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

[C.S. Lewiston]

My mother had a car exactly like the one which they entombed. I have many fond memories of riding in it. I also have many memories of it being in the shop quite a bit after being driven only a few years! Towards the end of its life (she drove it until 1967 when she gave it to some friends. It lasted until 1970 or 71). Oh yes, it had push-button shift (auto tranny). Why couldn't current cars have that feature, what with microprocessors and all?

Seeing them pull that poor car up was a lot like watching them exhume a corpse. What a crying shame, to put a brand new car into the ground in an improperly designed and built crypt and not pay better attention to water issues! I agree with other posters that even in the early space age, they must have had much better technology than what was applied here. A giant baggie as the only water shield? What were they thinking? If I'd had any say in the whole matter, I'd have put the car into an *above-ground* vault, which would not only be sealed for the sake of time-capsule-ness but be regularly maintained to make certain that it was water and air-tight.

Thank God for the vintage auto restorers. Yes, most of the American cars of the 50's were gaudy gas-guzzlers with some notable safety issues (not for nothing did Ralph Nader write "Unsafe at Any Speed"). But they are a piece of history, and I'm glad that future generations will actually get to *see* those pieces of history up close. Reading history books is nothing. Seeing historic artifacts up close brings the text in the books to life.

[Todd]

Well, I grew up here and I looked at it close up, and, to tell you the truth, it's not as bad as it seems in the pictures. A lot of that yuck isn't rust - it's mud mixed with Cosmoline.

They could have put remote sump pumps in the vault, triggered mechanically and located somewhere else so they could be serviced, as needed.

If they'd have done THAT alone, it would have survived pretty well, I think.

Personally, with all of the metal-fabricating facilities here then (and now), they should have put it in a huge metal cylinder, sealed it, evacuated the air out, then replaced it with some sort of inert gas that would have reduced deterioration of the car. This was done on Tulsa's 100th Anniversary in 1998 with a new Plymouth Prowler - I'll bet it comes out on 2048 looking and running like new.

[Henry]

Some of the other comments crack me up. It sounds to me like some of these guys are all knowing. Stuff like "if I were there I would have installed sump pumps and had the humidity monitored by NORAD". Just kidding on that last bit. Seriously, until I hear a group (not one) of 1957 vintage engineers say what should have been done differently with 1957 technology and practices, who are we to judge? Hindsight is, of course 20/20 right? As for monitoring all the internal perameters and water levels and all that, this was a time capsule, not a safe deposit box. The purpose is and always has been to seal it off and basically forget about it until the time comes to open it. Restore or not? I'm not gonna pretend to determine the integrity of the car hunched over my monitor here. The experts involved (i.e. Boyd Coddington) seem to think it's pretty rough and maybe unrestorable. Just a thought but would anyone agree that Boyd is just the sort to haul the thing off to his shop, resurect it, then drive it back to the courthouse in Tulsa town and drop the keys at the front desk? I do like the idea of restoring 1/2 and leaving the other half about the way it is.

[MoeMarr]

If Boyd Coddington cant restore this car he needs to have his Man card revoked, I see vehicles with bodies in way worse shape than this rolling down the roads of up state New York every day. The mud makes it look worse than it is, this car is not in that bad of shape.

[PBM]

Hey! I LIKE the idea of restoring half and leaving half as it is...paying tribute to both the ravages of time AND (after restoration...if possible) to pristine original!

[PBM]

Hey! I LIKE the idea of restoring half and leaving half as it is...paying tribute to both the ravages of time AND (after restoration...if possible) to pristine original!

[Bob]

Tell Mr "SoCalRon" to grow up. I would love to see how he could have done better. He must be a thirty-something and very shallow person...The only way some of the Southern Calif. restorers can redo a car is if is almost new to begin with. Any surface rust and they have to farm it out. Live with it and quit screwing up collectable and milestone cars. Enough said.

[SANFORD SIEGEL]

I am talking to the current owners about buying the car. If I get it I will restore it

[Gerald Kuszak]

Even as a rusty,muddy mess,the car looks better than any new car I've seen in the last thirty years! Just look at the body lines,the fins,the grill...this is the essence of real automotive style. It's gorgeous....

