I just got back to the hotel but no pics as I don't have a cable with me. The car seems to be fairly OK what comes to the exterior sheetmetal but as you have seen the interior is pretty much toast as is probably the undercarriage. The inside of the trunklid was toast. The other leafspring is supposed to have rusted so bad that it broke in the moving process. I could not get close to the car as you'd need a media pass for that. Too bad that I didn't apply for one as it seems that they've passed those out like candy. Tomorrow the car should be on display at the convention center after a basic cleanup. Maybe we'll have a better look then.
As great as it was to see the car I'd have to say that the whole convention center and the event was very badly run. No matter what you were asking everybody seemed to give a different answer. All soda machines were empty early on. There was one food kiosk for thousands of people??? The car show area was so poorly lit that it was very difficult to get any decent shots. Very soon after the formal event the staff started to clear out the arena. Would it be too much to ask after traveling half the world to have some decent pics of the car?? The annoying and ever so negative BC and at least 10 (!) cops ON THE STAGE were blocking the view most of the time. Not to mention the TV boom that blocked the view for half of the spectators when official part was going on. Very strange. And and and...
Another strange thing was that as soon as the car was out of the vault and most of the spectators gone the preparations for filling the vault were in full swing. Since this area was off limits to most people during the unearthing it would have been nice to take a few pics later on. Well, after following the car to the convention center a few blocks away I got back to the vault. There were a dozen (!) cops keeping an eye on it?? When I asked if I could go and take a picture of it they said "No, it is too dangerous with all the construction going on". What the heck, the only thing that was going on was the lifting structure being secured on a semi 30 yards away??? Of course, being from the Nordic countries I have a hard time seeing such a huge police presence at an event like this but this was plain silly. I just wish that the Tulsa officials would have given these things a bit more thought. On a more positive side a nice gentleman from The Plymouth Owners Club (?) gave me a piece of the vault off a larger chunk he had gotten earlier, mud and all
I guess there will be a chance to take a better look of the car tomorrow at the show. It looks like it will be standing slightly raised though so probably no view of the interior and engine compartment. We'll see...
