General Chat
Q:
TULSA, Okla. - A Plymouth Belvedere that was buried in a concrete vault nearly 50 years ago as part of the state's golden anniversary celebration will be unearthed in 2007 as part of the Oklahoma centennial festivities.
ADVERTISEMENT
The 1957 Belvedere is underground next to the Tulsa County Courthouse. Also buried with it were five gallons of gas and a case of beer.
Old news reports indicate the gas was buried in case internal combustion engines became obsolete by 2007 and no fuel was available. Other buried items include the contents of a woman's purse: 14 bobby pins, a lipstick, a pack of gum, tissues, a pack of cigarettes and matches and $2.43.
There was also an unpaid parking ticket, a bottle of tranquilizers and a spool of microfilm, which records the entries of a contest held to determine the winner of the car. The person to guess Tulsa's population in 2007 or the heirs of that person were to win the car and a $100 savings account.
Assuming an average annual interest of 5 percent compounded quarterly, such an account would be worth almost $1,200 today, if the account could be found.
The account was set up at a savings and loan that was taken over by Sooner Federal, which was liquidated during the savings and loan bust of the early 1990s. The committee has been trying to find the account, so far without success.
It's not clear exactly how the items were prepared for burial, or how they may have held up for all these years.
The Tulsa Historical Society and the centennial committee have been getting inquiries from all over the world about the car, including one from a Scandinavian who claims to have an exact twin of the buried Belvedere.
Ken
'82ZX n/a 2+2
'02 Sportster XL1200C
A:
Right here in my own backyard, Ken! Have read about this several times in the local press, but did not live in Tulsa when it was interred.
JR in Tulsa (4EVER Z)
73 240Z - L28, Triple Miks, 5 speed, 3.9.
83 stock 280ZX
Chaos, panic, and disorder---my work here is done!
A:
funny, they still drive 57 belvederes in tulsa...
A:
"Ice down the beer boys......weeeez goin for a ride in my brand new 1957 Plymouth!" LOL! I thought the addition of the case of beer was like icing on the cake.... Pour in the 5 gallons of gas, and hand me a church key!
I bet the damn thing starts too......
Ken
'82ZX n/a 2+2
'02 Sportster XL1200C
A:
Hmm, leaded gas...Wonder how well that held up over the years?
______________________________________________________________________________
77 280Z - TEC3 Engine Management, Coil Packs, 3.1 Stroker, 550CC injectors, tripple throttle body FI intake, MSA Stage II Cam, etc...etc...
79 Fairlady - Rusty
81 280ZX - DD
A:
That POS is better off covered with dirt on top of it!! They should have buried a '57 Chevy!
A:
Coop71240 - '57 Chevies are a dime a dozen - that 57 Belvadiere is classic and rare compared to Chevy.
It'll be interesting to see how well that car held up. I wonder what they did to preserve it?
Jeanne's '56 Dodge 318 (stock) runs like a champ and except for old style mushy brakes is one of the most dependable cars we have.
I wonder how many old stock Chevies can do the same. Chevies are great looking - but so many were preserved that they are a dime a dozen.
Give credit to some other old classics.
Ed and Jeanne's
ZXelda 1981 280 ZXT: ZXena 1990 300 ZX
1941 Buick Special Sedanette (Betty)
1956 Dodge Royal (Dorothy)
1971 Buick Riviera (Rita)
1975 Ford F-150 Stepside (Fiona)
1992 Firebird (Frieda)
A:
Nothing special abt the Plymouth. They should have buried a Chrysler 300. What a monster. Last of the old great racing Mopars of the 50-s.
Rusty but running.
Polish cell phone and two tubes of Aluma-seal.
And, now we are historic.
A:
Ken,
Nice post. It was the weirdest thing, I was thinking about that a few days ago. I have an older friend back in Tulsa who was around when they put it in the ground. I knew it was sometime soon. I'll be back in Tulsa way before that and look forward to seeing it unearthed. Wasn't Stephen King's Christine (or was it Christina) a Belvedere? It would be funny to watch that thing come out and chase everybody!!!!!! Thanks for the info.
