Tulsa 57 "Timecapsule" Belvidere to be cleaned and preserved
This just in:
Tulsa, Okla., owners shipping '57 Belvedere for cleaning
BY MEGHAN VAN DYK
DAILY RECORD
Sunday, December 2, 2007
"HACKETTSTOWN -- Miss Belvedere needs more than a wet down.
And she's traveling more than 1,300 miles to Hackettstown to get it.
Miss Belvedere, a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere that was buried in Oklahoma soil for 50 years and unearthed this summer to coincide with the state's centennial, will be arriving shortly at Ultra One, the maker of Safest Rust Remover, according to Jessie Rock, the director of operations at the Hackettstown-based company.
The car was put in a crypt beneath the Tulsa, Okla., courthouse lawn in 1957 to celebrate Oklahoma's 50 years of statehood. The years, however, haven't been kind to the car: It's rusty and wouldn't start when it was unearthed.
On Thursday, the car was shrink-wrapped on a wrecker and sent on its way to be documented, cleaned and adored by thousands of car and history enthusiasts.
"For our lifetime, it's going to be the only true American muscle car from a true American time capsule," Rock said. "And it's a fantastic opportunity for our company -- to be involved with such a legend is indescribable."
Once the car arrives, it will undergo an initial cleaning process that could last two months, in which professionals will remove layers of mud and document its contents -- Rock has heard a case of Schlitz beer was found in the trunk and a woman's purse containing a comb, brush, lighter and cigarettes was found in the glove compartment, she said.
The car will next get the cleaning of its life using the same environmentally safe degreaser used in the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels. It will be applied in a series of "showers" based on the state of rusting.
Employees at Ultra One believe they can bring the car back to life, but it is impossible to estimate how long it will take, Rock said.
The car was the center of a half-century-old contest surrounding Oklahoma's statehood celebration.
Two elderly sisters became the vehicle's owners because in 1957 their late brother correctly guessed the population of Tulsa in 2007, the date the car would be excavated.
The car became a sensation in the months leading up to its unearthing last June. Fans came from as far away as New Zealand and Australia to see the Belvedere lifted from its resting place. The vault had leaked, however, and the car spent a good part of the half-century entombed under water.
The owners are Levada Humbertson Carney, 88, and Catherine Humbertson Johnson, 93. Foster and Robert Carney, son of Levada Carney, say they intend to bring the Belvedere back to Tulsa after it is cleaned up."
The car's status can be tracked at a forum set up by Ultra One at: http://forum.missbelvedere.com/bbs/
reposted with permission of the newspaper
