Rust never sleeps for Belvedere

Alas, as feared, the 1957 Plymouth Belvedere that was in a vault in downtown Tulsa, Okla., for 50 years was revealed Friday night to be a rust bomb.

Tulsarama organizers five decades ago tried in earnest to protect the vehicle when they lowered it into its below-ground vault, using a concrete sealer, a vacuum-sealed wrap and slathering a rust-inhibitor on the body. But water eventually creeped into the vault and inundated the Belvedere.

The car was in such bad shape, master mechanic Boyd Coddington said it was practically unsalvagable. Still, he said, it had “character,” and deserves to be put on display as is.

But even if the original Tulsarama failed to keep the Belvedere in pristine condition, its stunt generated tons of publicity for Tulsa 50 years later. Thousands of people from all over the U.S. and several foreign countries descended on the town. Many thousands more watched the unearthing and unveiling on the Internet and television. Dozens of media outlets, including the New York Times and Los Angeles Times, followed the story. It was the subject of watercooler conversation for days.

All of this over one car.

Even though the Belvedere didn’t fare well against the ravages of water, the contents of a separate time capsule were nearly pristine. One of the most dramatic moments during the unveiling was when a 48-star American flag (Alaska and Hawaii hadn’t yet become states in 1957) from the capsule was unfurled. It was in near-perfect condition, and the scene brought to mind Francis Scott Key’s famed line from the “The Star Spangled Banner”: “Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there …”

The Tulsa World has a self-produced video from the unveiling ceremony and plenty of other coverage.

KOTV.com has a story about the unveiling and a video.

KTUL also has a story and a video.

Local blogger Michael Bates has posted a set of photos from the unveiling.

Jim’s Garage was in Tulsa all day, checking out the buried car and the more carefully maintained classics.

Here’s a newswire feed of photos from the unveiling.