1957 Plymouth Time Capsule

[Ronbo]

This new 1957 Plymouth was buried at the Tulsa courthouse, to be unearthed 50 years later on June 15, 2007. Care to speculate as to it's condition?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=N6fQZhua6d0

[widebody911]

Sweet. Now there's a Barrett-Jackson candidate!

[pwd72s]

I can remember the MOPAR slogan from then...the tail fins. "The Forward Look"....

[RickM]

Cool video. I especially liked the comment about including oil and gasoline in the "grave" -just in case it's not available in the future-

I hope they put Stabil in the gas can. lol

In 1957 they must've thought we'd be living like the Jetsons in 2007.

[CJFusco]

Yeah... even thirty years later, in 1985ish, the BACK TO THE FUTURE movies severely over-reached how far technology would come. Come on, people, we only have 8 years to develop flying cars and hoverboards - and to make 15 more JAWS movies.

[Nostril Cheese]

Im still waiting for my jet pack and sex robots

[legion]

Most predictions for the future grossly overestimate technology advances.

[competentone]

Originally posted by legion
Most predictions for the future grossly overestimate technology advances.

I wouldn't call it an "overestimation." They just don't always get the directions technology takes right.

Consider the electronics -- while fiction writers "guessed" at some of what we have today, few, if any, people making actual predictions in the 1950's came close to what consumer electronics are today.

As for that buried '57 Plymouth -- any liquids buried with it (like the beer and gasoline) are the things that I see which could have damaged it if they leaked.

It will be neat to see what it looks like when it comes out.

Maybe Geraldo will do a special?!

[Moneyguy1]

Look at "2001" to see how far short we are technologically. Even further back, in 1956 there was a motion picture "The Conquest of Space" with a manned mission to Mars by the turn of the Century.

On the other hand, many of the communications devices on the original "Star Trek" have been matched and even surpassed. Not to mention the quaint concept of single transistors.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally posted by Moneyguy1
...On the other hand, many of the communications devices on the original "Star Trek" have been matched and even surpassed. Not to mention the quaint concept of single transistors.

Parallels to the original Star Trek series can be a "chicken or egg discussion". Are cell phones flipped open because Star Trek communicators were shown as flipping? Was the Shuttle Orbiter named Enterprise because of the series? I would say, Yes and Yes.

[Moneyguy1]

Interesting. Obvious the name "Enterprise" was. (in honor of Yoda)...oops....different story......

Practical the flip phone is. The design protects the screen and keys from damage and accidential actuation. I would posit the mechanical design would have evolved the same way without the Star Trek association.

[MikeSid]

Originally posted by Dan in Pasadena
Are cell phones flipped open because Star Trek communicators were shown as flipping?

It's too bad. I always wished the cell phone makers would have taken a cue from Don Adams.

[pwd72s]

Originally posted by Moneyguy1
Not to mention the quaint concept of single transistors.

Ahhh, memories. This brought the memory of scrounging for $40 when $40 was a lot of money. Picking beans & strawberries, picking up pop bottle for their 1 cent deposit, mowing lawns, etc. It was 1957, and I REALLY wanted a Toshiba transistor radio. Got one...dropped it on a sidewalk after I'd had it only a few weeks. I mean, $40 bought a bicycle back then...

[nota]

yes but they were down to $5 a few years later

[Sonic dB]

So who gets the car?
They should do a raffle for it and give the proceeds to charity.

[TerryH]

That is so cool! Our family had a 1957 Savoy which is the same car with less options. It was the first car I ever drove. I was 8 years old and drove alongside a ravine while my dad and brother were hunting pheasant. I couldn't reach the pedals and see where I was going at the same time.

Push button auto trans, rear view mirror mounted on the metal dash.... hell everything was steel. That car had to weigh over 2 tons with those huge chrome bumpers. Ours was two tone, red over white. Looked a lot like Christine if you remember that movie.

I've already forwarded it to the rest of my family, thanks for posting the link.

[Ronbo]

Originally posted by Sonic dB
So who gets the car?
They should do a raffle for it and give the proceeds to charity.

In the article I read it said that there was a contest when the car was buried for people to guess the population of Tulsa in 2007. Whoever is closest, he or his closest descendant wins the car.

I'm curious to see if it's still like new or a rusted hulk. I wonder if it's got a hemi.

[pwd72s]

Originally posted by Ronbo
I wonder if it's got a hemi.

Nope. The hottest Plymouth engine in 1957 was a 318 cubic inch, 290 horsepower V-8 with polyspheric combustion chambers. It did run twin 4bbl. carbs. Why no hemi? Probably because the lighter Plymouth would have then blown the doors off the then top of the line Chrysler 300B...

[livi]

Too bad they did not bury a 356.

[pwd72s]

I could be wrong, but I think the hottest Plymouth engine in 1957 was installed only in the Fury models...the film said this was a Belvedere. Livi, why would a USA city bury some funny furrin' car? Especially back then....