Thread: Buried 57 Plymouth

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It's been almost a year now since I went to Tulsa to see them pull the poor old Plymouth out of the ground. I came across this today and thought some here might be interested in the cars current status.

http://www.oldcarsweekly.com/article...ne_Year_Later/

It's the new owner’s cars now and it is his right to do with it as he sees fit, but I really have to wonder what he's thinking.

The car is in some never never land that's not preservation and not restoration.

After seeing the frame I personally question whether body ( which is made of a lot thinner metal than the frame) can withstand removal of the old frame for replacement , let alone if there are even any body mounting points left. Replacing ANY of the panels assumes that there is solid metal somewhere to attach the new metal to and then the question of how (color) they’re going to finish the replacement parts.

As far as getting the motor running……to what point? Close up pictures I have seen show rust thru on the valve covers which lead me to suspect that all the tin will be in the same condition. Even if the major castings can be saved that would likely be the only thing left of the original engine.

Oh well………

.....hummm, from looking at the pic's it seems as if the 'restored' car will be 99% donor car!!! ~~~~~

Too bad they didn't bury it on higher ground where the water table wouldn't have intruded. I wonder if there were any other cars buried like this anywhere else in the country...

I don't know, maybe they plan to hold up the vin plate and slide a different car under it????? Didn't see much there that would be reusable.... I thought I started with some nasty cars!!!!!!!

ive always been of the thought when they dug the car up and seen its condition why they didnt just cover the car back up ..

Just take the donor car, paint it gold, and stick the VIN tag on it.

I think they should have hosed it down and left it like it was enclosed it in glass to show how stupid they were in the first place.

I've been dragging around a 39 Ford for 40 years, it's been inside, outside time hasn't been good to it but not as bad as the 57 Plymouth.

Maybe next time someone will try to preserve one above ground.

Richard

Originally Posted by ford2custom

I think they should have hosed it down and left it like it was enclosed it in glass to show how stupid they were in the first place.

I have the same opinion. It should have been put into a collection as is. It wasn't a valuable enough car to completely "remanufacture" it.

I have a reputation as being a caretaker for lost causes.....but I would crush that one. The novelty of being the f'd up car from Tulsa has been destroyed.

I agree that the Plymouth should not have been touched at all, it should be preserved exactly as it came out of the vault. It is what it is, and personally I would pay to see it exactly in that condition. If I owned it I would have a glass sided enclosed trailer built and tour car shows around the country and charge $5 to see it. I bet people would line up just out of curiosity, if nothing else.

Too late now though, they have already destroyed what it was IMO.

Don

You could count on that, people would pay, and the car should be like the Titanic. We were going cross country and we would see these signs that said "see the thing" {it's hard doing this with the visitor sitting on my lap {but after seeing these signs for ever we stopped to see "the thing." after paying a few bucks and wasting our time we felt pretty stupid but the guy with the signs didn't.

Richard