On April 4th, 1976 the Foglemans of Liberty, NC were shot to death. Do court records make good documentation of a car’s mileage? Anyone who buys old cars has pondered whether the car’s docs definitively prove mileage. You find a 40 year old car with 47k on the odometer and mostly good records except for that seven year period with none. Did that owner put on 100k in seven years? Could be.
This 1973 Pontiac Grand Prix, originally owned by Joel Dean Stephens also of Liberty, NC, has receipts for service and inspections through 33,521 miles. Nothing newer than 1978. The car was purchased new in Asheboro, North Carolina. The service and inspection records were all from Liberty, NC about 20 minutes away. There’s a 1978 inspection sticker in the windshield. NC used windshield stickers until 2008. 30 years without an inspection? Still not indisputable proof of the car’s mileage.
I paid cash for it in 2015 from a guy named Jerry in Liberty, NC and it now resides in Raleigh. Jerry’s a body man for NC DOT. On weekdays he fixes cop cars and dump trucks. On his own time he works on his own projects. His man cave holds an immaculately restored split window Corvette. He’s never even started it up. He let me sit in it. He also restores Stutz Blackhawks, Elvis got the first one off the production line. I always thought they were fiberglass but they’re steel-bodied. Jerry showed me how he carefully heated and cooled and shrank and hammered a warped roof on a fire-damaged Stutz. He refused to use filler. Didn’t need it. I really admire a guy who can finish these huge projects and pay attention to every last detail.
On April 4th 1976 Carlene King heard the gunshots and recognized the defendant, knew him by name, lurking in the dark outside the crime scene. Short, fat, and balding is hard to miss by the streetlights of a small town where everyone knows everyone. But Carlene didn’t come forward immediately, she feared for her family who still lived in Liberty. Joel Dean’s fingerprint was on one of the victim’s driver’s license. He told the cops someone put it on there using a “fingerprint glove”. On November 10th, 1976 Joel Dean Stephens confessed to NC SBI agents in Raleigh yet he wasn’t arrested until August 16,1978.
Carlene finally came forward in 1978, after Joel Dean won an award from the Jaycees and had his picture in the paper. She felt it wasn’t right for the defendant to win an award in light of what he’d done. JD got word of the new witness and skipped town. He wasn’t picked up until August 16 by the police in Myrtle Beach, SC where he’d been holed up in various motels since June. There’s a receipt in the center console for the Atlantic Queen Motel, Myrtle Beach, SC, dated June 29th.
So court records make the case this is a 33k car, right? Nope. In that 1976 interview, SBI agents in Raleigh told JD and his lawyer they were going to ask him questions to calibrate their lie detector. JD’s attorney was required to leave the room during the calibration. JD confessed to the crime during his interview. The cops never told JD they’d finished the calibration and begun the interrogation. His lawyer hadn’t yet returned. His conviction was thrown out in 1980 by the Supreme Court of North Carolina. JD walked free after a few years in prison. Dark lurking isn’t illegal, nor is it illegal that JD’s fingerprint was on that particular victim’s driver’s license.
JD’s grandparents bought him the new, loaded Pontiac for his sweet 16. They’d been very generous to him over the years. They lived in an average house on an average street in Liberty, NC, a few doors down from Jerry. (Jerry moved there from New York more than a decade after the crime.) The grandparents weren’t rich, outwardly at least. JD’s grandma passed away and his grandfather remarried. New grandma was not inclined to be so generous with JD. They presumably had their own retirement to manage. So on April 4, 1976 JD murdered them, DeLacy and Ethel Fogleman. Maybe new grandma saw in JD what his family did not; that he was a turd.
It takes money to get a case to the state supreme court. I assume JD’s mother’s inheritance paid his legal fees. Maybe he couldn’t drive the car when he got out of prison due of a sense of guilt? Maybe he wasn’t smart enough to replace a dead battery; fingerprint glove, really?
JD died in 2001 at the age of 45. Obituary says he worked at McDonalds. If you have no other redeeming qualities the best you can say about someone is that they worked at McDonald’s, no offense to the many great people who work at McDonald’s. His mother died in 2005. Jerry tried to buy the car for a few years and eventually the estate sold it to him.
The donor car for every new Blackhawk was Pontiac’s Grand Prix starting with the 1973 model. Compare the dashboards and you’ll see the roots of the same car. Jerry bought the barn find GP thinking he’d part it out but it was too nice. He scraped off the piles of bird poop and gave it a shot of paint, by which I mean he removed all the trim, pulled the motor and detailed it and the engine compartment, cleaned and painted the underside, rubbed out the body, and snuffed out any squeaks and rattles.
