? ? My wife and I visited Miss Belvedere in May of this year.
We took many pictures to document the car.? ?The man who is charged with the stabilization of the car is Dwight Foster.
Mr. Foster is a nice, genuine personwho will tell you the truth about the car.? ?It's in pretty bad shape and is scheduled to receive a donor frame from a 1957 Plymouth Savoy from North Carolina.
? ? The best parts of the car is the stainless and beleive it or not the tires.
? ? ?If you own one of these cars like I do, it was valuable to document everything possible with the car so as to make mine closer to what is was 51 years ago.

Ok, I did a little more digging - the guy and the company are doing a good thing - too bad they have to wait till mid September to start - this is a quote from the guy who will be the "caretaker" of Miss Belvedere

"We're trying to keep it, as much as possible, as is," Carney said.

"We don't want to restore it. It takes a lot of historic values away from the car.

We'll clean it up the best we can," he said.

Once he finishes that, the car may end up in a museum or an auction block, Carney said.

So, I am with Mr. Carney on this - I figure that if they left the car as is without any preservation, it would turn to dust in less than five years - once exposed to air the rusting process is accelerated a lot.

If these guys pull this off I am going to buy stock in the company.  For now I will invest in other things.  Opra said once that if someoen invents a panyt hoes that won't run the would be a multi billionair.  I think the same thinking goes for this publicity stunt.

I gotta see this!  I was there - I don't think the company has looked at the car.  They may "stabilize" it - but it won't be the same as new.  I am glad a million photos were taken of it already because when it comes out of the tank except for a few rubber and plastic parts - it's going to be an empty basket. hehehe.

I am looking for a "switch-aroo" - take a fairly clean 57 show it off as "their super rust removal queen" - if they really get that car to look anything decent, I will be amazed!

So for those of you keeping score at home, the car will be turned into a pile of clean parts that were formerly a rusty car.

From the Tulsa World - July 19, 2007


A New Jersey firm has agreed to try to clean up the formerly buried 1957 Belvedere.


The once-buried Belvedere may be going on a road trip.

A nephew of the car's apparent winner said Wednesday that an agreement has been worked out with a New Jersey firm to stabilize the 50-year-old automobile once ownership has been confirmed.

"Once we get it derusted, we think it'll run," said Bob Carney of Fredericksburg, Md. "We really think it will."

Carney's aunt, 93-year-old Catherine Humbertson Johnson of Bowling Green, Md., is the oldest sister of Raymond Humbertson, who submitted the apparent winning entry in a 1957 contest shortly before the Plymouth Belvedere was buried at the Tulsa County Courthouse.

Oddly, Humbertson doesn't seem to have ever lived in Tulsa or even Oklahoma. His family speculates he was passing through on his way from the West Coast to Maryland.

Humbertson died in 1979. He and his wife, Margaret, who died in 1988, had no children.

Carney said Ultra One Corp. of Hackettstown, N.J., has agreed to take the car to its headquarters for treatment with its rust-removing products.

The company says it "developed and formulated the first non-acid Hi Performance tunnel cleaners" for use in tunnels linking New Jersey and Manhattan. Its rust remover, Ultra One says on its Web site, "is a breakthrough product that has changed the age-old problem of rust removal forever."

Ultra One recently launched a Web site, www.missbelvedere.com, that Carney said will document the Belvedere's cleaning process.

"People will be able to keep up with the Belvedere on the Web site," Carney said.

Carney said the rust needs to be neutralized to preserve the Belvedere, which apparently spent a good portion of the past half-century as much underwater as underground.

"We're not going to take it apart and try to restore it," he said.

"Ideally, what we'd like to see is that when it's in pretty good shape, the car would go back to Tulsa for another unveiling," Carney said.

Catherine Johnson, however, has not yet been verified as the winner.

Margaret Kobos of the Bank of Oklahoma trust department, which is handling the documentation, said Wednesday that most of the requested information has been received, but a few questions remain.

Arvest Bank President Don Walker, who is in charge of the transfer, said a holographic will left by Margaret Humbertson could complicate the process.

Raymond Humbertson apparently died without a will, and his effects passed to his widow. Margaret Humbertson left the bulk of her modest estate to two siblings, a nephew and her church.

Walker said that raises the question of whether her heirs have a claim to the car. He said, though, that none has come forward, and Carney said there is no disagreement in the family about the Belvedere going to his aunt.

"I'm pretty comfortable with turning the car over to them," Walker said. "The weird part is that he was not a Tulsa resident. I'd feel a little better if we knew for sure how he came to be in Tulsa."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Randy Krehbiel 581-8365

Do what ever it takes but DON'T NOT LET IT BE TURNED INTO A TOYOTA

The Prowler is probably going to be in MINT condition when it comes out - the did everything right on that one.  Those who were at Tulsa and went to the banquet the new Tulsa region hosted heard from one of the Chrysler people who put the Prowler in the ground.  That was a prototype and saved from being crushed at Detroit - a better fate is buried for 50 years than to be flattened and turned into a Toyota.

