Culture

Car buried in Tulsa in 1957 to be unearthed

by Kaitlin | June 5, 2007 at 09:20 am

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UPDATE: The car has been unearthed and is on its way to an unveiling ceremony. Is it lost to rust and time, or will the winner of a contest started fifty years ago be in luck (the person or their heir who is closest to guessing the current population of Tulsa wins the car and a $100 savings account that has grown to $1200)?

A car "time capsule" that was buried in the lawn of the Tulsa Courthouse in 1957 is set to be unearthed at the state's centennial year ceremony on June 15th (Oklahoma became a state on November 16, 1907). The car, a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere, was protected with "rust-proof" materials and then sealed in a cement block fifty years ago. The '57 Belvedere was a popular model that it was seen as futuristic at the time. As a consequence, production of the cars was sped up. The resulting cars were later found to be leaky and prone to rust; makes you wonder what will be left under there, cement or not.

Click here to read an awesome newspaper article dated June 15, 1957, which explains the rest of the capsule, including tranquilizer pills in the dashboard "to resemble a woman's handbag."

When it was buried, a local official said the car had "the kind of lasting appeal that should still be in style 50 years from now." While that official obviously was incorrect in that assessment, Jim Benjaminson of North Dakota, an author of three books on Plymouths, said the 1957 model line of Plymouth's parent, Chrysler, was ahead of its time.

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babblingdweeb

at 10:20 on June 14th, 2007

I heard about this months ago, forgot and then remembered when this came up in the morning meeting. Can I just say that I am FREAKING OUT wating for this? I have no life...