This 4th of July will mark 50 years since July 4, 1975. For many of you, that’s a rough reminder that five decades have passed since Bob Wills died, John Denver was a country boy and Glen Campbell was a rhinestone cowboy. For the residents of Seward, Nebraska, however, it’s an even bigger deal because it’s finally time to open what the Guinness World Records considers the world’s biggest time capsule. Sadly, they were unable to preserve George and Tammy’s marriage, but KLKN reports the time capsule does contain the best car from 1975 — a Chevrolet Vega.
Back in 1975, Seward residents reportedly sealed about 5,000 items inside the time capsule, including a Kawasaki motorcycle, but the real star of the show was the brand-new, zero-mile Chevy Vega. After sitting for half a century, you have to assume the Vega needs some work, but Seward has big plans for the car. Instead of cracking the time capsule open on July 4th, the city has been working to get the contents ready for a big celebration and will reportedly have the car ready to drive in its 4th of July parade.
As you can see in the video below, though, the Vega actually looks like it was preserved better than you might have expected from a car old enough to have its own Apple TV subscription. Then again, you never know what age-related nightmares lurk under the hood. Sadly, it doesn’t appear to be a Cosworth model, so there’s no racing-derived aluminum engine hiding under there, either, but hey, it’s still cool to see.
50 years is plenty
Back in the ’70s, local businessman Harold Davisson came up with the idea for the time capsule, and he reportedly wanted it opened after only 50 years, so most of the young people who were around when they sealed it would still be alive when they opened it up. “Many people know about the time capsule,” Clark Kolterman, chairman of Seward’s Fourth of July celebration committee, told KLKN. “They’ve heard about it for the last 50 years, and Harold, in his wisdom wanted it to be open so that people there could remember it.”
There are also plenty of other items in the time capsule, in addition to the Chevrolet and the Kawasaki, including some very 1970s items, such as one of the pet rocks that were commonly kept before society discovered animals made better pets and a Teflon skillet that showcases one of the earliest uses of forever chemicals in the home kitchen. The time capsule contains several everyday items, too.
“Barbie that came out that year,” Kolterman told KLKN. “Lot of things are in the time capsule, along with letters and memorabilia. A sack of corn is in there, a whole lot of things that people put in to see what it would be like in 50 years.”