I hope they did a better job on the Prowler........it sounds like they did but I won't be around to see that one come out of the hill that its in.   

It sounds to me like a lot of people are crying over spilled milk. What I saw in the pictures was a disaster. Now what I am afraid of is that the people who burried it haven't learned a good lesson. "Beautiful Cars do not belong underground" If you want to see on a 50 year old car 50 years from now, preserve it in a museum where everyone can enjoy it's beauty for 50 years. Didn't anyone learn what a waste of a fantastic car this was? Now heard they want to destroy a Prowler. I would almost kill for one and they want to put it under ground.  :'(

Dennis

I agree Mark....the "coolness" that remains in Miss Belvedere is in keeping her as she is right now.? I suspect people (including me) would pay at least one admission price to go see her.? ? Multiply that admission fee by 300,000,000 Americans plus an unknown number of foreign visitors and you could be lookin' at some serious $$$$.? ?Ok, I doubt if all 300,000,000 of us will go see her as long as there are pictures available but my guess is that in combination with other historical and likely automotive things (mostly other cars) she would be a good attraction at least for some time into the future.? ?There is no restoration solution possible here for her that makes any sense and scrapping her out would be a bigger travesty after 50 years and all of the attention than not protecting her better and letting people at least see her.? ?

I don't think anyone is in favor of "Even if it doesn't run again, why should it be stripped and sold for scrap?" - the point is, I saw the car, it would take

1. new body - except maybe two square feet of steel left in the roof.
2. new interior (everything).
3. new frame and springs and front suspension.
4. new transmission (they were cast-iron - I am sure rust has done a lot of damage.
5. new differential (probably).
6. complete re-build of engine and all attached parts (block may be salavable but I really doubt it.
7. all wiring, and other plumbing.

Let's see we can save some of the trim (stainless parts), the tires (most likely), maybe the serial number tag (if they can find it under the rust) maybe the radiator and heater core are good - so to restore it would take a complete donor 1957 Plymouth to restore that one - the car has more value, historic and $$$$ the way it is - I think everyone is in favor of preserving it "Just as it is" - this would require a nitrogen environment because with out that it won't be there in a year - just a pile of brown dust and sludge - really it is THAT bad.  Maybe a special plastic viewing chamber would be the best thing to put it in.

"Too many 1957 Plymouths went that way and it really would be ashame to loose one more."

Consider this on LOST already.

Mark

Hi people,
              I'm new to this board.  My name is Ed.
On the subject of the '57 Plymouth, there is no official word on restoration.
Tulsa officials have found out that Mr. Humbertson, the winner, died 28 years ago.
             The car may fall into the hands of his nephew.
              I beleive the car should be cleaned off and the metal can be stabilized. 
              Even if it doesn't run again, why should it be stripped and sold for scrap?
              Too many 1957 Plymouths went that way and it really would be ashame to loose one more.

If the car lasts six months without crumbling - I will be amazed.  To restore it you would have to get the doors open and that won't happen without a saws-all.  The body tag may be ok, I think they were stainless steel - at least on my mid-60's cars they were.  Just like the Hemi convertible - swap tags with a restored 57 Belvedere and tell every one it is restored. hehehe.  Only way that is ever going to be listed as a car again.

I drove from FL. to Tulsa to see the 57, it is Really bad!!. But the car show was great, I never knew there were so many 57's left. There was a GREAT looking 50 4-dr., grey in color in the car show that was inside with the 57, does the owner belong to this group. On the way back, I kept thinking about all the great looking Ply's I saw and now I need one also. I'm in to 59 Fords, but I have been looking for a 50 4-dr. that is why I joined in here. My very 1st car I bought at 16 was a 50 4-dr. from the orig. owner and I cut grass to buy it, a lot of lawns back in 1967, I pd. $50.00 in cash and drove it home, it was in fair condition as I remember it. So thats why I need a 50 4-dr., Thanks to all for your posts, I try to read them all. Wayne in sunny & hot FL.

Maybe they will just remove the tail light glass and the windows and install them on a fresh 57 restoration and call it quits.

I don't think much else might be salvageable.? It wouldn't even make good lawn art because of the condition.? These are probably the same people who wanted to raise the Titanic.?

Let them both rest in peace.

Just my opinion,? Chet...

PS? Any word on the person who won the car.? ?I suspect the City of Tulsa may want it hauled off ASAP.? ?Not to mention the fine for 50 years of being illegally parked.

Please tell me it ain't true! A radio station I was listening to this morning had a 'Neighborhood Mechanic' spot on and the guys say the car is going to be restored? He mentioned a URL to go to but I was still picking myself up off the floor and? I didn't catch it. Is this true? Is there a site where this is going to be on the internet?? ?