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   Forward Look NON-Technical Discussions -> Miss Belvedere - The Unearthed Tulsarama Plymouth!Message format
 
57plymouth
Posted 2009-06-22 12:15 PM (#178864)
Subject: Anyone see this?



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http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=...

I called Ultra-none today to find out what happened to the car. He was very vague, and did not really want to talk. He said to check Tulsa World's site.

There you go.

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dukeboy
Posted 2009-06-22 1:05 PM (#178868 - in reply to #178864)
Subject: RE: Anyone see this?



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Here she is...

Photobucket
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57plymouth
Posted 2009-06-22 1:12 PM (#178870 - in reply to #178864)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?



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I saw that on the ICC forum.

I guess the owner of Ultra-none finally got a clue about getting it running.
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Jessica
Posted 2009-06-22 1:43 PM (#178874 - in reply to #178864)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?



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Wow, good to see her again. She's looking a little better now that she is some-what cleaned up. Hard to tell that the metal is "paper mache" fragile by picture.
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d500neil
Posted 2009-06-22 2:00 PM (#178876 - in reply to #178870)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?



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Funny, no interior, or engine compartment views of Ultra None's magical-mystery restoration work.

Who would have guessed that the car, as seen above, would have resided under all of the accretion/patina
as existed when it was unearthed???

Personally, I was expecting a 1957 Dodge to appear, after the 50 years' of crud was removed from the artifact
that came out of the vault.

Imagine my surprise to see that it is/was a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere, in the exact-same colors and trim as the car
that went into the vault!!!

It certainly looks very different from any other back yard/wrecking-yard car that we see, nowadays.

Nice going, Ultra-None---now we all can see what we were only able, previously, to IMAGINE that existed, under the patina!

I know that I would certainly pay money to go see this car, now, rather than to see it, in its as-unearthed condition.







Edited by d500neil 2009-06-22 2:03 PM
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1955Coronado
Posted 2009-06-22 2:30 PM (#178885 - in reply to #178864)
Subject: RE: Anyone see this?



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Here's the article:

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

 Preservation continues on exhumed auto
The 1957 Plymouth that spent 50 hard years underground needs a lot of work.

Improvements have been made to the Plymouth Belvedere unearthed in Tulsa two years ago, but it's far from road-ready.

By RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer
Published: 6/14/2009  2:26 AM
Last Modified: 6/14/2009  3:30 AM

Rusted, busted, waterlogged and crud-encrusted, the Buried Belvedere rose from its resting place at the Tulsa County Courthouse two years ago this weekend.

It's still not exactly ready for the drag races, but at least some color has returned to its cheeks. Most of the mud and rust has been removed from its exterior, the wheels roll and the steering wheel steers.

On the other hand, the doors don't work, the engine is caked in red clay the consistency of concrete and the steel and sheet metal is so fragile that they have to be handled like rare pottery.

"For the most part," said Dwight Foster, the Hackettsville, N.J., businessman who has had, as he puts it, "custody" of the car since November 2007, "it's like working with papier-mache."

He continued: "Just as an example, rust had eaten completely through a torsion bar. A torsion bar is an inch or an inch and a quarter of solid steel."

Plans to transfer the car's chassis to a different frame have been abandoned because of its delicate condition, he said.

Still, there have been a few surprises. Rubber parts, Foster said, held up surprisingly well.

"The rubbers on the ball joints were

like they'd just come off the (assembly) line," he said. "The different components of the car, they're very unpredictable."

The 1957 Plymouth, brand spanking new, was buried as part of the festivities for the 50th anniversary of Oklahoma's statehood. It emerged a half-century later, in June 2007, looking like something that might have been driven by Cap'n Jack Sparrow.

The vault in which the car was placed, it turned out, held water in better than it kept water out. It had been flooded at some point and still contained more than a foot of water.

The Belvedere was a mess.

Originally gold and white, it emerged from hibernation a uniformly brownish-orange. The upholstery had dissolved. Moving parts were rusted solid. Only the chrome trim and, surprisingly, the tires survived in something like vintage condition.

Foster became involved after the car was awarded — if that is the right word — to the family of Raymond Humbertson, a Maryland man who never lived in Tulsa but for unexplained reasons entered a contest to win the Belvedere.

Foster's company makes an industrial-strength, acid-free, rust remover, and he is something of a car enthusiast. He worked out an agreement with the Humbertsons to get the car in presentable condition.

"It started out as a commercial interest," Foster says now, "but it become more of a personal interest."

Whether the car returns to Tulsa depends on several factors, not the least of which is the cost of transporting the old girl back. Foster said he still gets regular calls from Belvedere fans. He and the car were recently featured on the Hemings car collectors' Web site.

