The Burial and Resurrection of an Automobile By Brenda Williams At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

In 1950, the Chevrolet Bel Air made its debut.

It was the first two-door hardtop targeted to a low-priced market and enjoyed a phenomenal success.
In an effort to compete, Plymouth brought out the Belvedere in 1951.

The Belvedere continued to improve until 1955 when all Plymouths underwent major modifications.
By 1957 the Belvedere was truly revolutionary. It was equipped with a V8 engine, four-barrel carburetors, and a pushbutton transmission. Designed by Virgil Exner, the Belvedere featured dramatic rear tail fins which gave it a futuristic look. It was then marketed under the slogan, "Suddenly, It's 1960."

At the same time, the citizens of Tulsa, Oklahoma were planning their 2007 birthday party to honor one hundred years of statehood. They launched a plan to bury a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere, which would then be dug up in 2007. The idea was to acquaint the citizens of the 21st century with a symbol of life in 1957.

But why, above all available cars, did they choose a Plymouth Belvedere? According to Lewis Roberts, Jr. who was the event chairman, the reason for selecting the Belvedere was because it represented "an advanced product of American Industrial ingenuity with the kind of lasting appeal that will still be in style 50 years from now."

They sprayed the exterior with cosmoline, a metal preservative, and wrapped it in plastic. Various objects, representative of life at the time, were placed in the trunk. Included among the artifacts were five gallons of gasoline and a case of beer.

The burial was part of a party during which residents were asked to guess the population of Tulsa in 2007. They sealed all the guesses in a steel container and placed it inside the car. The winning prize which was the car and a $100.00 trust fund would be awarded to the person whose guess was closest, or if the person was deceased, the heir.

At the last minute, they emptied the contents of a woman's purse into the glove compartment and added some unpaid parking tickets and a bottle of tranquilizers. The 1957 organizers autographed the whitewalls on the tires. Then the Belvedere was lowered into a concrete tomb on the Tulsa County Courthouse lawn. The car was positioned on a steel plate so that the wheels would not come in contact with the ground. At the time of the burial, the odometer registered seven miles.

Fifty years later the Belvedere was removed from the vault. It had been floating in four feet of water. Amazingly, the autographs were still legible. Unfortunately, the beer cans all rusted and leaked beer all over the trunk. Both the keys in the ignition and the engine were rusted tight.

The time capsule, which contained the population guesses, an American flag and letters from Tulsa officials, was in fine shape. It had been better designed to withstand water damage than the car's tomb.

Ray Humbertson's population guess was the most accurate and the prize was awarded to Catherine Johnson, his closest living relative. Mr. Robert Carney, her nephew, claimed the prize in her behalf. He planned to restore it to its former glory.

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