The documentation supports 33k but does it prove so beyond a reasonable doubt? Ultimately, the jury has to decide, preferably in person, preferably experienced with that brand and era. I’ve owned a number of cars from the 60’s through the early 80’s and I have no doubt this car had 33k, now has 35k. The condition of the interior for me is the biggest giveaway. GM interiors barely held up to 100k. This car is tight, the interior, the ride, it gets a lot of thumbs up.
What say you, members of the jury, 33 or 133?
Wow, amazing provenance. I’m not queasy about this sort of thing but I do have a limit for fetishising around a previous infamous owner. In this case you’ve found a car that has an unfortunate history, but it reads that you bought it only for its immaculate condition. As to mileage, pics of its as-found condition might help. Interesting read.
These were the rusted out cars we bought in high school for $800. I’ve always thought of them as the last cars GM made where style and ride were the only considerations. Like the Tri-fives and then the muscle cars before them the personal luxury coupes and F bodies of the 70s are becoming somewhat valuable despite their performance deficiencies. Once you get a little older and have earned a little money you have the means to relive a bit of your youth.
Quite an intriguing story. With the car staying the same family, and your describing it as a barn find, I’m inclined to think 33,000.
Even if it is 133k, the GP is in great shape. Enjoy it!
For a 33K car, the first thing I do is check the tires. It should either have the OE tires with not much tread left, or a replacement set with very low mileage. If you see a replacement set that’s mostly worn, I’d be suspicious. I don’t know if they had date codes on the tires prior to 1978, but if so that could be another clue, giving you a clue as to when the current tires were fitted. You can also research when the particular type of tire was made. Most 1970s tires that fit Detroiters were 78 or 70 series with letter codes like GR 78 14, the G denoting width. Around 1980 the sizes changed to the current metric width measurements.
Other frequently replaced parts may offer a clue as well.
The brake system is another place to look. 33k was probably not enough miles for new brake pads. Crack the bleeder valve at each wheel and check the brake fluid. In my experience a car that old on original brakes will have fluid at the wheels that looks horribly rust colored. Brake fluid soaks up moisture and 40+years in your humid climate would have given it all kinds of opportunity.
While I can sort of sympathize with Ms. King, I find it to be somewhat typical of many southerners to give a person a “pass” on a serious offense but at some point decide: enough is enough.
Pontiacs in the mid 70s managed to integrate the new 5 and 2+1/2 mph bumpers way better than any other car manufacturer. Add to that those near classic interiors and you have to wonder how they were passed in sales by Buick and Oldsmobile….at least in the intermediate sized cars.
GP did well, but the LeMans series just didn’t sell as good as Century and Cutlass S/base. Buick and Olds had those to go along with the Regal and Supreme.
Although I had (and still have) “issues” with this car’s styling cues, once inside all reservations are forgotten.
Properly optioned, this was one of the best all around “Driver’s Car” of the 1970’s. The 455 4-BBL Poncho V8 engine, 3 speed turbohydramatic transmission, accurate variable ratio power steering, balanced disc/drum brakes, excellent HVAC, that gorgeous and informative dashboard, comfortable bucket seats, Pontiac’s uniquely tuned suspension specs all worked together to give a darn fine and competent car.
If only it had the more restrained styling of the same year Buick Regal.
For 73 and maybe 74 the Grand Prix had real wood trim around the dashboard, on the center console door and on the door panels. Later years used fake wood. I don’t think even Cadillac had much if any wood trim in those years. By around 76-77 I’ve heard Pontiac made about $1500 profit per Grand Prix, which for that era was pretty darned good.
Really nice car i prefer the Monte Carlos of the same era,but the Grand Prix stood apart really classy looks and great interior. Great car, great article!!
To me, the 1978 inspection sticker is noteworthy, particularly when pieced together with all of the other evidence.
It’s doubtful that the car was registered and driven in NC any significant amount without an updated inspection sticker — particularly if you’re looking at a decades-long time span. There’s always the possibility that the car was registered for a few years in another state that didn’t require inspection stickers (Florida, for instance) and that no one bothered taking the ’78 NC sticker off. But that’s rather unlikely, particularly when considered with all of the other evidence.
Sure seems to me that the car took a hiatus from the roads after 1978.
