After 14 years I figured I’d bring this old thread back one more time.

I just got back from my “50th” High School Reunion. Technically my 51st as it got cancelled last year. Had a great time, it was good to reconnect with a lot of people and see what they had done over the last 50 years. We’ve lost 25% of the class over the years but the rest actually looked pretty good (for a bunch of old people).

3 hotrods showed up; my 57, a 69 Nova SS 396/4 speed, and one of the new factory hotrod Challengers. I was informed by a few people that when they saw my old Plymouth driving around town they figured that it was probably me.

The Plymouth did good on the trip, 4000+ miles in a week and no problems. I missed the 20 MPG I got with the Tri Power but the fun factor of the dual quads still wins . Only minor issue I had was in Iowa and Nebraska. A couple of stations I pulled into ONLY sold 87 Octane…… drive on down to the next station and the same thing . The Plymouth DOES NOT LIKE anything below 90 Octane.

Anyway the reason I brought this old thread back up is that the Buried 57 Plymouth they dug up in 2007 has finally found a home in a museum about 150 miles north of where my reunion was. I had enough time while I was back there to drive up and visit it…..basically see what it looked like after it was de-rusted and cleaned up.


RT1 by M Patterson, on Flickr


When I pulled into the parking lot a guy came over and suggested I back into the parking place “so all the cars would be pointed in the same direction”. I must have looked at him kind of funny because he said “you’re here for the car show right?” He was a little disappointed when I told him no. Anyway I spent some time talking to some of the guys that showed up for the show and when they saw the AZ tag on the car the biggest question I got was whether I had trailered it to IL. They were impressed it had been driven.




The museum has a lot of interesting displays but a lot of the cars are “replicas of” or pieced together, others were the real deal.


RT2 by M Patterson, on Flickr


The buried Plymouth looked a LOT better than the last time I saw it…..which isn’t necessarily saying a lot.



RT3 by M Patterson, on Flickr


RT4 by M Patterson, on Flickr


I think the only thing holding it together is the paint. There’s not a useable part on the car. It was worth the trip to see, if nothing else just so I can say that I did. I built my 57 so I could drive it to the show when they dug it up, and it seemed appropriate that that’s what I drove now that it has a resting place.

Anyway, all in all it was a good trip.



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