The folks in Tulsa, Oklahoma are planning to open a time capsule on June 15th of this year. The capsule, sealed up fifty years ago, contains: fourteen bobby pins, a ladies compact plastic rain cap, several combs, a tube of lipstick, pack of gum, facial tissues $2.73 in bills and coins and a pack of cigarettes with matches, an unpaid parking ticket and a bottle of tranquilizers. All in a handy carrying container.
A brand new 1957 Plymouth Belvedere Sport Coupe.
Promoters are looking for people who helped lower the car into its crypt in 1957 to perhaps shed some light on what to expect when the car is unearthed.
There's speculation the car may have turned into a pile of rust. Or that it's in pristine condition and worth thousands of dollars.
Sharon King Davis, who has chaired Tulsa's centennial efforts, looked at photos of the people responsible for burying the car in 1957 and found her grandfather.
"I wish grandpa had left me some instructions," she told the Tulsa World.
The car had been largely forgotten until Davis and her group started work on the centennial. Files on the car have vanished, so it's not clear what to expect when the lid is lifted.
What's known is that the car is on a steel pallet with jacks under the axles. Efforts were made to preserve it, but it's unclear if moisture has gotten to the metal and caused rust.
"There's a kind of Rip Van Winkle reaction," Davis says. "Most people had long ago forgotten the buried car, but as the time to dig it up nears, they are waking up and wondering about life in 1957."
It is not at all clear who will own the car when (or if) it comes out of the ground. A contest was run back when it was buried and the microfilmed records of who made guesses as to what Tulsa's population would be in 2007 are also buried with the car. Whoever guessed closest to the actual figure – or their heirs – are supposed to get the car. (Oh, I can see the lawyers lining up right now…..)
More about the car here and here. (One has to ask: what if they forgot to put the keys in it? Wouldn't that be hysterical?)