John
77280Z (Spooky), 83ZXT (Garage Queen), 86ZXT (Bulldog).
Proud owner of 10/03 Z car of the month.
A:
1958 Plymouth Fury. I am not a "King" fan, but the movie had some nice "car guy" scenes.
78 280Z Daily Driver
All original, Stock engine, Auto Trans w/factory A/C, 205,000 miles, new suspension and bushing kit, under primer and saving for a paint job.......
83 ZX w/T Tops, purchased 4-20-06, 122K miles, Son's restoration project
A:
Newsflash for all idiots who don't love Mopars:1957and 58 Belvederes and Fury ARE THE SAME BODYSTYLE.THE ONLY EXCEPTION IS THAT A FURY WAS ONLY AVAILABLE IN WHITE AND GOLD-THERE WERE NO RED FURIES.STEPHEN KING SHOULD HAVE DONE HIS RESEARCH BETTER!!!
1971 "Series One" 240z,L28 n42/n42 flattops.primered,work in progress,Tokico Iluminas,Eibach Pro-Kit,1" front swaybar more to come..
A:
really necessary? Hope you feel better now....
I don't hate Mopar's, I actually wish I owned a few to sell right now for retirement funds.
I knew it was a Fury since I own the movie and it says so on the vhs cover.
King probably used the color red to coincide with the evil demon possession theme. I don't think he was trying to win any car restoration awards for matching a build sheet.
Chill out man, in the old car arena they are all gooooood!!!!!!
78 280Z Daily Driver
All original, Stock engine, Auto Trans w/factory A/C, 205,000 miles, new suspension and bushing kit, under primer and saving for a paint job.......
83 ZX w/T Tops, purchased 4-20-06, 122K miles, Son's restoration project
A:
Only the first year Fury, which was in 1956 came only in the white and gold combo.. For the next year, other colors were offered including red.
A:
Nope,wrong again-FURY WAS ONLY AVAILABLE IN THAT COLOR COMBO.IT WAS NEVER AVAILABLE IN OTHER COLORS FOR 1957 OR 58.
You're thinking of Belvederes,not Fury.
There were only 8,000 Furies built in 1957,and even less in 1958.
1957 Furies had two headlights,but the 1958 models had four headlights.
I was in the Mopar club for two years,so i know this.And we also had a guy with a real 1958 Fury in the club.And FYI,Most Mopar fans look down upon "Christine",because of so many Belvederes being destroyed during filming.
"evil car" my bum.
1971 "Series One" 240z,L28 n42/n42 flattops.primered,work in progress,Tokico Iluminas,Eibach Pro-Kit,1" front swaybar more to come..
A:
Christine the Book (by Michael Morelli)In 1982 writer Stephen King completed a new horror novel called "Christine". It was about a 1958 Plymouth Fury that possesses its new owner, high school nerd named Arnie Cunningham.
In the book Mr. King makes several references to the 1958 Plymouth Fury that were not accurate. We have come up with some errors about the 1958 Fury that appear in the book:
Book: Christine is referred to as a 4 door.
Fact: The 1956-58 Furys only came in a 2-door hardtop. It was not until 1959 you could get a 4 door Fury.
Book: Christine is red and white. (It is mentioned that she was a special order.)
Fact: The 1958 Fury only came in buckskin beige with gold trim. The 1958 Belvedere, the next model down, was available in toreador red and iceberg white, with silver trim.
Book: The transmission is called hydramatic.
Fact: That was a GM transmission, Plymouth had the TorqueFlite.
Book: One line says, "I saw Christine's transmission lever suddenly drop into drive."
Fact: The 1958 Plymouths had push button drive.
These are just a few errors we mention that are found inside the book. If you have a copy of the first issue hard cover with the dust jacket, you will find on the back cover a picture of Mr. King sitting on the hood of a '57 Plymouth, not a '58.
