Restoration of buried car a slow, painstaking process
Restoration of buried Tulsa car a slow, painstaking process

Published: June 10, 2008

TULSA -- A New Jersey businessman given the duty of trying to restore a rusted 1957 Plymouth Belvedere unearthed last year in Tulsa said he's making slow but steady progress.

Dwight Foster, the owner of Ultra One — a company that makes an acid-free rust remover — said the car remains in a workshop in Hackettstown, N.J., while the restoration work is being done. He remains hopeful he can have the car running by the end of the year.

"She's quite a traveler," said Sharon King-Davis, who oversaw the unearthing of the car. "I do hope we see her again — and we just might."

The car, known affectionately as "Miss Belvedere," was placed into a concrete crypt in front of the Tulsa County Courthouse in 1957 as part of Oklahoma's celebration of 50 years of statehood. It was unearthed last June during the state's centennial festivities.

Fans came from as far away as New Zealand and Australia to see the Belvedere lifted from its resting place, but most left disappointed. The vault had leaked and the car spent a good part of its half-century entombment under water.

Two elderly sisters in Maryland became the Belvedere's owners because their late brother had entered a 1957 contest to guess Tulsa's 2007 population and came closest to the actual number.

Foster said the fragile condition of the car has forced restoration workers to use extreme caution.

He said much of the car's stainless steel cleaned up well, but that clay that dried on the car is as hard as concrete. The car's frame, already rusted through in spots when it the vehicle was unearthed, has broken down completely.

"We're going to have to separate the body from the frame," he said. "We have a donor frame that we're going to set the body on."

He said another facet of restoration that requires extreme care is separating the skin of the trunk from its underpinnings, which had rotted, and reattaching it to a replacement.

Foster said he does not regret becoming involved with the difficult restoration project.

"I feel that I'm the most qualified person to deal with it," he said. "This is personal for me. It's not even about business now. It's like an artifact from the Titanic."

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.

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