Zeke, the 1952 Pontiac

In 1952 the week after Joe Stevens was born, his grandfather and great uncle, Freeman Wilson, both ordered Pontiac Chieftain cars. Joe’s grandpa’s car was dark green while his great uncle’s was light green with a dark green roof. Wilson’s car would eventually be known as Zeke. 

Wilson was the only driver of the car until he passed in 1959; he only drove it to town. Then Joe’s great aunt Hilda Sanden owned it and only drove it to town to go to church and occasionally get groceries. Joe remembers getting to drive the car shortly after getting his driver’s license for one of those trips. 

When Hilda passed away in 1972, the car was put on an auction in Preston. Joe bid on the car unsuccessfully. Everett “Andy” Anderson won the car with a high bid of $290, purchasing it for his 17-year-old daughter Sandy. The 20-year-old Pontiac had only 29,000 actual miles on it when Andy brought it home to Houston.

Sandy was given strict orders not to drive the car out of town. The reason for this? Andy was a local banker and had no mechanical skills. He didn’t want to have to repair the car. Most of the time, Sandy and her friends were fine with the limitations. She’d pick up her friends and drive to the post office to see if they had any letters from boys and then head to school. 

Zeke got his name from Sandy. In the ‘70s, young men were naming their cars after girls. Sandy thought that turn about was fair; when the name Zeke popped into her head, she named the Pontiac Zeke.

Sandy drove Zeke to Rushford one day to meet up with a cute boy. On her way she got a flat tire. She went to a gas station and begged for help, assuring the owner she’d come back to pay for a replacement tire. 

When she got home she parked the car with the replaced tire facing the other side of the street. The following weekend she wheedled her parents to allow her to drive to Rushford to go “golfing.” Instead of golfing, she went to the gas station and paid her debt. This time when she got home, she told her parents she’d had a flat tire on the way on that trip and had to replace the tire. Sandy claimed her father never learned the real story. 

The last time Sandy took Zeke out of town without permission was when she got grounded for getting a D in school. Sandy was working at school; during parent/teacher conferences. When her mom found out about her D, she informed Sandy she was grounded. With that, Sandy left school and drove to Harmony to visit her old school and friends. Sandy ended up grounded from driving Zeke for a month after that.

During her senior year, Sandy and her friends drove Zeke to a wedding. Zeke had a thin, long battery that was not bolted down. If Zeke took a left turn too fast, the battery would fall over and detach, killing the engine. Sandy would then have to get out and replace the battery. Somehow the wedding lead car took a lot of left turns so Sandy needed to reposition that battery often on the celebratory drive around town!

When Sandy left home, her dad kept Zeke, driving him in local parades and entering him in car shows. The car still has its original paint job except for the driver’s door and original upholstery. Andy had a minor accident and wrinkled the door. The replacement door is still a slightly different color than the rest of the car. 

When Andy passed away, Sandy brought Zeke to her house. Her grandkids loved going for drives in the car and waving at people. When they first got into the car, they were amazed that their were no seatbelts. 

Over the 52 years her family owned the car they put 2,200 miles on it. In 2021, Sandy’s husband Arlan did some major work on Zeke, rebuilding the brake system and replacing the fuel lines and whitewall tires.

During that time, Arlan and Sandy found some original paperwork that identified the original owner. Sandy contacted a friend in Preston and learned that the owner was an uncle to a former classmate of Sandy, Paul Stevens. 

A couple years ago, Sandy ran into Paul’s brother, Joe Stevens, at a memorial service. Joe informed Sandy that he had actually bid against Sandy’s father in 1972 on the Pontiac. Joe gave his number to Sandy and asked for a call if she ever wanted to sell Zeke. 

When Sandy decided it was time to sell Zeke, she called Joe. In August 2025, Zeke went back to his original family. Before selling Zeke, Sandy stipulated that Joe continue to call the car Zeke. 

Letting go of Zeke was emotional for Sandy. “I honestly 100% loved that car,” she declared, “but it was the right thing to do and sell it back to the family.” 

Joe assured Sandy she could come visit Zeke anytime, but so far Sandy hasn’t visited him. “I’m not ready for it yet.” Sandy hopes to visit Zeke this summer.  

According to Joe, Zeke runs great. Joe drove the car home from Minnesota City after purchasing him with no problem, driving smoothly at  60 mph. Joe has put on almost 1,000 miles with Zeke. 

Zeke has hardly any rust on him. Joe shared that Zeke has a power glide transmission with “park” on the left side. Immediately to the right from “park” is “drive” with “reverse” located on the far right. The Chieftain with its automatic transmission and a flat-8 engine was considered an upgrade. The doors on the car were bigger than today’s doors. Drivers often would slide across the big bench front seat and exit the car through the passenger door to avoid opening the door into traffic. 

Zeke now lives just two houses down from Sandy’s childhood home in Harmony. Last fall Joe did trunk or treat in Harmony with Zeke. Sandy thought this was the perfect thing for Zeke to do! Hopefully, the well-loved car will be around for many more years to bring joy to auto lovers!