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Rusty : How A 1957 Plymouth Buried Underground For 50yrs Looked Like When It Was Exhumed In 2007
Rusty : How a Plymouth Belvedere, nicknamed Miss Belvedere, buried underground for 50yrs looked like when it was exhumed.
Miss Belvedere is a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere sealed in an underground vault on June 15th 1957 as a 50-year time capsule.
It was buried in a 12ft by 20ft reinforced concrete vault by the City of Tulsa to celebrate Oklahoma State’s 50 years anniversary.
The car was intended to be a prize for a individual who can guess the closest of what the population of the city would be in 2007.
When it was finally exhumed in 2007, the car many thought would be found in near perfect condition had become a shadow of itself.
When it was publicly shown, the once brand new gold and white Plymouth Belvedere had practically become a rusted pile of metal.
Back in June 15th 1957, a brand new gold and white 1957 Plymouth Belvedere Sport Coupe was buried in a 12ft by 20ft reinforced concrete vault by the City of Tulsa to celebrate Oklahoma State’s 50 years anniversary.
Items buried with the car includes gallons of petrol (in case there is no more internal combustion engines by 2007), 5 quarts of oil to fill the engine, tissues, a pack of cigarettes, matches, bobby pins, bottle of tranquilizers and $2.43.
When exhumed in 50 years time (2007), the car, later nicknamed Miss Belvedere, was intended to be a prize to be awarded to one lucky individual (or their descendants) who can guess the closest of what the population of the city would be in 2007.
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The answers submitted by the 812 participants were copied onto a microfilm and kept inside the glovebox of the car. The lucky winner or descendants also gets a $100 savings account, which had grown to $666.85 in 2007.
But when Miss Belvedere was finally exhumed in June 14th 2007, during the state’s 100th anniversary celebration and 50 years after it was buried, the car many people felt would be found in near perfect condition had become a shadow of itself.
Not Miss Belvedere : How the 1957 Plymouth was expected to look 50 years after.
Not Miss Belvedere : How the 1957 Plymouth was expected to look 50 years after.
When the concrete vault, strong enough to survive a nuclear destruction was finally opened, Miss Belvedere, still wrapped in 3 layers of waterproof plastic wrap, laid fully submerged in a pool of over 2,000 gallons of stagnate water.
When it was publicly shown the next day, the once brand new gold and white Plymouth Belvedere Sport Coupe had practically become a rusted pile of metal – though items like the gallons of petrol buried in the sealed time capsule were perfectly protected.
The lucky winner was Raymond Humbertson, who guess of 384,743 was closest to the actual population of 382,457. But the car was officially passed to his 101-year-old sister because he had no children.
Efforts to restore the Plymouth Belvedere were made in November 2007 to remove the rust and muds. In 2017, the car finally shipped from the rust removal company to an Auto Attractions Museum in Illinois, where it was opened to public viewing in 2020.
