@@Tulsa_Films please do! For the old cars sake. We need closure. Put the whole story together, to as it sits now. I think I heard the vault had filled with water a few times. Was anything that was put in the car recoverable? Or legible? Any hope for restoration?
Too bad that it was leaking probably from the first rain. It's been cleaned and restored as best as possible and is at a museum. The frame is virtually gone, and the interior is almost totally rotted. It looks okay, well alot better than it did when they first brought it up but it's not drivable. The engine is just a blob of rust, no chance of restoration.
You would have thought they could have just totally encased it in a solid brick box with a solid roof, above ground in the city park and make it a place for art and other stuff to be displayed on the outside until it is opened. It would be an above ground time capsule, and it would have probably been just fine.
I was there watching when they pulled it out. It had a cover over it and both it and the tail fin sticking out were were bright rust colored. My heart sank. Sure enough it was destroyed by rust. Lots of rust.
I vividly remember watching the Livestream on the day , they opened, it up, with some friends, even though I'm in Canada, this story had interest, truly sad the way it ended up, but still a cool attempt and idea. I read somewhere not only did it flood, but the water went as high as the roof of the car sometimes,
Had they known burying just a mile from the Arkansas River would result in a waterlogged vault, I doubt they would have done it. I remember the pageantry and national interest back in 2007 when they opened that vault up. I think one of the national morning shows was here for it.