In the meantime, Foster said, he'll keep plugging away. "In the next week or so I'll be going through the back seat trying to get the trunk lid up," he said.

"This is a preservation effort, not a restoration. I'm trying to leave as much of the original as possible."

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Jessica
Posted 2009-06-22 2:48 PM (#178889 - in reply to #178864)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?



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With the larger picture, you can really see more detail as to how fragile the sheetmetal really is. Hadn't noticed that when I was reading the article on the link.

Thanks for posting, Mark. As for the hostility concerning this whole topic and parties involved... it's ridiculous.
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1955Coronado
Posted 2009-06-22 3:03 PM (#178890 - in reply to #178889)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?



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Jessica - 2009-06-22 11:48 AM

With the larger picture, you can really see more detail as to how fragile the sheetmetal really is. Hadn't noticed that when I was reading the article on the link.

Thanks for posting, Mark. As for the hostility concerning this whole topic and parties involved... it's ridiculous.


Yeah, but Dwayne really is a condescending a$$hole.

No problem on the article.
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d500neil
Posted 2009-06-22 3:05 PM (#178891 - in reply to #178889)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?



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Jessica, "the hostility" is anything BUT ridiculous.

Rather than to re-cap a mountainous amount of prior postings, please re-read this message board's many threads
on the anticipation of attending the Tulsarama festivities, YEARS before the blessed-event occurred, the late-arrival
of the Boydster, and the "Winning Family's" decision to have Ultra None do what it did, to the car (rather than to arrange
to have it be donated or sold to a museum).







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Jessica
Posted 2009-06-22 3:08 PM (#178892 - in reply to #178864)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?



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That may be, but often times the kettle is calling. We have enough little black rain-cloud's these days...

Not everyone decides to go along with what this forum's vocal majority think. I'm as educated as I chose to be about the circumstances, rather than becoming engrossed or bitter about what happened vs. what I think should have been done. Bad apples sour the entire cart.

Edited by Jessica 2009-06-22 3:17 PM
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d500neil
Posted 2009-06-22 3:19 PM (#178893 - in reply to #178864)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?



Exner Expert 19,174 posts. Neil passed away 18 Sep 2015. You will be missed, Neil!

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Please, please, please: go read this board's message threads, if anyone has any questions regarding the sincerity or
the ridiculousness, and/or the commercial motivation of the Boydster's intrusion into the proceedings, or what "The Family"
decided to do with the remains of Ms. Belvie, and the purely-commercial motivation of Ultra None in destroying the unique
appearance of the car, in its as-unearthed condition.

There is a real O. Henry/Greek Tragedy aspect to what has happened to the car.



....This SOLO-issue Message Board contains some 12 pages of separate threads, with each page having
20 threads on it.

Complaining about how this most recent thread 'reads' is like turning to the last page of "War and Peace"
and saying that you don't understand the BOOK.....






Edited by d500neil 2009-06-22 3:28 PM
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Jessica
Posted 2009-06-22 3:56 PM (#178897 - in reply to #178864)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?



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The point is.. I don't care about what happened in the 12 pages of angry rants and ravings. There are plenty of people who have made their peace with the issue, and then there are some who continue to beat the same bloody horse. Nothing can be done to reverse the effects of the "preservation", and the only thing that constant negativity/hostility on the issue produces is more bad mojo. That goes for other various threads on this board as well.
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d500neil
Posted 2009-06-22 4:04 PM (#178899 - in reply to #178897)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?



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Jessica, this message board is devoted exclusively to the Perils of Miss Belvedere.

Kind of like the Nether Region, which I choose not ever to enter, each board has its purpose and reason for being.

If this board offends you (as the Nether-world does to me) it is easy enough to avoid.





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lawrence
Posted 2009-06-22 8:12 PM (#178934 - in reply to #178864)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?



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The car looks fine right there. A lot better than the way we saw it in Tulsa. I'm pleased with the fact they got it back sitting up on it's own weight. Presentable too. Now they need to dip it in a 20'x6'x5' box of clear plastic. So no one else can touch it and it will stay preserved for ever. Like a dead bug.
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lawrence
Posted 2009-06-22 8:23 PM (#178936 - in reply to #178864)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?



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I'm also glad some of us got to see that 2 1/2' diameter of perfect headliner. Where the bubble formed as the water rose over the car every year for fifty years. Neil, you have no need to explain anything. We all know how you are. And in Tulsa, I found out you like to sit in your trunk and drink shine. Nice car too by the way. Especially for a D-500 driver.
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dukeboy
Posted 2009-06-22 8:44 PM (#178940 - in reply to #178936)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?



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I heard that Herb McCandless was supposed to be the one in Boyd's place to inspect the engine... He got snubbed out at the last minute for Boyd..He was there, but also didn't like what was done....

