Restoration of buried car a slow, painstaking process

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

Tuesday, June 10th 2008, 8:52 am

By: News 9


Associated Press

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

Dwight Foster, the owner of Ultra One -- a company that makes an acid-free rust remover -- says 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.

The car was unearthed last June during the state's centennial festivities, but apparently had spent much of the previous half-century under water in its concrete crypt.

Foster says 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.

He says 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.

 

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