I noticed one or two people on this forum from the Tulsa, OK area. Do you have any inside info on that poor 57 Plymouth Belvedere that was marinated for 50 years and dug up in 2007? A great many people were very disappointed. I love those cars ever since I first saw "Christine", although I do not believe every one of those cars that are left should all be painted red and white.

There is a "Forward Look" forum, but there isn't much new lately. Someone posted a clear picture of it after a very long de-rusting process, and it doesn't look all that bad, but they say the sheet metal is very thin, and I don't know the condition of anything else major. I'm sure the interior is all gone. What a shame.

So, does anyone have any inside info?

 

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2017/0...um/?refer=news

This is the latest on the Forwardlook.net forum.

 

I was at the "digging up." It was surprising the amount of people who thought they'd be unveiling a pristine original. Luckily they actually got the lid off the vault a day early so they could pump out all the water.

 

Was anyone surprised that the vault was full of water? Nothing I read about it before the unveiling suggested that anyone suspected any problems.

 

I saw a promotional film before I flew out there and a couple people said, what were they thinking, no one has a dry basement in Tulsa what makes them think a vault 10 feet away from the highway will be any different?

I think everyone there was hoping for success but I don't think anyone was truly surprised to see what came out. It was a good time, and an excellent program they put on. Lots of local history that (I hope) was valued by the residents.

 

Christine was a 1958 Plymouth Fury. That Belvi is a '57. If you look at the beginning of the movie at the scene on the assembly line that all the other Fury's were a very light tan. That was the only color of a Fury They weren't red.

 

That's awesome!

I love the license plate.

 

They should have taken the car and put it in an above ground tomb in the corner of the courthouse and walled it off. I wonder what other planning they did in the day that worked out as well as this. Did they really thing the plastic wrap would keep the car safe?

 

Yes, they did. They had some special material made and draped over the car, they also put a cover over the top of the engine. A new form of gunite had just come around and that was used to construct the vault. As far as I know the two piece concrete lid was only placed on top.

Not sure if anyone back then had any experience burying anything for that length of time. Oklahoma City had just done something similar and Tulsa, not to be outdone, hurried to come up with something to one up them.