Miss Belvedere was the talk of the town in June of 2007 after being unearthed from the deepest darkest depths of downtown Tulsa. She was a brand new 1957 Plymouth with just 4 miles on her when they dunked her in the pit of no return. Fifty years later when the light of day finally shined on her again in 2007, she had not aged well. She looked like an automotive version of the Cryptkeeper (Remember that show – Tales from the crypt!??). Anyway, as it turns out, automobiles cannot be preserved by dunking them under water for 50 years. Wait….WHAT!? Yes it is true, dirty gutter water from the Tulsa streets does not preserve sheetmetal, fabric, or plastic.
Shortly after she was raised from the sarcophagus, she was put on display for all the interwebzz and journalists to get their piece. Then rumors began to spiderweb the internet about what the next step was. Drop her in a museum? Restore her? Junk her? Who knows. Then “Ultra One” got a hold of her, and began soaking the entire body in rust remover. It was apparently going quite swell, until June 25th 2008, when the story line ended…….
It has been 3 years since the earth spit her back out, and as car enthusiasts, I feel like we deserve an update. I have scoured the internet looking for new pictures, video, or even legitimate updates, and came up empty.
So Readers – I ask you this: Where the Heck is Miss Belvedere in 2010 ? What is the latest?
Image borrowed from:
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2009/05/06/hemmings-collector-car-radio-episode-16-de-rusting-miss-belvedere-why-cash-for-clunkers-doesnt-work/
Hey, I gotta great idea…lets go buy a brand new BMW 7 series and trow it in the lake! Where else but Tulsa!
I agree, it would be nice to know what ever happened to that 1957 Plymouth Belvedere….from what I’ve learned to date..the car was in Jersey getting “de-rusted”..and that the body was basically nothing more than a potato chip..(and that the frame looked like rusted Swiss Cheese)… Personally, I feel that every known attempt was made to revive the car as best as possible with the consideration of the owners. But it would be nice to know the current outcome of the car.
Well Guys…
They have shelved Miss Belvedere. After all the hoopla surrounding her and finding her such a disgusting condition there wasn’t much to do.
The latest is the car was benched after the rust conditioning became too expensive and Ultra One stopped. Not to mention her undercarriage has collapsed. Her leaf spring perches are through the frame and the project crew were attempting to find either a Savoy or Fury frame to give her some legs.
I believe the winners sister(s)were attempting to involve the Smithsonian or another preservation society to carry the project, they were or are in their 80’s and not interested.
Personally I was stunned that they wasted such a beautiful car to such a stupid experiment. Then to have Coddington do they unveil? Really? What about somebody who isn’t a complete a**hole? Where was Barris? Foose?
What are you suppose to do with something that resembles a 3100lb chunk of dirt and rust? Cut your damn losses and sell it to someone who will either A. Use what’s left for a project car and boast about the parts.
B. Put it back in the vault with the morons who thought this was a good idea in the first place.
C. Put her out of her misery.
A lady with lines like that deserved a better fate.
Would you still want to be seen with Christie Brinkley when shes 109 yrs old, lost a leg, three fingers and suffers from incontinence? I didn’t think so.