Beats putting it up on blocks

Posted on June 15, 2007 by Gene

It’s nice to know that in an era of strife and lies and every day horror, the little things are still so powerful. Stepping into my backyard and smelling the blooming roses is especially nice; and today the small, fun event will be… digging up a car that was buried 50 years ago.
If you haven’t already heard, here’s the story: a new 1957 Plymouth Belvedere was buried in a “time capsule” in Tulsa, Oklahoma 50 years ago. As part of the stunt, people we asked to guess Tulsa’s population in 2007, with the winner (50 years later) being awarded the car.
The vault has now been opened, and there — in about a foot of water — is the car, wrapped up and waiting to emerge. That’ll happen later today, and will be covered on KOTV.
If the car still runs, i wonder: can it use today’s unleaded gas? Evidently there was some gas stored with it when it was buried, but how long will that last do you think? And will the EPA even let it on public roads?
This is not an earth-shattering event, nor does it have any broad cultural significance. But still, isn’t it cool?

Update: Well, it looks like the lackluster wrapping they put around the car didn’t do squat — while they claim that the vault could survive a nuclear blast (oh, the 1950s…) they didn’t think about whether it would be impervious to ground water, so the car sat there for fifty years rusting away. How sad, how disappointing. They didn’t even find the “contents of a typical ladies purse” or the microfilm that was supposed to have the contest entries on it. Someone has won that contest, and they will soon be the proud owner of a low-mileage, vintage rust bucket.