Tulsa's 1957 Plymouth Becomes a Monument to the Cruel Ravages of Time

Well, now it's official.  Tulsa's 1957 time capsule was built to withstand a nuclear bomb, but it proved powerless to resist the corrosive effects of seeping groundwater -- as well as the rigors of time itself.

When civic leaders unveiled their freshly-unearthed 1957 Plymouth Belvedere last night in a gala ceremony involving plenty of colorful lights, draped curtains, and Enya-like music, they were no doubt horrified to discover that the car had been reduced to a giant, tailfinned paperweight.

Clearly this is a metaphor. But for what? And what lesson are the citizens of 2007 Tulsa supposed to derive from this time capsule left behind by their Jet Age ancestors of 1957?

According to the Tulsa World:

Now we know what 50 years in a hole does to a Plymouth Belvedere.

The tires go flat. The paint fades. Hinges and latches stiffen, upholstery disintegrates, the engine becomes a very large paperweight.

But what the heck. None of us is what we used to be.

The Belvedere buried at the Tulsa County Courthouse a half-century ago and recovered from its vault on Friday turned out to be more artifact than memento. Displayed to the public Friday night at the Convention Center, its ruined paint suggested just about every color except the original gold and white. Corrosion bubbled the surface of the radiator.

The engine that hot-rod guru Boyd Coddington had hoped to start Friday night was just plain hopeless. [...]

Most of the artifacts said to have been left in the car were unrecoverable. About the only thing to survive intact were two glass jugs of gasoline, a cigarette lighter and some thickly encrusted cans of Schlitz beer.

The beer, left in the trunk of the car by nightclub owner Clarence Love, managed to migrate to every nook and cranny of the interior, carried along by the water that inundated the vault sometime during the last 50 years, rotting fabrics and rusting metals.

(Photos above by the Associated Press)

LINKS:
Videos of the Tulsa Plymouth unveiling (TuslaWorld)

UPDATE: Watch "Destination Earth," a 1956 film by the American Petroleum Institute salvaged from Tulsa's Time Capsule.

UPDATE: Flickr user Michael Bates has uploaded some remarkable photos of the waterlogged Plymouth. As a monument to 1957 technology, the time capsule must be deemed a failure.  But as conceptual art, it's varsity-level stuff.  Check out all of his Tulsa's Buried Car photoset.

(Photo by Michael Bates)
 

Comments

[Jack R]

Too bad but not so surprising. I owned a 59 Dodge and it didn't look remarkably better than this junker even while it was on the road. And as for the Schlitz, anyone who has ever downed one knows it has the same corrosive effect on the human body.

[scott neigebauer]

thats looks like a big job to restore but i know i can resore this i have done a lot worst

[scott neigebauer]

thats looks like a big job to restore but i know i can resore this i have done a lot worst

[SoCalRon]

This was a crime! Burying a new car in a hole in the ground with no sump pumps or humidity controls or air circulation. This car never had a chance. How could the people back in 1957 have been so utterly stupid?

[bloggsy]

If only the idiots had sealed it up right, e.g. welding it inside an airtight metal box or something, this car could still have been pristine. As it is, it looks like a hopeless pile of junk.

[Eileen]

What about the $100 trust fund? Who got that?

[Bobby Ewing]

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

[mopar fan]

WOW! well their intentions were good, but the outcome is worthy of someone being held with some kinda criminal charge...

[John]

I just got home from Tulsa. It was a GREAT time! Yeah the car could've come out different but they did what they thought was best at the time. It was still amazing and a CROWD pleaser non-the-less. There must've been 75 other perfect Plymouths at the car shows but only one "Ms. Belvedere"! Don't forget the white cylinder you see in the photos was jam packed full of stuff and it survived perfectly!!! It was cool to see all the stuff they pulled out of it. While there I learned that they placed a 1998 Prowler in a time capsule. It's above ground and using 1998 technology this time. See you there in 2048! John

[Itsumishi]

thats looks like a big job to restore but i know i can resore this i have done a lot worst

I highly doubt it! 50 years sitting in water, that there is no longer superficial rust. You'd be forced to change each and every component of that car. This of course would make it a completely different car.

