This Friday at noon, after 50 years underground, a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere will be unearthed from a time capsule at Sixth Street and Denver Avenue in downtown Tulsa, Okla.

Later that day, the Belvedere will be unveiled before an audience at the Tulsa Convention Center and live on television and the Internet.

The car was buried in June 1957 during the Tulsarama celebration, in honor of the Oklahoma’s 50th birthday.

The person who came closest in 1957 to guessing Tulsa’s 2007 population — or his or her heirs — will be awarded the Belvedere. It was new when it was buried; it’s unknown what its condition will be now. If it’s in good shape, it will reportedly fetch $75,000 and probably more because it is the Tulsarama Plymouth.

The time capsule is not on Route 66, but the nostalgia factor and the sheer uniqueness of the event has scores of Route 66 aficionados from all over the world traveling to Tulsa.

Excavation will begin Tuesday in preparation for the automobile’s official unearthing from the vault on Friday. Examinations in recent weeks of the concrete vault showed it is in good condition, so officials are relatively optimistic the car will be in good shape, too. A sealer also was used in 1957 to lock the inside of the vault from moisture.

Of course, there will be plenty of activities surrounding the unearthing site, including lots of classic cars on display.

The official Internet site of the 2007 Tulsarama event is buriedcar.com, which has a photo gallery and plenty of information about the event for out-of-town visitors.

The Tulsa World has a special online section with schedules, video, a slideshow and all the articles leading up to the unearthing.

KOTV of Tulsa will televise the unveiling live at 7 p.m. Central time Friday and live on KOTV.com.

Here’s another Web site about the buried Plymouth.

There has been no shortage of news stories about the impending exhumation, as this Google News search shows.

Here is video of the original 1957 burial:

… and let John Mayer provide the soundtrack.

YouTube contributor crack11974 writes:

We started a cross country trip from Columbus, Ohio back home to San Diego, California. When we hit Route 66 territory in Oklahoma, we became obsessed with old 66 and the drive soon became a tour off the freeway seeing everything we could see on Old 66.

Here is the video, with the Rolling Stones as accompaniment:

The Victorville (Calif.) Daily Press examines how the Route 66 town wants to transform its Old Town area into a growing, vibrant, “walkable” area.

It’s a laudable goal. But the key is to not abandon it if growth comes slowly. The United States — and especially Southern California — loves its cars, and it’s going to take a while for the walkable-downtown idea to be widely accepted.

Wrink’s Food Market, a longtime Route 66 business in Lebanon, Mo., until the death of its owner in 2005, is being prepared for a possible reopening in July, with a grand reopening likely around Labor Day weekend.

Wrink’s Market, which was a sort of dime store and food mart, had been operated by the ever-affable Glenn “Wrink” Wrinkle from 1950 until shortly before his death. Wrink’s Market boasted Clint Eastwood as one of its customers, and radio personality Paul Harvey also touted Wrinkle’s store.

The store quietly closed after Wrinkle’s death. Two area women leased the building for many months and planned to reopen it, but never did. They eventually were evicted.

Wrink’s Market will be reopened by his Glenn Wrinkle’s son Terry, said Terry’s wife, Cheryl. She said that Terry, retired from Coca-Cola, is busy repainting the store with “retro” colors. She also said the building’s awnings and neon signs also will be repaired.

A deli and a diner will be installed in the back of the store to satisfy Route 66 tourists and longtime Wrink’s customers who still get a hankering for its sandwiches. Wrink’s will continue to have a souvenir shop, no doubt catering to Route 66ers.

Cheryl also said that her husband may lease part of the building to an area barbecue restaurant. The building’s enormous basement has been cleaned, and it may also be leased for flea markets or other types of businesses.

We’ll have more details about Wrink’s reopening as the date approaches.

(Photo courtesy of The Road Wanderer.) 

The Sands Dorsey Drugstore building in the downtown area of the Route 66 town of Tucumcari, N.M., was destroyed by fire Friday.

The building was not on Route 66, but the nearly century-old building at Second and Main streets was a landmark.

The building was home to Gallery 111, owned by artists Doug and Sharon Quarles, who have painted several murals along Route 66 in town. Fortunately, the Quarleses saved the artwork from the flames.

According to the Quay County Sun in Tucumcari, the fire marshal is investigating. However, Mike Callens of Teepee Curios, who shot these photographs, said “the current owner of the building was putting on a new roof, and hot tar was involved. He had shut down for the day and a couple of hours later the fire started.”

The fire burned well into Saturday. The building is described as a total loss. Parts of nearby streets have been barricaded for fear that parts of the building could collapse.

(Photos by Mike Callens.)