1957 Plymouth dig up

[Hawkins]

quote:Originally posted by cannon_fodder

So they are digging the car up today?  I thought it was supposed to be Friday?

Someone fill me in, clearly I'm in the dark and the buriedcar.com site is flooded with traffic and will not respond.

Its my understanding that they are preparing the vault for the final lift-out which is to happen at noon on Friday.

Unfortunately, part of that preparation is now pumping out water that is currently sitting in the bottom of the vault.


[]

[Conan71]

Anyone else see Marlette's cartoon in the TW this morning?

'57 Belvedere

Hysterical

[MJ]

I just got back to the office from the dig site.  As sgrizzle said "Fingers crossed that the plastic held."  You can see the waterlines on the concrete vault where the has gone up and down over the years.  It does not look good, but perhaps the bags did the trick...
Photos at...
Buried Car
Someone just told me that the site has now been covered.

[TulsaSooner]

Here are some pics from the site from earlier this morning...I shrank them because they were huge so you can't see as much detail, but I can post the larger ones if you like.

[TulsaSooner]

And yes, the site is covered now.  They put a tarp over the car itself and were in the process of putting up plastic on the fence I guess so people can't see it before it's unveiled.

[tulsa1603]

quote:Originally posted by TulsaSooner

And yes, the site is covered now.  They put a tarp over the car itself and were in the process of putting up plastic on the fence I guess so people can't see it before it's unveiled.

Looking at the way the sediment is settled on what i can only guess is the trunk or hood, it looks like it's sunken in...I'm thinking it's a pile of rust. [:O]

[tulsa1603]

quote:Originally posted by TulsaSooner

And yes, the site is covered now.  They put a tarp over the car itself and were in the process of putting up plastic on the fence I guess so people can't see it before it's unveiled.

Looking at the way the sediment is settled on what i can only guess is the trunk or hood, it looks like it's sunken in...I'm thinking it's a pile of rust. [:O]

[Kiah]

Unfortunately, it appears its value will be more as an archealogical curiosity than as an intact automobile . . . .

Photos

[Conan71]

The sunken in look isn't promising.  Just guessing that is the trunk from the contour of the plastic.[]

[scrapman]

Its value is $50 a ton

[cannon_fodder]

I wonder if they leak tested the plastic wrap before they buried it.  As in, put the whole unit under water or pressure test it with air to see if it leaked.  God, I hope so.

There is SOME hope.  The giant fins on the back end could make it look like it sunk.  The hood is clearly in tact, as are the fins.  Rust sinks (duh), so it is sediment that is on top of the car.  Clearly not good, but not a death blow.

I hope this goes well or we will be on CNN for bad reasons.

[tulsa1603]

Wow.  What a disappointment.  I've been waiting for this day since I was 10 years old.

I guess all along there has been a lot of speculation that this might be the case.

[cannon_fodder]

quote:And what, exactly, will the lucky winner get when the car is unearthed in 2007? No one is really sure. Sitting on a steel skid, the white and gold car was wrapped in a cosmoline-like substance to help preserve it and then buried within a concrete bunker (The car was lowered into the vault several times prior to June 15 for photo shoots, one such photo ad appearing on page twenty-five of Life magazine's July 7 issue.) Twenty years after the cars burial, questions were raised as officials began to wonder if the vault would maintain its integrity for fifty years. Its location (marked by a bronze plaque on the courthouse lawn places it close to modern traffic. Buck Rudd, deputy chief of building operations for the county court house, mused in 1987, "There's a lot of traffic going by only 15 or 20ft from that thing. We've been curious to know it vibrations from the heavy traffic might have caused it to crack. If moisture starts getting in there, it's going to cause things to deteriorate over fifty years time," Rudd continued. Unknown to the committee - or anyone else then - 1957 Plymouths were terribly prone to rust. Asked what type of maintenance was done on the time capsule, Rudd replied, We just cut the grass on top of it."

www.plymouthbulletin.com/57plymouth.htm

I must say though, I'm all excited to see!

[TulsaSooner]

I agree with cannon_fodder, it's not a lost cause yet.  I'm not so sure the "sunken" look is just the angles of the photo.  I can pretty clearly see the outline of the intact car.

[grahambino]

there is still hope...that it doesnt disintegrate upon lifting it out.

it just doesnt look good based on those pics.  45 years +/- of water damage....
[V]