What an awesome job. Congratulations for the patience and dedication being deposited upon it. This automobile truly deserves to be in a museum, as part of history, and it truly symbolizes the American Spirit. It can go rusty, it can get old. But it's tough and focused - and it never dies! :)
Yes they should have locked it in a barn or garage. I got a 57 chevy that was stored for 35 years. There is no major damage. Some minor surface rust outside. Interior brand new. Engine rebuilt and there she is ready to hop in and drive with 18.000 miles on it.
123Chevyman if they publicized where the car was in a barn it would have either been stolen or fucked with. Plus the whole project was to make a time capsule. Which you bury.
im from tulsa Oklahoma, and it was a really sad day to see it unveiled. ..those guys back in the 50s didn't know how to secure a vehicle. after this happened we stuck another vehicle in the ground, and i believe they knew what they were doing. .now i will be 87 years of age, when they open the capsule. but miss belvedere is in roscoe Illinois, I think. me personally, I think they need to restore it...
@@vampirzz1998 Plymouth Prowler will be unsealed and returned to Chrysler in 2048. I'm pretty sure they didn't bury it this time but I could be wrong. It's defiantly in a mausoleum though.
This story is blowing my mind now! I only found about this yesterday and it has been nagging me ever since. As a classic car owner and lover I 'm so mad right now I can't see straight. These cars were rare to begin with!
I applaud what is being done to preserve the car as is. To "restore" it would be so extensive a job as to destroy any originality. Carefully clean it as best possible and preserve it as is. Any chance of an update on the car's current condition? And to anyone else out there, if you find a 57/58 Plymouth, RESTORE IT. There are far too many Chevies out there already.
I bought the Saratoga in 1994 . I went there and found out the engine was a 330 Firedome Hemi and was still loose. With a can of gas and hose ran to the carborater and a fresh battery the old gal started up . I aired the tires back up and the ol car came out under its own power and drove up on the trailer using the E brake to stop it cause the brakes were down . I gave it a rebuild and modernized the brakes abd rearend and put a automatic in it cause the fluid drive was a pain to get parts for.
To do what he is trying to do is very difficult. He still has all the mechanical components to functional condition as he wants to show it off like he said. All of that upholstry and other interior parts molded and mildew and rotted and decayed. Restoring is one thing as that is much easier. He is trying to preserve it, much harder to do especially with that much rust, etc.
@phantomcharger sir you must understand, that car is a 57 belvadere in poor shape but it stands for all of the hard time Tulsa has gone through. to restore it would be removeing all of thecharicter and perserveirence of tulsa
A 1957 Plymouth is not a POS,it is a beautiful and rare vehicle.its like restorations if you ever done one.the car comes in as a POS and you fix it up a bit for some time,and it looks like it just rolled out of the factory.with all this modern stuff,classic cars can be given a 2nd chance no matter the condition some of the time.
My 53 Saratoga was locked in a garage for 27yrs after the owner died in 1967 and his wife couldn't drive so there it sat. The son though kept a good roof on the building and kept it swept out and clean . A sister that was handicapped lived there after both parents passed away and in 1993 Died of complications of her handicap.The family almost had the car hauled off to the bone yard. But a cousin of the family is a good friend of mine and they offered it to me for $200. Oh yeh I bought it .
its awesome but also kinda sad. the folks whom attempted the unheard of back in 1957 imagined a perfect condition brand new 1957 belvedere to be unearthed. ive heard they even ran HVAC down to the capsule as well. it is sad that they didnt forsee water leakage(they knew than) but what happened happened. it would be nice to get her in running order though:)
+geoffrey walker That engine will never run again. See the boot lid wobbling around? That got into the oil and some cilinders, welding everything firmly into place.
This civil engineer at the time suggested that they set up drainage in the vault and hook it up to the building's HVAC system, and they didn't listen to him. Now, everything on the car is pretty well destroyed -- might as well have dumped it in a river...
I'm surprised - the cleaned-off part didn't look as horrible and hopeless as I thought it would, based on its original appearance. There aren't as many holes as I thought there'd be either.
I must say guys,they really they didn't know any better, they thought that vault could withstand a nuclear blast, it's like saying 'why did they sail around the world in the 1800's, couldn't they just fly?' the technology wasn't all that advanced, it's a shame they didn't set up drainage, although as I said before, they would most probably have thought this vault was indestructible :( It's a shame, but it's just one of those things unfortunately. Absolutely stunning car though!
