside:
http://www.pr-inside.com/us-state-s-centennial-excavators-find-r154320.htm
MSNBC.com:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19249855/
the plymouth unearthed may have been built and buried in 1957. however, cars did not have the 4 headlights until the 1958 models. so, technically it is a 1958 plymouth, I am an old car nut, so I would know. oh well, just another blooper.
Bill from Arizona
Here are some high resolution pictures of the car and the items that were stored inside it. Looks like a “fixer upper”
Pics:
http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=8700431#8700431