Way back in 1957, the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma buried a time capsule in the form of a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere (photo above left and center), whose massive tailfins and sleek design represented the best of American manufacturing at the time. On burial day, a contest was held to guess what Tulsa's population would be fifty years in the future, in 2007, and whomever came closest (or their living heirs) would get the car, which was loaded with other artifacts of the era: a woman's purse loaded with accoutrements in the glovebox, and leaded gasoline and six-packs in the trunk.

Well, they dug the thing up last Friday, unearthing the historic piece of Detroit machinery from the concrete bunker where it's lain for 50 years, and what a bust! Apparently the vibrations of five decades of nearby traffic caused the bunker to crack, allowing moisture inside, and the rusty hunk of junk they pulled out (photo above right) wouldn't start. The purse in the glovebox and its contents had seemingly fused into a singular brown lump of leather.

The original 1957 newspaper article covering the burial is here. And incidentally, this is what a 1957 Belvedere is supposed to look like:

In 2037 Tulsa officials will dig up another car, a 1997 Plymouth Prowler they buried ten years ago. Let's hope they did a better job on the bunker for that one.