Oklahoma citizens should have asked the US Navy for water proof plastic reinforced container. The Navy preserved many deactivated war ships in dry docks, sealed the hulls with reinforced plastic and filled the sealed ships with Nitrogen. This method of the 1940's preserved the hulls intact for storage and future rebuilding and reactivation. For a thing as small as a car, the US Navy would be glad to donate the water proof container, fill it with dry Nitrogen, and Oklahoma could have recovered an intact Miss Beldebere after 50 years time capsule burial. Today there's a surplus of intact war ships waiting to be reactivated at US Navy dry docks. Thanks
@bwild61 I agree. the structure is still obviously capable of supporting itself, so there's enough there to work with. hell of a lot of time and money though and I suppose they arent doing it because it would then no longer be "original".
I really love junk cars, but this is a real nightmare. Did they not realize that the time capsule would run full of water? Why not building a time capsule above ground level? Or at least building a drainage system or something. It's a shame. Most junk cars that you can pick at any junkyard are in better shape than this car.
I love old Plymouths its heart breaking to see this one in the condition its in but it served as a time capsule. Obviously in the 50s water tight integrity was not fully developed and perfected for long periods of time. I hope the get all the rust off and then put her in a museum. Im glad they aren't going to do a complete restoration. That would defeat the purpose of the whole project. I wonder what condition the car is in currently.
So where is this car now? Did it actually tour anywhere, or is it displayed someplace? I'm assuming the most likely possibility is that it's back in Tulsa, maybe in a museum.
ok.........face palm i love these old cars......somebody call Chip Foose .....this car needs to be brought back to life......cars in a musuem....are one thing..shiney nice etc what ever phaw.....a car is mobile artwork man thats what Detroit built they didnt make these steel beautys to sit .....hear the rumble hear the roar.....sigh....but i geuss no more
I remember them dragging this up after 50 years and people expecting a new car, ended up in a worse condition than if it had been left in the open for 50 year's. Probably cost more money to totally restore it or do whatever this guys going to be doing for months on end, than building a new one from scratch. I've seen total restorations, they look great, but in this case they'd have to replace everything and then it wouldn't be the same car. Like having someone repaint the mona Lisa,
i agree wih u all the way. the leather seats fell apart an disolved in the water an there just gonna de rust an perserve it. the windows u cant even see out of them. de rust the whole an restore it. if she could speak she would ask this "please in honor an respect of me. Restore me to my original state. just give more one more chance to dance."
Something really upsets me about this. Is that we buried the car 50 years ago and we unearthed it 50 years later, so why is Miss Belvedere currently in a museum in Illinois? Submit being a museum in, oh I don't know, Tulsa? We buried that car we deserve to have it in a museum in Oklahoma!!
mikestheman3: It was 1957...the technology obviously wasn't as good then as it is now...so creating a water tight container to remain under ground for 50 years would be almost next to impossible...
The fact that this community buried this Belvedere as a Time capsule is different. But propper care was not taken, the result was years of flooding and now sadly, its only junk. This vehicle is so severely water damaged, what is actually left intact from the past ?? This ceased being a Time Capsule, when the flooding started.
i dont think this car can be restored. ive seen it up close.. something to remember, as the vault filled full of water, the battery leaked its acid out ..it set in a pool of low grade acid for who knows how long,chyrsler was the worst of the big 3 when it came to rust prevention....notice how flimsy the trunk lid was when he was lifting it.. the whole body is like this...
well im in a lot of pain bu thats partly because i cant lay in bed all friggin day and rot so i try to do stuff and my back starts to just kill so thets that but if i just lay in bed and take my pills its bearable
Id say restore also,.....but its probably beyond that.......just look at the trunk lid, the inner support is rotted away....its so flimsy,....the entire structure is no doubt the same way.......rotted to the bone ,.....its truly sad,.....whoever is responsible for this tragedy should be made to replace it.
What an awesome job. Congratulations for the patience and dedication being deposited upon it. This automobile truly deserves to be in a museum, as part of history, and it truly symbolizes the American Spirit. It can go rusty, it can get old. But it's tough and focused - and it never dies!
:)
Yes they should have locked it in a barn or garage. I got a 57 chevy that was stored for 35 years. There is no major damage. Some minor surface rust outside. Interior brand new. Engine rebuilt and there she is ready to hop in and drive with 18.000 miles on it.
