What seemed like an urban legend has become reality: a brand new 1975 Chevrolet Vega has come to light after spending 50 years underground in Seward, Nebraska, USA.
It was buried by local merchant Harold Davisson in a 45-tonne concrete vault, along with thousands of everyday objects from the 1970s and even a Kawasaki motorbike.
His goal: to make a record-breaking time capsule. And he succeeded. On 4 July 2025, as planned, the capsule was opened, revealing not only a car, but a three-dimensional photograph of 1970s America, perfectly preserved and of incalculable historical value.
Davisson’s dream: a car for eternity
Harold Davisson did not want just any time capsule. In 1975, he invested in a unique underground structure, reinforced with concrete and crowned with a pyramid, which Guinness certified as the largest time capsule in the world. As reported by KLKN News, Davisson wanted the capsule to be opened exactly 50 years later, when most of those who helped seal it could be present to remember it.
But it wasn’t just the car inside. There were more than 5,000 objects: from personal letters, children’s drawings and cassette tapes with messages to the future, to very 1970s curiosities such as a “Pet Rock”, a Teflon frying pan and a 1975 Barbie doll… not to mention a motorbike.
But the real star was the car he bought for the occasion: a new Chevrolet Vega, the cheapest model he could find at local dealerships. The Vega was launched in 1970 with the mission of competing against Japanese and European compact cars, but it soon gained a bad reputation for reliability issues and design flaws. The press at the time even listed it as one of the worst cars ever made in the US, an ‘achievement’ it shared with the Ford Pinto.
