A little more than an hour ago, the 1957 Plymouth Belvedere that had been in a buried for five decades in a time capsule in downtown Tulsa, Okla., was hoisted out of the ground and placed on a flatbed truck.

The car is now undergoing inspections by classic-car restorer Boyd Coddington. The protective wrapping will be taken off and Belvedere unveiled tonight in front of a sellout crowd of more than 7,000 at the Tulsa Convention Center. It will be televised live by KOTV of Tulsa and streamed live on the Internet at KOTV.com. Festivities begin at 6:30 CST.

It rained much of the morning, but it lessened to no more than occasional sprinkles by car-lift time.

I cannot even guess how many people were in downtown to view this spectacle. It was thousands, easily. People were lined up for blocks down Denver Avenue.

The Belvedere also will be on display this weekend during a car show in the Tulsa Convention Center throughout the weekend as part of the buried-car festivities downtown. So if you missed the unearthing and unveiling, you can still see it for free.

The next two photos aren’t as good, as they were shot from a distance, but show the crane moving the Belvedere onto the flatbed.

More about the formerly buried Belvedere will be coming once the dust settles later tonight.

UPDATE: KOTV.com already has some video clips posted. It’s been slow to load, though. The server is getting slammed by Internet traffic.

UPDATE2: The Tulsa World has an early story about the unearthing.

Albert Okura, owner of Route 66 icon Roy’s and the town of Amboy, Calif., has formed a partnership with the California Route 66 Preservation Foundation to help get the business up and running again, it was reported  Thursday.

The Victorville (Calif.) Daily Press published a story about the announcement today. But some information seemed to be absent, so I called Jim Conkle of the foundation to get more information.

Conkle told me that Okura, also owner of the Juan Pollo restaurant chain in the Los Angeles region, was having difficulty reopening Roy’s by himself. Conkle said the partnership allows Okura to take advantage of the foundation’s partners — the Bureau of Land Management and San Bernardino County — to streamline the reopening process.

Roy’s probably will have its gas station fully operational within a month, Conkle said. It’s been previously reported that Okura plans to reopen the complex’s motel and restaurant later, after the gas station has generated some revenue.

Conkle also told me that the foundation is negotiating with the BLM to acquire nearby Amboy School. The school would then be converted into a Route 66 interpretive center.