123Chevyman if they publicized where the car was in a barn it would have either been stolen or fucked with. Plus the whole project was to make a time capsule. Which you bury.
@@red58fury OK has some desert areas. They could have buried it where it would stay dry.
im from tulsa Oklahoma, and it was a really sad day to see it unveiled. ..those guys back in the 50s didn't know how to secure a vehicle. after this happened we stuck another vehicle in the ground, and i believe they knew what they were doing. .now i will be 87 years of age, when they open the capsule.
but miss belvedere is in roscoe Illinois, I think.
me personally, I think they need to restore it...
Isn't it a dodge? I didn't think they buried it, but put it in a above ground vault?
@@comet1227 really? When will they open it again?
@@vampirzz1998 Plymouth Prowler will be unsealed and returned to Chrysler in 2048. I'm pretty sure they didn't bury it this time but I could be wrong. It's defiantly in a mausoleum though.
This story is blowing my mind now! I only found about this yesterday and it has been nagging me ever since. As a classic car owner and lover I 'm so mad right now I can't see straight. These cars were rare to begin with!
I applaud what is being done to preserve the car as is. To "restore" it would be so extensive a job as to destroy any originality. Carefully clean it as best possible and preserve it as is. Any chance of an update on the car's current condition? And to anyone else out there, if you find a 57/58 Plymouth, RESTORE IT. There are far too many Chevies out there already.
I bought the Saratoga in 1994 . I went there and found out the engine was a 330 Firedome Hemi and was still loose. With a can of gas and hose ran to the carborater and a fresh battery the old gal started up . I aired the tires back up and the ol car came out under its own power and drove up on the trailer using the E brake to stop it cause the brakes were down . I gave it a rebuild and modernized the brakes abd rearend and put a automatic in it cause the fluid drive was a pain to get parts for.
the 57 plymouth was a notorious ruster. most of them rusted out after two or three years. at least the ones in northrn cities.
It's like a zombie. Poor car, it was wonderful.
Ditto! I hope those folks restore her asap.
To do what he is trying to do is very difficult. He still has all the mechanical components to functional condition as he wants to show it off like he said. All of that upholstry and other interior parts molded and mildew and rotted and decayed. Restoring is one thing as that is much easier. He is trying to preserve it, much harder to do especially with that much rust, etc.
Gotta say - out of ten for inventiveness - 0 out of for execution.
Has nobody sees "Christine"? The car will fix itself....duh. Oh, and watch what you say about her.....she's sensitive.
Bushwacker Only shitters haven't seen it lol
Bushwacker it's favorite car
WOW amazing car !! luv it ! 50 years buried !! dont open from 1957 till 2007 !
Those are some nice cars
One of these nights this car will fix himself and become brand new again ! I saw it on a movie !-)
The shitters in whatever town its in better look out!
A state of - Arrested Decay - is very fitting due to her legacy : \ I would visit the display when exibited...
VM
The burial of this once beautiful car, the way it was done and the eventual outcome was a testament to human stupidity in it's purest form.
i would love to know how it looks now
if i had the money i would, they were beautiful cars.
@phantomcharger sir you must understand, that car is a 57 belvadere in poor shape but it stands for all of the hard time Tulsa has gone through. to restore it would be removeing all of thecharicter and perserveirence of tulsa
why preserve something somebody did that was stupid!!?!??!? restore the damn thing!
I totally agree mr
such a shame, would love to see her fully restored.
Am I the only one who likes the darn car? 😕
should restore!!!!
is a great car!!!
not spent 50 years underground just to be one of many rusty cars !!!!!
A 1957 Plymouth is not a POS,it is a beautiful and rare vehicle.its like restorations if you ever done one.the car comes in as a POS and you fix it up a bit for some time,and it looks like it just rolled out of the factory.with all this modern stuff,classic cars can be given a 2nd chance no matter the condition some of the time.
My 53 Saratoga was locked in a garage for 27yrs after the owner died in 1967 and his wife couldn't drive so there it sat. The son though kept a good roof on the building and kept it swept out and clean . A sister that was handicapped lived there after both parents passed away and in 1993 Died of complications of her handicap.The family almost had the car hauled off to the bone yard. But a cousin of the family is a good friend of mine and they offered it to me for $200. Oh yeh I bought it .
Wow, Mr. nice guy!!!!!!!!