In an interview Mr. King was asked, why all the errors? His response was that he wrote the middle first, then a few years later wrote the beginning and end. He needed to come up with a car brand name and found Fury the most fitting. Webster defines Fury as "Violent, intense anger." Need we say more?
Christine, the movie (by Michael Morelli)It has been 20 years since we got our first look at the forgotten 50s Mopar, the 1958 Plymouth Fury (named "Christine"). You can still find it on TV quite often on various channels throughout the year. The movie still draws an audience and is said to have a cult following.
In 1982, Stephen King sent Salem Lots movie producer Richard Kobritz a copy of his soon-to-be-published novel Christine. Kobritz loved it and wanted to make it into a movie. He had only one man in mind for the job, John Carpenter. Carpenter was known for his horror hit Halloween. They were friends and wanted to do a project together and thought the book was sensational. Screenwriter Bill Phillips was hired to take a 471 page novel and turn it into a 150 to 200 page screenplay. A screenplay was written for the movie and presented to Stephen King, who gave his OK. A casting call was made for the actors (Mr. Carpenter wanted mostly unknowns).
Due to time and money constraints there were several changes made for the adaptation from paper to film. Here are some major changes made from the book to movie:
Christine now became a 2 door Fury, like the factory car, with the exception of her color. There is no mention as to why she is "born" red like in the book, but the opening scene of her on the assembly line gives an indication she was a special order Fury.
In the book, Christine's previous owner is Ronald LeBay, who sells the car to Arnie, and after his death we meet his brother George. In the movie, Ronald the owner had already passed away and it's George who sells the car to Arnie and later tells the car's history to Dennis.
In the book Arnie unknowingly runs drugs for Darrnell, which is why Christine kills him. In the movie, Arnie runs auto parts and Darnell is killed because he sees Christine in her "damaged state."
In the book it is Ronald LeBay who possesses Christine and Arnie. In the movie, it is Christine who is born possessed on the assembly line.
In the book, Arnie fights LaBay's evil spirit, which is inside him. While doing so, LeBay's evil spirit kills Arnie and his mother. In the movie, Christine accidentally kills Arnie as they are doing battle with Dennis and Leigh. (Arnie's mother does not die in the movie.)
The book takes place in Pennsylvania while the movie takes place in California.
The book has Dennis going for a ride with Arnie in Christine. During this ride Arnie starts to turn into LeBay. Also during this ride Christine takes them back in time to 1958. In the movie, during this ride, Arnie's transformation to LeBay and the time travel trip does not appear.
These are just some of the many differences between the book and movie. Again these were removed or changed due to time constraints but with this it has no major bearing on the main story plot.
Christine, the car (by Michael Morelli)Ads were placed across the country to buy available 1958 Plymouths. A total of 23 1958 Plymouths were purchased and customized to look alike. Only 16 were used for filming, the others for parts. Belvederes and Savoys were used along with Furys for filming. The Fury in 1958 was only available in buckskin beige with gold trim. The Furys and non-red Belveders/Savoys were painted red and white and the gold trim was painted silver or made for the cars that did not have it as an option. The Fury interior was also changed to bright red with dark red inserts to match the now red color.
The opening shot of Christine being assembled shows her as the only red Fury. This scene had to be filmed first so the cars could be re-painted and smashed up. If you look closely, the Furys do not have the gold trim or the word "Fury" on the fins. The trim on the movie cars had already been painted silver for the transformation that would take place after this scene was filmed. All that needed to be done was paint the cars red and tint the windows.
Production began April 25,1983. "Christine" opened December 9, 1983. It was described by Time Magazine as "John Carpenter's best film since Halloween."
Over the past 20 years, several people have turned there '58 Plymouths in to "Christine" clones. Some Furys have been painted red, while some stock Belvederes have had Fury engines put into them. It is very hard to tell a "Christine" clone from a real red and white stock Belvedere unless you know this make of car.
