1957 Plymouth Dug Up in Oklahoma

Oklahoma Pontiac A 1957 Plymouth Belvedere buried under the city's courthouse lawn fifty years ago is taken from it's vault in Tulsa, Okla., Friday, June 15, 2007. Buried in 1957 to celebrate Oklahoma's 50 years of statehood, it is being lifted out of the 12-foot-by-20-foot time capsule to commemorate the state's centennial year. (AP Photo) The citizens of Tulsa, Oklahoma are celebrating the state’s centennial by digging up a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere buried to celebrate the 50th anniversary.

My question is: Why?

Fifty years is a long time, to be sure, but it’s not that long. It’s not as if it’s particularly hard to find a 1957 Pontiac; car clubs around the country have well preserved models from far older than that. So, why not just keep the thing buried until such time as that’s no longer the case?

Correction: Despite YahooNews choosing “1957 Pontiac unearthed in Oklahoma” as its headline, Plymouth, not Pontiac, made the Belvedere.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Charlie says:

    Plymouth Belvedere. And that’s what it is, from the looks of the eyebrows and the tailfins underneath the canvas.

  2. James Joyner says:

    Right you are. YahooNews got the headline wrong and I followed suit.

  3. Rich says:

    It’s…it’s…Christine!

  4. Anderson says:

    This would be kinda cool, if the car weren’t rusted through and fit only for the landfill. “Cosmoline”? GMAFB.

  5. G.A. Phillips says:

    I heard rummer that is was a 180 million years old and tasted like chicken.

  6. Bobby Ewing says:

    Here are some high resolution pictures of the car and the items that were stored inside it. Looks like a “fixer upper”

    Pics:
    http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=8700431#8700431