Any update? hows the car looking
Man where the follow up up video from this one ??
Any update on this? It has been years.
let me see if I can find anything.. I'll email you whatever I find.
its a process ok, it almost 2012 what does she look like now?
how does it look now?
Was it evapo rust that was used to remove the rust????
Have any video updates been done since this one?
its awesome but also kinda sad. the folks whom attempted the unheard of back in 1957 imagined a perfect condition brand new 1957 belvedere to be unearthed. ive heard they even ran HVAC down to the capsule as well. it is sad that they didnt forsee water leakage(they knew than) but what happened happened. it would be nice to get her in running order though:)
+geoffrey walker That engine will never run again. See the boot lid wobbling around? That got into the oil and some cilinders, welding everything firmly into place.
This civil engineer at the time suggested that they set up drainage in the vault and hook it up to the building's HVAC system, and they didn't listen to him. Now, everything on the car is pretty well destroyed -- might as well have dumped it in a river...
I'm surprised - the cleaned-off part didn't look as horrible and hopeless as I thought it would, based on its original appearance. There aren't as many holes as I thought there'd be either.
What I want to know is if any of the artifacts they put in the trunk were useable, the pictures, oil, bear, etc? Does anyone know?
No apparently pretty much everything rotted, corroded and disintegrated into nothingness. Very sad!
I must say guys,they really they didn't know any better, they thought that vault could withstand a nuclear blast, it's like saying 'why did they sail around the world in the 1800's, couldn't they just fly?' the technology wasn't all that advanced, it's a shame they didn't set up drainage, although as I said before, they would most probably have thought this vault was indestructible :( It's a shame, but it's just one of those things unfortunately. Absolutely stunning car though!
wot does the car look like now plz let us no ?
I wonder if it has a 392 Hemi.
Odds are a wide block 318.
Imagine the vault didn't flood, and they drove it away after them lifted it out? Damn. Woulda been epic.
im surprised it has not snapped in half under its own weight !
They should restore it back to running driving car
Well it would of have to of been a strong and sturdy barn away from hurricanes, tornadoes, snowstorms and earthquakes.
What product is this rust remover? anyone?
Oklahoma citizens should have asked the US Navy for water proof plastic reinforced container. The Navy preserved many deactivated war ships in dry docks, sealed the hulls with reinforced plastic and filled the sealed ships with Nitrogen. This method of the 1940's preserved the hulls intact for storage and future rebuilding and reactivation. For a thing as small as a car, the US Navy would be glad to donate the water proof container, fill it with dry Nitrogen, and Oklahoma could have recovered an intact Miss Beldebere after 50 years time capsule burial. Today there's a surplus of intact war ships waiting to be reactivated at US Navy dry docks. Thanks
@bwild61 I agree. the structure is still obviously capable of supporting itself, so there's enough there to work with. hell of a lot of time and money though and I suppose they arent doing it because it would then no longer be "original".
I really love junk cars, but this is a real nightmare. Did they not realize that the time capsule would run full of water? Why not building a time capsule above ground level? Or at least building a drainage system or something. It's a shame.
Most junk cars that you can pick at any junkyard are in better shape than this car.
I love old Plymouths its heart breaking to see this one in the condition its in but it served as a time capsule. Obviously in the 50s water tight integrity was not fully developed and perfected for long periods of time. I hope the get all the rust off and then put her in a museum. Im glad they aren't going to do a complete restoration. That would defeat the purpose of the whole project. I wonder what condition the car is in currently.
It's cool because it's completely original.
where the hell is this car?57fury owner.....
@biljorj it actually has 4 miles on it
So where is the car now? I would hope that it would end up in the Walter P. Chrysler Museum
So where is this car now? Did it actually tour anywhere, or is it displayed someplace? I'm assuming the most likely possibility is that it's back in Tulsa, maybe in a museum.
ok.........face palm i love these old cars......somebody call Chip Foose .....this car needs to be brought back to life......cars in a musuem....are one thing..shiney nice etc what ever phaw.....a car is mobile artwork man thats what Detroit built they didnt make these steel beautys to sit .....hear the rumble hear the roar.....sigh....but i geuss no more
Did he restored that car?
it still looks road worthy.
Would you spend more than the car will ever be worth to restore it? It's not the only POS 57 Belvedere around.
Why? as a warning for what not to do to a car?
how it looks today?
tomaya64 Like this. blog.hemmings.com/wp-content/uploads//2014/04/MissBelvedere_700.jpg
Better, but still ruined.
