1957 Plymouth buried in tulsa, OK - to be dug up!

[jamespowers]

Break out the funeral durge fellas. This ain't gonna be good for that car. Even if it is in good shape, that jackass Coddington will touch it before anyone else does. :eusa_doh:

 

[hotrod_elf]

HERE HERE. I wish it was someone more worthy than him. Even Jesse James would be better.

 

[gpwpat]

Boyd

Argh, I hate boyd. he is a pompus sob.

to bad for the car. They should sneek a restored version in the cover of darkness under that tarp. and pull a fast one. that would be good fun. All this energy on a rusted out scrap. Well the glass may still be good. and maybe the tires.

 

[brylcreem boy]

Has anyone found any good coverage? Do they know what happened? Looks like the "vault" failed quickly and has been flooding for ages. The rust from the car appears to have migrated to the walls as the water level raised and lowered.

Did you see the plans? Boyd Coddginton will be there tomorrow night to try to start the car. Bwuahahahaha! :eusa_doh:

I've been gone off and on for the last week traveling, and havn't watched the news... I'll see what I can find out. I will be there for the unveiling tomorrow, luckily I have a friend at the Courthouse who got me a ticket.

Yeah, it doesn't look to good does it!!. It probably got filled up again over the last 6 weeks... we had 11 inches of rain for May and probably 4-5 already this month. I am still lookin forward to it though.-

 

[RedHotRidinHood]

So the crane boys got in there today and lifted her up about 10 feet as a test run, and they say that hopes are up some! One of the articles I read said that the tailfins were poking through a bit, and that they were still white. Joy!

If you go to the buriedcar.com site, it tells you where to go online to watch the unearthing at noon, and then the unveiling at 7. I am GLUED to my computer at 10am and 5pm AZ time tomorrow!

www.kotv.com
www.tulsaworld.com

Check those two sites-they seem to be best for coverage. I think I am going to POP, I am so excited!!

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

From the looks of that picture, it looks like the paint is still on the body of the car, as the plastic wrapper seems to be clear. My guess is that most of the heavily primed and painted surfaces survived the soaking. The engine block and any unpainted parts probably turned to rust. If the interior filled up with water too, it's not going to be a pretty sight.

 

[scotrace]

I've been digging.

The super plastic "seal" appears to have failed. And is that trunk lid caved in?

Raising it: (though I don't know why they jumped ahead).

And they have been practicing with an identical, perfect Plymouth brought from a museum:

 

[scotrace]

More digging. Gotta love the Internet.

The car was coated in some kind of goop that was developed for the military in WWII. Then wrapped in a "vacuum sealed" layer. The best quote I've read: "The vault was designed to withstand a nuclear attack. Water, apparently... not so much."
The raising pictured above was a successful test lift. They are using the same skids that were used to lower it in and have been there ever since, with backups of course.
Reports from people who've had their hands on the car through the plastic say that it feels solid with no apparent damage. Workers are hoping that the other sealing methods have held, as the vault thingy clearly didn't. The vault had three feet (+-) of standing water, and several witnesses said it looked like the thing had been fllled to the brim at least once. The air was withdrawn from the plastic before burial. So if the seal held, they're in business.

I find it all pretty fascinating.

But peering inside that box makes one think twice about wanting to be buried in a coffin in a concrete vault eh?

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Cosmolene.

Or something like that,...was the goop mentioned I think. A sort of wax-like substance used to coat steel tools. If it was sealed thoroughly with that and the plastic wrap,...then maybe there's a chance. The rust could be from the steel skid system it rests on. We can only hope so anyway.

 

[fishmeok]

Probably packed in cosmoline or something similar, it was used to waterproof rifles in WW2 for shipping. It looks like the bag is torn on the left rear fender. I wouldn't hold out much hope for the interior being salvageable. Probably no floors left either.
Too bad...
Cheers
Mark

 

[RedHotRidinHood]

Well, I just watched the unearthing live on oklatravel.net, and I sat here and cried a little...I am so sentimental! It's so cool. They had one of the original guys from the gunnite company there, and they pulled up the original metal sign that the company had put into the vault back in 57, and put the two together. It was a cool moment. They talked to one of the ladies who was a little girl at the time and had a picture taken sitting on top of the car before they put in the ground! I wish I was there-I bet the atmosphere is very upbeat and happy.
They had Coddington on there briefly and he said it didn't look good. Sharon King Davis (the chairperson of Tulsarama) had to kind of gloss over that, and I don't blame her. I didn't know who he was before this, but he seems kinda gruff. I know most of you don't like him, and I can see why. I don't care what condition she is in, I just think the whole thing is so neat. In a day and age where everything is so plastic, safe and homogenized, diggin' up a dirty old car from a 50 year old vault is so refreshing to me. I like that they aren't going to pretty it up before they unveil it. I just wish I was there!!

 

[Mike in Seattle]

It doesn't look good - they're saying it could just be muddy, but it sounds more like it's a rusted-out mess...not surprising since it's been sitting in what's in essence a swimming pool that holds back ground water, but not water that seeps in from above. The earlier reports were they had to pump out several feet of water. The big unveiling is tonight after they've cleaned it up.

http://apnews.myway.com//article/20070615/D8PPG1R00.html

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

You can still see the lines of the car under the wrapper, so it does look promising. Doubt it will ever be road worthy though.

 

[RedHotRidinHood]

I don't care. The unveiling is only an hour away! I am stoked! I have no illusions that it's driveable, but I love that she is really a time traveler.

 

[jamespowers]

You can still see the lines of the car under the wrapper, so it does look promising. Doubt it will ever be road worthy though.

Let me through to it. I'll be driving it in a few weeks.
There is the parts aftermarket for sure.
Just keep Coddington's destructive hands off of it. :eusa_doh:

Regards,

J

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

I don't care. The unveiling is only an hour away! I am stoked! I have no illusions that it's driveable, but I love that she is really a time traveler.

Is there a site where we can watch the unwrapping?

 

[RedHotRidinHood]

Oh YES! If you go to the buriedcar.com website, at the upper right there is a link to kotv.com, and they will have streaming video in about 20 minutes of the unveiling! Or....

www.kotv.com

I think I am going to POP!

 

[jamespowers]

Oh YES! If you go to the buriedcar.com website, at the upper right there is a link to kotv.com, and they will have streaming video in about 20 minutes of the unveiling! Or....

www.kotv.com

I think I am going to POP!

They are on stage. The curtain is there....

 

[jamespowers]

Ok removed the cover already!

 

[jamespowers]

Oh no! Coddington is there! :eusa_doh: