A Plymouth Belvedere that was buried in a concrete vault nearly 50 years ago as part of Oklahoma’s golden anniversary celebration will be unearthed in 2007 as part of the Oklahoma centennial festivities. The vehicle will be unearthed June 15, 2007.
The 1957 Belvedere is underground next to the Tulsa County Courthouse. (Also buried with it were 10 gallons of gas, five quarts of oil and a case of beer.) Old news reports indicate the gas was buried in case internal combustion engines became obsolete by 2007 and no fuel was available. (We’re guessing they buried the beer in fear that Prohibition would return.)
Other buried items include the contents of a woman’s purse: 14 bobby pins, a lipstick, a pack of gum, tissues, a pack of cigarettes and matches and $2.43, an unpaid parking ticket, a bottle of tranquilizers and a spool of microfilm, which records the entries of a contest held to determine the winner of the car. (The person to guess Tulsa’s population in 2007 or the heirs of that person were to win the car and a $100 savings account.)
The Tulsa Historical Society and the centennial committee have been getting inquiries from all over the world about the car, including one from a Scandinavian who claims to have an exact twin of the buried Belvedere.
For more information, visit www.buriedcar.com.
Photo courtesy of Chrysler Historical Foundation.