@ruwithlee1970
might not be anything left, acid baths destroy all rust.. it would probably fall apart in the process
wow thats interesting
It should be restored and displayed in a building that's what the 50th birthday guy would've wanted
I remember them dragging this up after 50 years and people expecting a new car, ended up in a worse condition than if it had been left in the open for 50 year's.
Probably cost more money to totally restore it or do whatever this guys going to be doing for months on end, than building a new one from scratch.
I've seen total restorations, they look great, but in this case they'd have to replace everything and then it wouldn't be the same car.
Like having someone repaint the mona Lisa,
Alright Dwight, where is the car? It seems like your hiding it from public view. How about another update??
i bet she still has the new car smell!
USA BRING IT BACK AGAIN TO THE LIFE THIS BEAUTIFUL CARS THEY ARE SO NICE,.....I LIKE ALL AMERICAN OLDTIMERS.........
When they brought it out in 2007, someone yelled "Suddenly its 1964!" when they unwrapped it
i agree wih u all the way. the leather seats fell apart an disolved in the water an there just gonna de rust an perserve it. the windows u cant even see out of them. de rust the whole an restore it. if she could speak she would ask this
"please in honor an respect of me. Restore me to my original state. just give more one more chance to dance."
Why didn't you leave the poor car as it was? Or at least restore it.
Manos from Greece
1957 Plymouth Fury owner.
if they kept it above ground in a barn it would have faired better , damn
it was finished in 2009 its not in a musem its in a building in ultral one just sitting there a blog is about it in 2014
Something really upsets me about this. Is that we buried the car 50 years ago and we unearthed it 50 years later, so why is Miss Belvedere currently in a museum in Illinois? Submit being a museum in, oh I don't know, Tulsa? We buried that car we deserve to have it in a museum in Oklahoma!!
would be better if it came out looking brand new !
the winner died in 76 his sisters are having the work done
lol @ the kids padelling pool at 1:19
mikestheman3: It was 1957...the technology obviously wasn't as good then as it is now...so creating a water tight container to remain under ground for 50 years would be almost next to impossible...
Such a shame. Would of been amazing to see it without rust. A 50 year old car with 0 miles on the clock & looking new.
pull the motor apart clean the bore and remove all the rust free everything up and it could run again,
Ooh! Sorry, That was my brother who commented
The fact that this community buried this Belvedere as a Time capsule is different.
But propper care was not taken, the result was years of flooding and now sadly, its only junk. This vehicle is so severely water damaged, what is actually left intact from the past ?? This ceased being a Time Capsule, when the flooding started.
i dont think this car can be restored. ive seen it up close.. something to remember, as the vault filled full of water, the battery leaked its acid out ..it set in a pool of low grade acid for who knows how long,chyrsler was the worst of the big 3 when it came to rust prevention....notice how flimsy the trunk lid was when he was lifting it.. the whole body is like this...
Pfff impossible to restore this poor Plymouth...
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
lol, you got me there :)
If they removed the "patina" there would not be anything left! Watch when he lifts the deck lid. The entire car is like a rusty tin can.
Drive it into a barn, turn off the key, and leave it there. It would have been 95% better 50 years later.
well im in a lot of pain bu thats partly because i cant lay in bed all friggin day and rot so i try to do stuff and my back starts to just kill so thets that but if i just lay in bed and take my pills its bearable
holy shit
christine lives!
Would cost more than the car is worth restored.
give here another change to cruise the roads restore her to her old glorie, and let her drive everyday to the horizon if it was 1957
happy birthday let's bury a car!
Should have buried it in the desert to prevent water damage.
0:47 wow he is strong
now a im going to my backyard to burie my phaton for 50 years
Id say restore also,.....but its probably beyond that.......just look at the trunk lid, the inner support is rotted away....its so flimsy,....the entire structure is no doubt the same way.......rotted to the bone ,.....its truly sad,.....whoever is responsible for this tragedy should be made to replace it.
+uski59 The story is worth more than /another/ restored car. Rather have a special car.
I'm.....not.,....sure......i......Agree....,with.....your.....Ellipsis....,....abuse.
so far he has been paid over $400,00.00 to save that mess.....
ANYONE SEEN CHRISTINE ?
:P I thought it was 4 miles
just a rusty old car, trash it and bury a new one, the right way.