‘57 Plymouth Waking from Time Capsule

1957 Plymouth Belvedere Time Capsule - Tulsa, Okla.

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 A 1957 Plymouth Belvedere buried in a time capsule 50 years ago in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is about to return to the land of the living.

On June 15,Tulsa’s town leaders will unveil the Belvedere as a part of “Tulsarama!” The celebration marks Oklahoma’s 100th anniversary of statehood. Chrysler officials will be on hand for the public reveal, which can be seen in a Webcast hosted at the official site for the time capsule car, http://www.buriedcar.com.

The Belvedere — hawked by Chrysler back then with the tagline, “the only car to break the time barrier” — comes out of its civic-induced coma with its Torsion-Aire front suspension, tail fins, and push-button Torqueflite automatic transmission intact. It had been buried in front of the county courthouse in Tulsa .

Styled by the Chrysler team that was led by Virgil Exner, the Belvedere and its close kin, the Plymouth Fury, were introduced at the height of the Fifties fin craze.

The Belvedere’s condition will be an interesting point to collectors. It was originally Cosmolined like an old Army rifle, wrapped up in plastic and coffined in a concrete-and-steel box. The automotive morticians even thoughtfully included ten gallons of gasoline and five quarts of motor oil in appropriate containers in the car's trunk - just in case such commodities were no longer available in the then-distant future.

The Belvedere isn’t the only Chrysler product to be placed more than six feet under by the otherwise peaceful citizens of Oklahoma. In 1997, they buried a Plymouth Prowler in the city’s Centennial Park.

It’s due to be unearthed in 2037.