[abe]

Avoid the boyd

[Matt]

It's ironic to see this car which we all expected to have been preserved in the hole, actually in worse condition than the one i own which was driven frm 1957 to 2005 in its original paint! Now has been reprayed and looks Too new? Anyway all part of this amazing cars history unfortunately for me i have to sell mine due to lack of space to keep it in... don't fancy burying it! It is in UK and i am selling this icon for a mere £7000 sterling. I can be contacted on info@creationscooters.com Thanks.

[Slaterson]

LOL! I think my computer monitor just cracked. What an ugly, nasty old beast. No wonder Toyota smacked us down a couple decades later. Of course, looks better than my '78 Dodge Aspen did after a decade on Illinois roads, though that ain't saying much. They should just rebury this grungy Mopar, for good this time!

[stan vermont]

look grandma-no bondo or dents,can i have it?[ only kidding] a shame

[keith]

Hay on the bright side it has no DENTS LOL

[Devin]

my 70 year old plymouth has a worst body than that. you dont see me bitchin. rather take that over a honda any day.you put any new car in the ground now and unearth it in fifty years there wouldnt be anything,just a pile of rust. boyd coddington sucks!

[Mike H]

Hey, I'm doing a report for school about what life was like way back when. I am trying to figure out exactly what people thought "Now" would be like. does anyone know of any places where I could find a list of the people's gueses? If so that would be real helpful =)

[Ben Deutschman]

If that mess can be restored, I hope they bring it back to exactly what it was, nothing different.

[Ben Deutschman]

Try looking at some old Car Owner's Manuals, and Sales literature, not to mention magazines from the time. Cars to a great degree reflect the tastes, and perceived tastes of the their time, and so does the literature that promoted them.

[Marcus Brainard]

The results is in The Vault leaked and when they took Miss Belvedere out she looked like spend spent 50 years in "Essie Williams' Locker". However in a comic book verison, a Tulsa Chapter of the KND outfit in 1957, placed a '57 Fury in a Pyrmaid setting on June 15, 1957 & would be opened up by The KND Centennial Committee & when that came down 50 years later the former KND members of 1957 with there children & grandchildren saw that there '57 Fury came out intact with items that were with the caqr inculding some MMC & Howdy Doody items & 6 pack of "3V" Cola and items that were around in 1957. The Pyrmaid was out of nowhere & was kept dry fro 50 years & also the 1957 Fury with the 318-cid V8 engine with 290 Hp. actually ran & the KND 2007 Centennial Committee showed that the kids were smarter than the adults once again. So ends a KND verison of The Tulsa Belvedere Story.
Marcus Brainard

[Wayne Illr]

Leave her alone.
Place her in a glass box, in a museum. As is.
She is a part of American history, the 1950's era, and should be recored as so.
Restoring this Sports Coupe would be a mistake, it is a gift from the past.
Let her rest in peace with that low milage!

Wayne

[Wayne Illr]

ALSO!
Doing anything to this car would reflect on the generation that unearthed her.
Faced lifts, removing fat with surgical operations - this car aged well considering.
We are not the same people that built her.
We are self abosorbed and care nothing of our past or the men and women who are our past.
Leave her alone.

Wayne.....again.

[Geoff Shootman]

Merry Christmas to all,and I certainly hope the CAR gets restored to all her glory and originality.
I'm a purest at heart and KNOW the Restoration will bring back all the effort that was put into the Time Capsule Project.

[Raza Racine]

It is an amazing work of art. A true masterpiece that took the artist called "nature" 50 years to create. Good thing -living artists wont waste their life and suffer to make this. As I am an artist I am willing to keep it if offered as a gift.

[johnny]

I've pulled cars out of fields that were a lot worse then this one and reconditioned them. The car is restorable.

[John IV]

It's been a year since the Belvedere was pulled from the ground. I'm having a hard time finding all the updates but I know the winner of the car died in '79 and a family member got the car. My dad found an article in the news paper some time later that the new owners were going to have it restored. I personally feel like it should stay as it was and I was frustrated when the guy rubbed the mud off the bumper at the unveiling. Boyd Coddington (R.I.P.) even expressed his opinion to leave it as it was as automotive art. I was there when they pulled the wraps off the car in the arena and out of the thousands of dumbfounded people there I started the applause that spread like wild fire. There is a DVD available that I bet is very interesting and is supposed to also document the buried 1998 Plymouth Prowler. There are TONS of restored cars but there was only one with the character of this one, muddy or rusty or whatever. It was a great time and a one of kind car. John IV