By the movie's wrap, only three pristine "Christine's" were known to have remained. These three cars went on the road to promote the movie, and were later sold to collectors.
Sometimes strange things happen and part of movie history is found. A fourth movie car survived!! It is the Moochie car that was found in a salvage yard and restored. Its current owner tells this car's story here.
We have included three photos for the story. One is Martin's Christine movie car, my 1958 stock Belvedere that some may call a clone Christine, and a stock Fury in its factory color and trim.
Christine the Car (by Martin Sanchez)She was one of over 20 or so cars used in the movie Christine. I acquired her in 1984. She was the actual stunt car from the alley scene chasing Moochie up where she corners him in the loading dock. Being pushed from behind by a dozer, another car with rubber front end parts was used where she actually crushes herself into the area to get Moochie. The dozer was easily edited out later.
She was the only 3 speed overdrive in the bunch. I know this because the guys on the set forgot and when they went to start her up she was in gear and lunged forward almost taking out some equipment. "Bad Christine," they shouted.
I bought her 18 years ago from the back lot of a studio in L.A. She was going to be saved for a movie that was in the works at the time called "Cat's eye," however, they found a perfect red and white Belvedere 4 door and shot the footage they needed from the front and then the rear. Since the car was not used it was scheduled to be scrapped. My friend Al Newman from "Classic Wheels" out of Anaheim informed me that I may be able to save her.
Because of his connection with movie cars and the studio not wanting the liability of selling these to private parties, he picked her up for "parts." I was able to buy her for $900 and flat bedded her home along with boxes of parts. I was also given a script, movie stills, press kit, rubber moldings, fenders, etc. I even found the "CQB-241" license plate that was on the car during the filming in the trunk.
When I bought the car she had no interior, just a simple roll cage, 5 point harness, one plastic racing type seat and the windows were all painted black on the inside with the exception of a small driver section which was a patch of black window tint so that the stunt man could see. Most of the stainless moldings and trim were rubber or plastic. There were also 4x4 inch wooden beams between the firewall and front core support and the radiator was mounted in the trunk so that in crash scenes the radiator fluid would not spill out.
The cars that were running were labeled "Muscle one," "Muscle two," etc. My car had "Muscle two" on the underside of the hood. The non runners were pulled on rolling dollies. Al from Classic told me where all the wrecks were sent and I was allowed to go into Bill and Ed's Auto Wrecking in Fontana California. This is where all the smashed cars were sent. I quickly made friends with the owner there. I was told that possibly 27 Plymouths were used. Sadly, a very small handful were actual Furys.
It took the film makers almost 2 1/2 years to locate them through DMV records and ads. Ironically, like Arnie, I was able to pull parts off the wrecked cars. Most of my front and rear stainless came from the burn car. They had used rubber cement and poured it all over the car and set it on fire. The sport line trim came from some of the ram cars, and out of the 57 and 58 Belvederes in the yard I was able to put the interior together. I was 20 years old when I found Christine and put her back together. I did not set out to build a show car, just a nice driver and she is still running and looking good after 18 years.
Home - Cars - Engines - History - Resources - Repairs - Reviews - Other Brands - News - Search
Corrections or additions? Click here!
Please read the terms of use. Also read this copyright-myths page! Mopar, Dodge, Jeep, and Chrysler are trademarks of DaimlerChrysler, AG. We are not DaimlerChrysler. We are not responsible for the consequences of actions taken based on this site and make no guarantees regarding validity or applicability of information or advice. The Webmaster is not an expert. Copyright © 1999-2000, David Zatz; copyright © 2001-2005, Allpar LLC. All rights reserved. Recommend this page!
1971 "Series One" 240z,L28 n42/n42 flattops.primered,work in progress,Tokico Iluminas,Eibach Pro-Kit,1" front swaybar more to come..
A:
And a Detroit Productin vehicle NEVER left the line in 1957 or 1958 misbadged.
