Miss Belvedere now on display at Historic Auto Attractions in Illinois

“Miss Belvedere,” the 1957 Plymouth Belvedere that was buried in Tulsa when new and resurrected in 2007, is now on display at Historic Auto Attractions in Roscoe, Ill.

“We are very excited to open for the season tomorrow morning,” stated the museum in a social media post on July 8.

“You’ve been waiting to see her (Miss Belvedere) in the museum, we’ve been eager to put her in the museum, and we’re proud to announce she is in the exhibit hall for viewing! With a TV and a wall of photos and information to tell her story, this is one exhibit you won’t want to miss! To see the actual display, come to the museum for our regular season, starting tomorrow morning at 10a.m.”

The 1957 Plymouth became a celebrity again once plans were underway to unearth the car 50 years after it was buried in Tulsa as part of a time capsule. At that time, it was unclear if the car would still remain new looking or if time and underground storage had wreaked havoc on the car. Although precautions had originally been taken to preserve the car until it could be dug out in 1957, those measures weren’t enough to keep out moisture; having water dumped on it when the adjacent government building’s basement flooded also didn’t help matters. When the car was unearthed as part of 2007’s Tulsarama! event, it was immediately clear that the ’57 Plymouth — a car with “Suddenly it’s 1960!” styling — looked as though it had been submerged since at least President Kennedy’s election. The Plymouth’s enclosure had become a tomb; the entire car was covered in orange rust and even the frame had holes in it. It was so rusty, its odometer could not be read.

A company offered to use its rust removal product to peel off the orange rust covering nearly every surface of the car. The result of those efforts has revealed the car’s original gold and beige paint on its weakened sheet metal, and it is in this state that the car is being displayed at Historic Auto Attractions.

To review Old Cars’ extensive coverage of this famous 1957 Plymouth, go to www.oldcarsweekly.com and search “Tulsarama.”