Edited by dukeboy 2009-06-22 9:06 PM
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ThomasD500
Posted 2009-06-22 10:01 PM (#178948 - in reply to #178864)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?


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What is it that people are so upset about? That they wiped some of the crud off? They didn't destroy the 'patina' if you ask me. It's got PLENTY of it...far more than anybody was expecting.
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lawrence
Posted 2009-06-22 10:20 PM (#178951 - in reply to #178864)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?



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The whole car should have been built out of stainless steel.
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dukeboy
Posted 2009-06-22 11:04 PM (#178955 - in reply to #178951)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?



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I have to admit she does look alot better than when she was brought up...I can understand both sides of the arguement here...Some are for leaving the poor thing alone, and some are for cleaning her up a bit....Thing is, none of the people that are so adement about keeping her the way she was, actually owns the car.....The Gentleman's family that owns the car wanted to do this and I respect their decision....Just like I respect some's decision to go with a "D500" car instead of a "Christine".........
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Nathan D. Manning
Posted 2009-06-23 6:03 AM (#178968 - in reply to #178864)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?


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So, the question remains....
When are we all headed back out to Tulsa for another look at the ol' girl?

If the Tulsa folks can plan it, I'm there.
Anyone else in for a trip back to Okie?

-NM
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Jessica
Posted 2009-06-23 9:24 AM (#178975 - in reply to #178864)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?



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I'd definetely toss my hat in if I had a means of bringing my Desoto back with me. Boy, do I miss my diesel at times like these.
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57plymouth
Posted 2009-06-23 2:24 PM (#179012 - in reply to #178968)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?



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Nathan D. Manning - 2009-06-23 6:03 AM

So, the question remains....
When are we all headed back out to Tulsa for another look at the ol' girl?

If the Tulsa folks can plan it, I'm there.
Anyone else in for a trip back to Okie?

-NM


I can't. I'm all out of trucks and trailers. None left in the yard.
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safetymike77
Posted 2009-06-24 7:11 AM (#179156 - in reply to #178934)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?



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lawrence - 2009-06-22 7:12 PM

The car looks fine right there. A lot better than the way we saw it in Tulsa. I'm pleased with the fact they got it back sitting up on it's own weight. Presentable too. Now they need to dip it in a 20'x6'x5' box of clear plastic. So no one else can touch it and it will stay preserved for ever. Like a dead bug.


lol...... Now that is the first good idea I have heard all day!
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fintastic57
Posted 2009-06-28 7:58 PM (#179705 - in reply to #179012)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?


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Always up for a Tulsa reunion trip, more to see all the great people I met there again than to see the car. What a great excuse for a party! Celebrated 20,000 since restoration miles yesterday with an award at the Niagara Mopar show. See, you can still drive them and enjoy them. Unlike "Miss Belvedere" they are not museum pieces!
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Lancer Mike
Posted 2009-07-02 3:57 PM (#180274 - in reply to #179705)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?



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I think it looks great! That's just what needed to happen to the car. One thing has me confused - he says he is going to go through the back seat to try to get the trunk open. I thought they popped that trunk open in Tulsa - I am almost sure they did. As I remember, it looked like it bent some metal when they did it. Anyway, I wonder what the problem getting the trunk open now is all about. Maybe the metal became too fragile?
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58 DESOTOS RULE
Posted 2009-07-10 9:29 PM (#181079 - in reply to #180274)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?



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Lancer Mike - 2009-07-02 2:57 PM I think it looks great! That's just what needed to happen to the car. One thing has me confused - he says he is going to go through the back seat to try to get the trunk open. I thought they popped that trunk open in Tulsa - I am almost sure they did. As I remember, it looked like it bent some metal when they did it. Anyway, I wonder what the problem getting the trunk open now is all about. Maybe the metal became too fragile?

It may be that the metal that forms the outer skin of the trunk lid is too fragile now to handle. Somebody popped the trunk lid  when the car was on stage in the convention center and they found the inner stamping of the trunk lid had rusted away. The MCs for the unveiling show had the trunk unpacked live on TV. If I'm not mistaken they found the glass jar of DX gasoline that had been buried with the car in 1957 as well as a couple of crusty old Blatz beer cans that were the remains of the case of beer that someone had put in the trunk in 1957. 

What I'd like to know is how did the Ulta-None people handle the fact that the car had no leaf springs on the rear? Rust had claimed the springs the car came with - the contractors even found chunks of the springs in the vault after they had pulled the car out.



Edited by 58 DESOTOS RULE 2009-07-10 9:34 PM
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MOPAR-TO-YA
Posted 2009-07-11 12:11 AM (#181091 - in reply to #178864)
Subject: RE: Anyone see this?


