Brand new '57 Plymouth

[RocketDude]

I read an interesting story waiting for the dentist this morning. The City of Tulsa, Oklahoma buried a brand new 1957 Plymouth in the lawn in front of the Courthouse, in June, 1957. It was a contest. Guess what the population of Tulsa would be in 2007, and the closest guess wins the Plymouth, when it will be exhumed in June, 2007, at the fiftieth anniversary of the city.

All fluids drained, and the car covered in cosmoline, and wrapped in plastic, and placed in a concrete vault. Five quarts of oil, and 10 gallons of gas were placed in the trunk, along with a case of beer, and numerous other items of interest from 1957. there were pictures of them preparing the car for burial, and the lowering of the coffin.

I'm wondering if the winning guess person is even still with us, after fifty years, and even with the precautions, will there be much left of the car.

I thought it was interesting, and I'm curious to see what happens in June when it rises from the grave.

Has anyone else heard of this, and able to shed more light on the subject? It would be a real prize for a Mopar fan to get a hold of this car, if it is in any kind of decent condition. I'm sure the story will get around as the date gets closer

Thoughts, anyone....?

After I wrote this, i did a search and found a couple of articles on it. Interesting reading.

http://www.plymouthbulletin.com/57plymouth.htm

http://www.classiccar.com/articles/content/index.php?/archives/3-The-Burying-of-a-Classic.html

[ted sweet]

dont be surprised when it is nothing more than a pile of rust.

[whtbaron]

lol..........dunno about the car, but you won't catch me drinking that beer!!

[Guest AlK]

I am in the process of doing a hasty restoration to driver condition of a 1956 Dodge Custom Royal Lancer 4dr hardtop which will be painted pink and black specifically to attend this meet next June. You can get a lot more info on the "FORWARD LOOK" website. Should be an interesting weekend.

[Guest earthworm]

If there were an effective way of sealing this car and then pumping out all of the oxygen and water vapor, it would still be as new (I hope) !

I do not think man knew exactly why things deteriorate back then, today we know more, but there is still much to learn..

Best of luck to the fortuniate man who does "win" this car..

[mrpushbutton]

Anything Mopar made in '57 will rust in Arizona!--besides the miserable fit and finish of the '57's. It will be real interesting to see what is left when the car is lifted from the concrete bunker. The '57 model year was a rough one for Chrysler, it is really the first year they were on their own as a complete full- line 100% in-house fabrication company, like GM and Ford. For 1957, Chrysler had a blank sheet of paper to design a (modern) auto body with out the help of Briggs, whom I have always suspected lent a great deal of integrity and competence to postwar Chrysler body designs under the skin . The '57 models were really '58 models pushed ahead one year in an attempt to keep up with the General (the FORMER style leader) and some things were learned as they went. They are fantastic looking cars though, the first time Virgil Exner really could do what he wanted.

[Rusty_OToole]

There are lots of cars around that are 50 years old and they weren't sealed in a concrete vault. If it was reasonably dry it should be in excellent shape. I think the car and everything else belongs in a museum.

If the ground water didn't get in my guess is it would be in the same condition as a car that was stored in a garage maybe better.

[MCHinson]

"If the ground water didn't get in"

Yes, that IS the real question. It will be interesting to see..... <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

[Guest Dave Mills]

I intend to be there to see what it looks like. Unfortunately, those cars would rust just sitting at the curb on a sunny day. It will be interesting to see.

[Guest Skyking]

I heard awhile back that people were already in line to buy it.

[Barry Wolk]

I would think that the oxygen in the space would have disapated years ago. Without oxygen there can be no rust. I could see some deterioration from dissimilar metals but, if dry, could be pretty pristine. I hope they were smart enough to drain all the fluids out of it and take the battery out of it entirely.

[Guest De Soto Frank]

A lot would depend on whether the concrete in the vault had cured before they sealed that Plymouth up... concerete dissipates a lot of moisture while it is curing...

[Barry Wolk]

What's a "concert vault". The quote below is from the link above:

"Buried in a concert vault, the white and gold car was mount on steel skids and wrapped in a cosmoline-like substance to help preserve it.

Conversations with those present at the entombing , say the car had a full tank of gas. As many restorers have painfully found out, may prove to be disastrous. (What would the EPA say about this?) Since the cars burial, questions have been raised about the vaults integrity and whether or not moisture has entered the vault."

[RocketDude]

I would think the condition would depend on how well it was prepared. Looking at the pictures, it doesn't show any wrapping of any kind, however the text says it was lowered and raised several times for photo purposes, so perhaps it was prepared better than it appears, for the final lowering, after the camera's left.

If they completely wrapped the car in a cosmoline cloth wrap, like doctors use to make molds or casts, only with cosmoline rather than plaster, it just might come through in pretty good condition.

Wrap that sucker up like a mummy..!

Even though they didn't know then that '57 Plymouths tend to rust, they had to have had a pretty good understanding that any metal will rust, if not properly prepared.

It's fun to speculate, and gives everyone another reason to look forward to the return of spring.

[Dave@Moon]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> I would think that the oxygen in the space would have disapated years ago. Without oxygen there can be no rust. </div></div>

Soil gases flow through substrate, including solid rock and concrete, very much like groundwater. You have to dig <span style="font-style: italic">very</span> deep to reach deoxygenated conditions (except in permenantly saturated wetland soils). You could consume the oxygen faster than it could infiltrate the area. However a rusting car probably doesn't consume very much oxygen compared to subterrainian organisms like worms, insects, and cave dwelling animals.

[R Walling]

"cave dwelling animals"???

I'm not sure if I would want to win that car.

There could be lot lizards, insurance sharks, bottom feeding lawyers

and used car salesman in there with it!