Perhaps you could work on your English skills, then “wow” us all with your ability to turn pure rust into something that drives.

[CV Rick]

Absolutely brilliant!! I think it's beautiful. As a Time Capsule it's the perfect metaphor for all those nostalgia blinded people who can only see the perfection of the 50's without its terrible flaws. America wasn't actually better back, just different and this car with the other artifacts is a testament to the flaws of trying to relive only parts of that past without taking it as a whole.

Put it in a museum and enshrine the past as a misremembered symbol.

[eh]

i wonder what they are going to do with it now... museum?

[Jacques]

Ahhhh, it's a perfect metaphor for modern civilisation, and what will be left of our abuses in 500 or 1000 years. Let's just say that the future archaeologists won't have much to work with.

[Andy]

I don't know.... they wiped off the front bumper and it looks okay. Get all the mud off and lets see how she looks then. I see no holes it it, so thats a plus. Definitly reminds me of Christine tho!!!

[Mike]

Wow, it's very sad to see a beautiful car like this reduced to a large blob of rust. :(
This sounds like a great job for a skilled vehicle restorer to get some publicity, however. Any takers?

Mike
http://quicktrivia.com

[Buster]

The car will need a Metaphor Hitch if it is to bear up under this much of a load.

[Zork]

I love to watch car restoration shows on TV, so that's the extent of my expertise, plus I know a few people who do this, and I have to say that restoration is not such a long shot for this. Everything's there; glass, aluminum trim, chrome, no large rust holes, and basically the important metal parts seem to have been preserved under all that mud. You could do worse driving it in the winter in NY. If you replace the interior, engine, brake systems and dip the whole thing to clean her up, why is that not the same car? If I won the car the first thing I'd do is find an agent. It's a prize.

[RICHARD MARSHALL]

IT SHOULD BE RESTORED ITS TULSA HISTORY

[joe forhan]

Yes the car is all there and not in major bad shape it could be restored and made to run again, just ppl need to get behind and give support of the restoration of the car. so not in perfect shape but could be run again and displayed as it once was.

[Lee Hopper]

To the idiot who believes that the 50's are remembered only for the 'good' and the 'bad' is overlooked. Well my friend.., if we all dwelled on the bad in society, then there would be no reason to go on. If the people who planted the car for a future generation believed as you do, then the car would not have been planted and you would have nothing to bitch about. Be more appreciative of those who believe on mankind as a whole. Have a nice day.

[The Skeezix]

da doozle, ka fwoop, fwoop, kapow, vroom vroom! hicup. dis be rusty yawl. giv it up. I agree with itshumishi. joe, i think you are getting a little hot under the old collar lad. imho, the 50's ARE a little over-idolized as the good ol days. i agree that one must look to the future positively, but, one must also keep in mind the mistakes and injustices of the past.

[Telstar Logistics]

I vote for leaving it just the way it is.

I mean, isn't it way cooler this way?

Restored, it would look just like any other Belvedere that's been parked in any other garage for the last 50 years. As it looks right now, Miss Belvedere *obviously* has an interesting story to tell about what Tulsa is all about.

Just saying. Besides, I'm from New Jersey, so what do I know?

[Jeff Peterson]

Some great comments posted here, and a lot of truth on both sides. Really, what a shame.
Has anyone heard what will become of this car? I'd like to know.

[Dawn]

I believe that the winner will be announced this Thursday. I am a litte sad that it was in such bad shape, but I thought the whole thing was awesome. I live here and met so many nice people from other places. I think it would be kind of neat to restore one side and leave the other side as is to show what it use to look like. I dont know, maybe that is silly. I just think the whole idea was great. So what it did not turn out the way everyone wanted. Lesson learned for next time. The time capsule that was opened was Awesome too.

[Frank Castleman]

As a former Okie, I enjoyed following the unearthing via internet. From my POV, the car can and should be restored....but at the expense of whom? If the inheritor/winner of the car would donate it to the Tulsa museum, then any restoration costs should be borne by the city. I dabble in restorations a bit, and I'd suggest that the car could be made pristine for something under $50 grand...a small fee for a city the size of Tulsa.

And I grew up in the 50s, and things were a lot simpler then than now. Right was right and wrong was outlawed.