Boyd Coddington og restoliðið hans var fengið til að opna bílinn. Bestu orðaskiptin sem urðu við þá iðju var þetta:
Kynnir: "Segðu mér Boyd hefurðu nokkurntíma gert upp svona bíl áður?"
Boyd: "Neibb"
Ónefndur áhorfandi: "Af hverju ertu þá hér?"
En svona er víst ástandið á MOPAR-num eftir 50 ára dvöl í vatni:
Leaf springs fell apart (some pieces still left in the vault)
One gas tank strap broke at the bolt
Front tires still hold air (but I think they were flat when it came out)
The hood and trunk had to be pried open (the gaps on the trunk lid are worse
for it)
The hood will not hold itself open, save for a foot or two
The trunk lid is weak, it can be seen to flex during the unveiling
There is a hole in the taillight panel left of the right hand tail light,
possibly put there when they were working on the trunk lid.
They never got the doors open, mostly because Boyd Coddington's crew don't
know squat about mopars, but they did try to force it open with a wedge.
There's a dime sized hole in the driver's door skin.
The "Y", "M", and "O" letters fell off the hood.
The condition of the remaining pot metal is hard to tell, but its there.
All the stainless trim is perfect (duh)
All the anodized aluminum trim is fine (grille, headlight bezels, hood lip)
The front bumper has been cleaned in one spot, where the chrome is PERFECT.
The rest of the bumpers are still covered with the protective paper (now
goop), so there's hope for more beautiful chrome there.
Engine was found to be full of water.
Battery was still connected.
Interior is trashed, some seat foat remains up front.
A LOT of rust bubbling up in the sheet metal. The body is swiss cheese.
The car still needs to be cleaned so we can tell what's rust and what was
mud.
I'd say its restorable but shouldn't be restored.
All glass is good, except for the vent windows (which they broke in order to
roll down the door windows and get inside the car).
Ball point pen signatures on the white walls survived.
All contents of the time capsule (sealed cannister in vault with car)
survived perfectly intact, including the contest entries.
Þegar bíllinn var grafinn 1957 átti almenningur þess kost að giska á íbúafjölda Tulsa 2007. Sá sem næst kemst réttri tölu fær bílinn að gjöf. Það er spurning hvort vinningshafinn er í betra ástandi en MOPAR-inn nú 50 árum síðar.
Ragnar
