Re: [FWDLK] KOTV SAYS CAR WAS TOTALLY SUBMERGED IN WATER

Guys,

Tulsa is dry, but not the Egyptian desert. I think mistake # 1 was putting the car underground. If the vault was well sealed on the bottom, it would keep ground water out, mostly, but no concrete is waterproof. But then any water that gets in stays in, like a giant bucket, possibly for years before it seeped back out. Mistake # 2 was putting dirt over the vault. Dirt needs to be covered with grass and the grass needs water. A city building probably has a nice underground water sprinkling system to keep the grass nice and green. That and rain will seep into the vault through the flat concrete roof and joints and stay in. Mistake # 3 is the vault roof should have been sealed with tar and felt and plastic.

If Tulsa decides to seal another 2007 car to uncover in 2057, they should consider an above ground vault with a pitched roof. Or better yet as Greg suggested, built into a government building where they can just roll it out. And inside a couple of those sealed “car bags”. Maybe a Chrysler 300 or a Dodge Charger? I’ll bet Mopar could be convinced to donate the car.

Dave Homstad

56 Dodge D500

-----Original Message-----
From: Forward Look Mopar Discussion List [mailto:L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Fury Jim
Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2007 6:04 AM
To: L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [FWDLK] KOTV SAYS CAR WAS TOTALLY SUBMERGED IN WATER

the whole chain of events so far is pretty disheartening.... so much for the rumors of it being out of the ground already for prep...

the article[s] in old cars weekly were really good.... some good info that may have been previously unknown. its unfortunate that even at the time of burial the concrete wasn't even dry yet, so much for the pride of the true gun-all concrete vault, but it did withstand the test of time without collapsing, considering the walls seem rather thin. and i too saw no signs of any try at sealing the upper lip of the vault.

all in all, from its proper shape within its "bag"... its still in better shape that some cars that have been resurrected.

funny note.... notice that even when brand new--- the front bumper didn't align so well on the passenger frt...

as for being under water... the efects are truly less detrimental to the car being entombed... case it point, underground- its temperature has been somewhat steadily maintained compared to air temp/seasons, it has seen 0 sunlight for UV deterioration, and most likely little to no oxygen, other than what air entered/exited at a very slow rate to displace the water in the +/- direction... so the effects of water as we know will be different on this plymouth.... would be nice to see a different rot pattern if it has one anyway- not the typical fender eyebrows, inner rockers, frt seat bracing, rear body mounts, rear window and cowl tracks.... all the commonalities attributed to collections of [crap] where it cant escape and thus rot our beautiful poorly built plymouths..... as for underwater-

my 59 fury [daily driver] was in a garage from 1969 until 2000, probably with no sun contact- it was removed from its garage 1 year after being under water for 17 days in lodi, NJ, after hurricane floyd put that town under water... it was one of those garages under a house... the year later the carb was still topped off as was the trans and rear to their vent holes [and remember- when under water- the eng/trans gets 100% water filled as the gas/oil/atf is molecularly lighter and floats out to displace the water] needless to say- the sheetmetal was hardly hurt, some extra surface rust under the headliner [which had an interesting stain from the air bubble it maintained]. all said and done- i stripped it to a shell, new drivetrain, interior 100%, most wiring, restored gauges, etc... 45,000 miles since 2001, snow rain sun... gets to work all the time.. and now... virgin fenders starting to rust through..... it had original paint too until 2 summers ago- shined up after the rivermud was powerwashed off and nicely compounded.

so lets hope that the slow egress of water in the tomb allowed a nice coating of the engine's oil, the 1/2 tank of gas, and all of its type A and rear gear oil to slowly film the entire car for the next tomb fillings, as a rust preventer of sorts...

1 more day

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