Historians BURY iconic classic car underground to create ‘car time capsule’ – before mistake saw it go horribly wrong
AN iconic classic car was buried deep underground some 50 years ago in a time capsule experiment gone wrong.
A 1957 Plymouth Belvedere, a well-known motor to US car fans for its vintage styling and performance, was once buried beneath the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The retro motor, which was later known as 'Miss Belvedere', was buried during the height of Cold War tensions and was sealed in reinforced concrete to protect it from potential nuclear war.
Buried with the car were a number of items from the 1950s that "would help acquaint future generations with life in 1957".
These included a container of fuel, a case of Schlitz beer, and random items typically found in a woman's purse at the time, such as an unpaid parking ticket, bobby pins, cigarettes and matches, and a tube of lipstick.
In an event that drew national interest, it was finally removed from the ground in 2007, 50 years after it was buried.
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However, the unearthing of the famous car was described as a "circus" that ended in bitter disappointment.
Seemingly, the concrete that the car had been enclosed in was not waterproof, meaning the Belvedere was found half submerged in groundwater when it was finally risen from the ground.
Despite being covered in plastic wrap, the car had easily become rotten over the years and was covered in a thick coating of rust, with even the interior wasting away.
The original plan had been for 2007 locals to fill the car with the gasoline provided to start it up, but this was no longer possible as the engine was beyond repair.
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One witness said: “I was in Tulsa to witness the digging up of Miss Belvedere… a real circus.
“Items put in the glove compartment fell to the floor as the compartment disintegrated.
“Writings on the tyre with a ballpoint pen were still legible, a glass five-gallon jar filled with gasoline was in the trunk.
“I guess that in 1957 someone thought gasoline would not be available in 2007.
“Boyd Coddington [American designer] and his team were there to start the car, did not happen.”
The car was originally supposed to be a prize that would go to a person who correctly guessed Tulsa’s population in 2007.
However, as the man who'd won the contest had died in 1979, the car went to his 101-year-old sister instead, who allowed for it to be taken by experts to attempt to remove the rust.
In 2015, Belvedere was taken to the Historic Auto-Attractions Museum of Illinois, where it was opened to public viewing in 2020.
This comes as a secret collection of 230 classic motors amassed over a period of 40 years was discovered in a warehouse and an abandoned church just last year.
The fleet of cars, which includes a Lancia Aurelia B20 and a Jaguar E-Type, was a mystery to the world until a fire broke out at the owner’s building.
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Elsewhere, Jaguar is set to put their most famous and widely loved motor of all time back in production.
The British firm will build two new E-Type models using the car’s original blueprints - 50 years after its retirement.
