I just saw this on boston.com. The city of Tulsa, OK buried a concrete vault time capsule in 1957 to be dug up in 2007. It included, among many other smaller things, a brand new gold and white 1957 Plymouth Belvedere Sport Coupe. People submitted guesses as to what Tulsa's population would be in 2007, and they were recorded on microfilm and buried in a steel case along with the car. When the time capsule is unearthed in 2007 as part of Oklahoma's centennial celebration, the population guesses will be read, and the person whose guess is closest (or their descendents) wins the car!

Among the other items buried was 10 gallons of gasoline, in case internal combustion engines were obsolete by 2007 and no fuel was available.

Unfortunately the website seems to have gone down since this morning, but it's loated at http://www.buriedcar.com , and it includes a really cool movie with footage of the 1957 ceremony.

Boston.com article

 

Pretty amazing...this'll be fun to watch!

 

very cool.

10gallons will last a 57'.... 5 miles?

 

That's if it hasn't turned to sludge by now.

BTW is the site hosted on somebody's palm pilot with dialup. We're talkin sssslllllllllloooooooowwwww.

 

Just like a bunch of Okies to bury a darn Plymouth and to not forget the gas

At least they could have buried a Cobra or something of real value

 

Real value? Thats going to be a very expensive car when it comes out, its exactly the way it came off the showroom flor in 57!!

Besides, whens the last time you say a '57 Cobra?

 

Oops...my bad, I was thinking the Cobra was out in the late 50's. Perhaps they could have buried a 57 2 door Chevy.

 

chevy = junk

i hope that they decided to bury a 57 with something like a 413 wedge motor in it

we could only be so lucky!!!

 

Hey you must be either a Mopar or a Ford person?

 

Only the best

 

What year is the runner? My father in law had one that looked just like that one. But he sold it and bought a GTX that he just finished restoring!

 

Here's another site with a bunch of info.

Apparently there is concern about whether or not the concrete vault has maintained its integrity over the 50-year span:

"And what, exactly, will the lucky winner get when the car is unearthed in 2007? No one is really sure. Sitting on a steel skid, the white and gold car was wrapped in a cosmoline-like substance to help preserve it and then buried within a concrete bunker (The car was lowered into the vault several times prior to June 15 for photo shoots, one such photo ad appearing on page twenty-five of Life magazine's July 7 issue.) Twenty years after the cars burial, questions were raised as officials began to wonder if the vault would maintain its integrity for fifty years. Its location (marked by a bronze plaque on the courthouse lawn places it close to modern traffic. Buck Rudd, deputy chief of building operations for the county court house, mused in 1987, "There's a lot of traffic going by only 15 or 20ft from that thing. We've been curious to know it vibrations from the heavy traffic might have caused it to crack. If moisture starts getting in there, it's going to cause things to deteriorate over fifty years time," Rudd continued. Unknown to the committee - or anyone else then - 1957 Plymouths were terribly prone to rust. Asked what type of maintenance was done on the time capsule, Rudd replied, "We just cut the grass on top of it."

 

'69. we have a few of them. More Chargers than Roadrunners though.

GTX's are nice, buy they are a bit to "refined" for me.

I like the bare bones aspect of the Roadrunners.

 

"In our judgment," commented W.A. Anderson, Jubilee chairman, "Plymouth is a true representative of automobiles of this century - with the kind of lasting appeal that should still be in style fifty years from now....

Hahahahaha, wow, I wonder if they saw the downfall of Plymouth before they buried this one!

 

Hey I'm a little confused about what kind of cars and trucks you like. On this thread you say that Chevy's are junk...but you also replied on my "Which pick up truck to buy" thread, you stated you like the Chevy pick ups alot What gives?

 

if by any chance I won, I sell that for a JCW MINI.

 

Pickups and cars are completely different

I like the chevy pickups alot, well, because ford and dodge have yet to bring out a truck that I truely like.

the 1500 Chevy is probably one of the best all around trucks ive driven.

 

oh yeah, i also drive a 3500 dually cube about every other day, and that truck as stripped out as it is, is probably more comfortable than the F150 my dad had!

 

I got the chance to drive all three of the big trucks offered by the big three.

Didn't drive any of the quarter tons as they were to small to pull a 13.000 fifth wheel.

The Ford F-350 did it for me and the brother in law. I think Chevy needs to give its truck line a new face lift, and I think I read where by 07 a change is on the books. Dodge needs to bring out a 5 speed trany that will last. The four speeds gotta go. And will at about 40,000 miles

Even on the quarter ton P/U's I like the Ford F150 better than what Chevy or Dodge has to offer. I don't know about the rest of the country, but here in Okla, the Fords hold their re-sale very good. Not as good as the MINI, but darn good for american iron.

 

Speakin of holding a good re-sale...I went to look at two used 03 F-350's and one 04 F-350 that was advertised in the paper. All three had over 75,000 miles on em. Still low miles for a diesel. By the time I got to the dealers lot, all three were sold and gone

I just wanted to see how the interior and all was holding up. I knew my brother in law wanted a new one, but there is a Ford dealer just up the road so I thought I would check out the used ones first.

 

well, i dont know about resale, values, but, retail value on a 97 F150 ( the most popular F150 ford has ever sold) topped out at about 5500 dollars. thats just sick.

for a 75k mile truck, with lots of options, great body. (tranny was starting to go, typical ford automatic) 5500 seems pretty low. i dont think they would even sell it back to someone for over 9!

 

That really is very cool - but even if the vault is intact, you still have to wonder about the effects of Humidity and such - hopefully, the '57 will be OK, once they drain and flush the tank and fuel lines.

 

its going to look like evry other 57 that sat outside for 50 years.

it will be very rusty, even the tiniest bit of moisture wreaks havoc on the older chryslers.

 

The website is back to normal after what I assume was overload due to the media yesterday. The video is working fine, and is pretty cool to watch. You need Quicktime to see it.

http://www.buriedcar.com

 

I don't believe Plymouth had any wedge motors available in '57. The highest performance model I'm aware of was a Golden Fury that had a 326 cu in "A" block with two 4 barrel carbs. Since that is listed as a Belvedere, it probably has a stock 318-2 barrel, IMHO.