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Remember? the car was mounted on heavy metal skids. That is what they lifted it out of the vault with. Those skids remained with the car..........................MO
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Rebels-59
Posted 2009-07-11 5:31 PM (#181128 - in reply to #181091)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?



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The Remains of the Passenger rear spring were found in the Tomb after they took the Belvedere to the convention centre, A guy brougt it out of the tomb and gave it to the guy near the water fountain Thing, He washed it and said it was part of the Skid,, I happen to still be there whilst others went to the convention centre and told him it was part of a rear leaf spring, He gave it to his grandson to show me and he gave it to Me,, I should of kept it as IT was NOT shown with the Display Items the Next day.. The Drivers rear Spring was Broken BUT still on the Car...

STEVE..
Didn,t they Cut the Skids off when it went into the Convention Centre, When they lifted the Curtain on Expedition Night, Miss Belv sat on her 4 Wheels..


I found a Old Thread up off BEFORE and AFTER Pic,s ..........

http://www.forwardlook.net/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=15510&...

Scroll down to the Bottom of page and the Springs can be Seen..
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MOPAR-TO-YA
Posted 2009-07-12 2:00 AM (#181154 - in reply to #178864)
Subject: RE: Anyone see this?


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Clive, I had forgotten, but I believe you are right- sure doesn't look like skids attached at the un-veiling. Somehow I got it in my mind that it was delivered to Ultra -non on the skids. I was wrong one other time. .........................MO
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Lancer Mike
Posted 2009-07-14 3:59 PM (#181359 - in reply to #181154)
Subject: RE: Anyone see this?



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Did we ever find out how many miles showed on the odometer? I tried to start up a pool before we all went down there, but it never caught on.
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57plymouth
Posted 2009-07-14 4:04 PM (#181361 - in reply to #178864)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?



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The skid was cut off with a torch in the loading bay before the car was moved indoors.
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My57Saratoga
Posted 2009-07-14 7:01 PM (#181387 - in reply to #181361)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?



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Manning and I visited the car while at Carlisle... I took lots of pix, (but couldn't make out the odometer!) and will post them ASAP. As for the rear springs, they replaced the springs using the donor car's rear end to try to get it "rolling". However a front end torsion bar has broken, the rest of the front end is "frozen" (control arms et al), and Dwight has some doubt whether he'll get it moving without the wheel dollies. They've abandoned the attempt to put the donor car frame under it. Dwight says Tulsa seems to have little interest in having the car return there; my bet it will cross the auction block somewhere.

As for the trunk lid, we asked Dwight about it....as you guys have surmised, it's simply too fragile to open now. Dwight hopes to get in there and use part of the donor car's trunk lid to "beef it up".

Dwight says "new holes appear daily"....

Mike

Edited by My57Saratoga 2009-07-14 7:16 PM
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sidesho_bob1961
Posted 2009-07-14 7:47 PM (#181392 - in reply to #181387)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?



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As a 57 Belvedere owner, I feel compelled to contribute my two cents. I don't blame anyone for attempting to clean this car up a bit, however this is probably where things should end. Lets face it, the car looked like a pile of sh*t when they unveiled it. As least now when the average person looks at it, they can easily imagine what it looked like new. I'm actually surprised it cleaned up this good. Lets face facts, leaf springs and torsion bars are alot thicker than sheet metal, if they're rotted away we're lucky there's anything left of the body at all. Now they should enclose it in an air-tight glass case and put it on display somewhere........anywhere. If that means selling it at B-J or any other auction to a owner who's willing to do that, I'm all for it.

Edited by sidesho_bob1961 2009-07-14 7:50 PM
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safetymike77
Posted 2009-07-16 8:15 AM (#181538 - in reply to #178864)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?



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I liked the idea someone had of a plastic block. Coat the whole thing inside and out with sprayed on poly plastic, and preserve it forever.
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Nathan D. Manning
Posted 2009-07-16 8:36 AM (#181542 - in reply to #181538)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?


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safetymike77 - 2009-07-16 8:15 AM

I liked the idea someone had of a plastic block. Coat the whole thing inside and out with sprayed on poly plastic, and preserve it forever.


I like the idea, too... but I'd be scared to guess how much THAT would cost.

In addition, she'd be a real bitch to move around after that was done -
so she needs a "permanent" home figured out before they go doin' that kind of thing... don'tcha think?

-NM

Edited by Nathan D. Manning 2009-07-16 8:37 AM
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Lancer Mike
Posted 2009-07-16 3:05 PM (#181568 - in reply to #181542)
Subject: Re: Anyone see this?



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Now it's time to convert it into a '58 and paint it red and white!

Just kidding. Just kidding. Don't everyone bite at once.

I agree with Sideshow Bob. Time to stop on this one.

What a lousy time it would be to put it up for auction. This car may be cursed.
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