Give me a freaking break! You see the production line scenes in that movie? That is MILD compared to what really went on at the time: lunch bags inside the door panels, guys taking a quick dump under the back seat before I goes in "Hey, I ain't touching it, YOU flip it outta there! I an't touching it, just stick the fu*king seat in, let the dealer flip it outta there! THANKS FOR THE PRESENT, JOE! (yelling back at the group of guys at the previous workstation who are all looking and laughing)
And at CHRYSLER? Hell, into the 80's you could get an "ONMI/HORIZON" off the line. One side said OMNI, the other side said HORIZON front badging was Dodge, rear badging was Plymouth...
And NOBODY would just slap some Fury Badges on a Red Car coming down the line in 1958. NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER!
Even though that would kinda reinforce Kings contention in the book that it's a "Devil Posessed Car, one never meant to be!" He specifically discusses the choice of RED in interviews, stating "They never came in Red, which is why Christine was red--it was the car that was never supposed tobe made!"
So maybe before exploding like some cranked up tweaker junkie, Zedd_Appliance should do some more RESEARCH on crap he's blabbing about regarding Stephen King. There is a REASON it was the car and color it was, and if you ever saw the interview or read it, you wouldn't look so stupid right now!
People Are Idiots, Just look around here and you will see!
Tony D: "Knowledgeable but Caustic"... rationull
My brother from another mother calls himself "Willie D"
A:
"There is no mention as to why she is "born" red like in the book, but the opening scene of her on the assembly line gives an indication she was a special order Fury. "
King states it was "the car that shouldn't have been made" or some words to that effect.
Man Arnie, you're fighting the shitters mightily on this post!
Oh, and on the 59/59 2 door 4 door quandary: "Build-Out Cars" happened in Detroit all the time. Cars that weren't supposed to be constructed the way the book says.
Read a factory assembly manual one time, and see the preponderance of "RPO's" (in the case of Chevy) that weren't ever released officially, but parts existed and in some cases found their way to production line vehicles.
What exists in official histories is not the whole story. ESPECIALLY AT CHRYSLER where engineers and managers took prototypes and special build cars home as "Loaners" that were never on the books, and therefore were never returned. It was an understood "perk" of working there! Not until more strict federal legislation was enacted in the late 60's were cars inventoried and officially crushed. Many of the prototypes from earlier years were written off the books, and if someone up in the hierarchy had a penchant to possess one, he simply went down, and picked up the keys---either way it was going to be crushed---and off it went forever. The garages in Dearborn and the Detroit Suburbs were FULL of prototypes and one-off cars "that never were".... Had an engineer taken a Red Fury Preproduction Prototype off to his house one evening, it would easily explain the "car that never existed!"
Growing up around Detroit amongst Automotive Engineers in the late 60's and early 70s, I saw this firsthand, and listened to the stories around the dinner table when guests were over.
Later in life, associating with oldtimers from the UAW, I got to hear the OTHER side of the equation (line workers and what they did) and as my first real official job working in a GM Dealership, I got to see those line-worker effects firsthand.
To be insistent that this car or that NEVER existed, and NEVER COULD HAVE EXISTED is just plain foolish! And the fact that the original book was centered in Pennsylvania makes it more believable, as that is FAR more believable that some retired engineer went there after retiring, or leaving to work somewhere other.
Al and Ed's is still in Fontana, BTW. Not far from Cal Speedway.
People Are Idiots, Just look around here and you will see!
Tony D: "Knowledgeable but Caustic"... rationull
My brother from another mother calls himself "Willie D"
Post Edited (Dec 17, 10:24am)
A:
Interesting insight TonyD.
1971 "Series One" 240z,L28 n42/n42 flattops.primered,work in progress,Tokico Iluminas,Eibach Pro-Kit,1" front swaybar more to come..
A:
I had a good friend in High School by the name of Jim Krumbach. he was a big Mopar Fan.
