Miss Belvedere unveiled

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Tonight was a somewhat anti-climatic ending to the day. Overall it was a good program and I’m glad I was able to attend. Part of it may simply be the pace I’ve kept the past few days and exhaustion setting in.

The car did not “age” well during its 50 years underground. As I sort of thought all along and especially today after seeing it on the trailer up close, it is severely rusted. Basically nothing that was placed in the vehicle survived.

The true time capsule - which was steel and welded shut - did quite well. The contents were in very good shape.

I guess the most disappointing part for me was the way they treated the American Flag. A flag that had flown over the Capital was buried in the time capsule. When they first opened it, I could see it on top by looking at the screens showing the video cameras they had onstage. To me the flag appeared to be properly folded. Did they leave it that way? I’m sad to report they did not. One of the co-emcees helped hold it up completely unfolding it while he went on and on about how well it had survived. Then the flag was then unceremoniously draped over the side of a table where they were placing the artifacts from the time capsule and allowed to drag on the stage.

Guess that’s my military and scout background coming out. I take a lot of pride in my great country and get quite frustrated when flags and other symbols of our liberty and freedom are not handled with the respect I feel they merit.

They have a lot of very nice classic and antique cars on display in the exhibit hall of the convention center. I spent some time viewing them after the program.

Saturday is going to be a laid back day. I’m going to cruise Route 66 in search of photographic icons and have some BarBQue. Here are some images from tonight’s unveiling along with this post.

That’s all from Tulsa for tonight.

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Photos

The Stage is Set
A view of the Tulsa Convention Center just before the unveiling of Miss Belvedere - the 1957 Plymouth buried as part of a time capsule 50 years ago.

The curtain rises
Miss Belvedere is unveiled. The wrap over it was something they placed over it after it was unearthed today.

Bucket of Rust
Unfortunately the Gunnite vault managed to keep the water that found its way inside around the 1957 Plymouth. Many years under water took its toll on the car.

Deflated
It was a deflating evening for the faithful hoping to see a pristine 50 year old antique car.

Gas Bottle
The 10 gallons of gas that were buried with the car was placed in glass jugs and then put inside metal containers. I'm not sure if gas is still inside or if it leaked out or dried up. At least one of the containers had turned over

Old Glory
An American flag that flew over our nation's capital was part of the official time capsule that was buried along with the car.

Artifacts Table
Items from the time capsule displayed on a table after being removed from and shown to the audience.

Getting ready for concourse
Polishing up the car in preparation for its display in the car show Saturday! I didn't quite figure out why the TV Hot Rod restoration team was doing this. They kept talking about the best thing to do would be to preserve the car just as it was when it was removed from the ground.
But for those of you who have ever gone to a car show and watched the owners lovingly polishing and buffing the car before judging will share a laugh with me and my title choice for this image.

A Final Look
Here's a view of the front of the 1957 PLymouth Belvedere that was buried June 15th, 1957 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.