Well, another friend's little brother graduated form the U of M and Nuc. Med, and took a position up at the hospital in Tawas. He bought a house in town, from a retired Chrysler Engineer.
He called me over becasue the workshop "Was all full of sh*t, and I don't want it, come over to see if there is anything you can use."
Well, downstairs of the workshop there was a beautiful Craftsman/Atlas 6" lathe on the stand, with every single attachment you could think of! Mmmmm, TASTY! So I take it---along with some other stuff.
While we're there, he says "the upstairs is full of old car parts---see if there's anything else up there you want---it's full to the rafters, I'm calling the junkman after you guys get what you want, I don't want any of this crap!"
So we go upstairs, and I notice RIGHT AWAY set of headers that is UPSIDE DOWN. You know, the collectors pointed UPWARDS, and AWAY from the primaries. There were all sorts of Chrysler/Mopar boxes with LOTS of NOS Stuff up there. I asked Paul "What did the old owner of this house do anyway?"
Oh, he was a retired engineer from Chrysler--when he died, his kids wanted to sell the house quick, so I had to take all this crap so they DIDN'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT!
When did he retire?
"About 20 years ago" (This was the mid 90's)---Uh-huh........
I gotta make a phone call.
I called Jim, the Mopar Freak, telling him there was a GARAGE full of old Mopar Performance crap, that I didn't know what it was, and if he wanted it, he could come get it with a truck!
He came over, and went upstairs and he let out a shout!
Those headers? Hemi. Early production NHRA Prototypes used on the Dyno. Jim ended up showing me photos of the same damn headers in some History Book on the development of the Hemi Factory Sponsored Racing Program. There were special cast iron exhaust manifolds for those early production hemis, magnesium intake manifolds.... I shudder to think what this stuff would go for on E-Bay today!
A literal TIME CAPSULE of stuff---FACTORY RACING STUFF stashed away in an "old mans garage" 4 hours north of Detroit. They retired, and "moved up north" and he fiddled out in his workshop until he died.
That lathe was in pristine condition, as were many of the other miniature machine tools out there.
But to the family, and to the new owner "it was all just crap" that needed to be chucked away because it was taking up space. Jim probably sold all that stuff for dimes on the dollar right away...I remember him saying repeatedly "Hemi, that's hemi, this is hemi---those are hemi, that's a wedge, I don't know what this is...."
There was stuff in unmarked boxes packed in grease paper and cosmoline with no casing numbers or Pentastar on it---signifying to me at least "developmental prototype".... I mean, for a Mopar guy it was the mother load.
Too bad I don't do Mopars! But the stories are the same for ALL the big three and their service/engineering divisions. They make the toys, and they play with em. Sometimes they take them home, and they never returned them!
There was a "Japanese Luxury Car" that showed up in Impound in SanPedro's Port one summer. The VIN on the car was VERY LOW, like in the 20's! When the owner of the tow yard called the Major Japanese Manufacturer's Customer Service line on the advice of H4Lights, they wanted to know how the car ended up THERE!
It was a preproduction prototype that some exec had taken home and let his wife drive it around until it died one day, and they just left it on the street to be impounded. Hey, it was crushed when the Major Japanese Manufacturer's REpresentatives came to bail it out, and reclaim it saying at the time: "Man, thanks for the call, this car is on our inventory, if it wasn't accounted for and crushed our balls would have been in a sling by the FEDS!"
So not as common today as it once was---but it still happens. The feds have gotten very stringent on inventory control in the past 20 years.
My friend services the Canton MS assembly plant for Nissan that makes the Armada and the Truck, and the mismatched trucks and ones that go over the edge of the railcar and take the header into the concrete go to a special on-site shredder almost immediately! He described it, and it doesn't sound real fun for the vehicle! What a shame, Huh?
People Are Idiots, Just look around here and you will see!
Tony D: "Knowledgeable but Caustic"... rationull
My brother from another mother calls himself "Willie D"