I did not pay enough attention to these when they were fresh. These were really nicely done cars. Pontiac’s use of that dramatic dip in the beltline really transformed these.
I will echo Mark Reimer about how nicely these drove. My mother’s 74 Luxury LeMans was the best driving car of its size I experienced in the 70s with front and rear sway bars and that excellent variable ratio power steering. A 455 would have solved almost every problem our car had.
As for miles, you say the records were all from a dealer so I would look underhood for non-GM parts on things like plug wires belts and hoses. My 66 Fury III had 20 k when I bought in in 1987 and every hose and belt had the old PDDC logo on it, a logo from the 30s (when DeSoto was still a thing) that went extinct not long after the car was built. I am not familiar enough with GM parts markings to know if they changed logos but if they did the engine bay should have all old ones.
From what I see in the photos the interior alone, make the 33,000 believable . Judging by the story “Jerry” sounds like up stand guy, and a car enthusiast ? Jerrys original plan was to part it out. I’m guessing that when Jerry took a good look at his find, he made the call to semi restore. I think Jerry believed the mileage .
I do.
A fascinating read on my morning commute – you know how to tell a story. I have no guesses as to this car’s actual miles, but I will say this ’73 GP checks many, many boxes for me. You should be proud!
Nice car. My first car was a ’77 Grand Prix that I still have so I appreciate the Collannade GPs.
The 33K appears legit. As mentioned, GM interiors of the ’70s (and today too) are good for about 80-90K and the seats look great. The first thing I look at on any car to determine mileage is the brake pedal and at 100K, there would be plenty of wear on the pad. And if it looked brand new, its obvious it would have been replaced.
I think I would have a hard time driving a convicted killer’s car though
Same here. It ‘s a great-looking vehicle, and none of what the criminal did was the car’s fault, of course. But still, I’m superstitious enough that this would put a chill down my spine. Silly, perhaps, but it’s just my personal feeling.
If the radio starts playing disco and bad love songs from 1976 without you turning it on, crush it!
If the radio pops on and starts playing AFTERNOON DELIGHT by the Starland Vocal Band then you ♦know♦ the car is haunted! 😀
As long as the grandparents weren’t murdered in the car with blood and innards everywhere I reckon I’d be ok with owning it. It’s a nice car and I’ll go with the 35,000 miles on it instead of the 133,000 figure.
Rather unusual description of the suspect given his age; if Joel Stephens died in 2001 at age 45 then he’s have been born in 1955 or ’56 so he’d have been 19 or 20 on April 4, 1976 and you don’t hear the terms “short, fat and balding” used to describe someone that young very often. In point of fact, I’ve never heard a description like that for a 19- or 20-year old boy. Can’t be too many short, fat and balding teenagers around . . .
the seats look like they have the reversible cushions, a really cool option in the 70’s GM intermediates. like the swivel seats.
I’m willing to bet it’s 33K.
I looked into Joel Dean Stephens. Turns out they told his attorney that he couldn’t be there for the test, then after they concluded the test, moved into the interrogation without informing Joel Dean that the test was over and that he was then entitled to his attorney.
And I am willing to bet you are correct in your assessment of his intelligence. He doesn’t strike me as “Phi Beta Kappa” material, if you catch my drift. If somebody tells you “You do not have to take this test, and if you do, you can’t have an attorney present,” you do not take that test.
The condition of that interior speaks volumes. My money goes on 33,000.
My Dad had a ’74 GP.. a fuel mileage “downsize” from the big Pontiacs he’d been getting every two years. Quick car for the day, the 4v 400 was pretty strong. As mentioned above, the interior was a standout for the era. The “Radial Tuned Suspension” gave it decent handling for its size, and for two people it was an excellent highway car.
What a gorgeous restoration. I’m guessing that after many years of sitting, it was in very rough shape, mileage or no. I love the colour choices and clearly, more was spent restoring this car than what it is likely to bring. A labour of love rather than an investment.
I was born in 1976, so these things were everywhere when I was a kid. For whatever reason, the Pontiacs sold the worst of the lot. I think the Cutlass was first, then the Century/Regal, the Monte Carlo, and then the Grand Prix.
I really have some mixed feelings about these cars. They were overstyled, wheezing barges with no fuel economy and enormous hoods and overhangs with tiny interior cabins and the rear windows didn’t roll down. There’s no reason for an 18-19 foot car to have a tiny back seat. I don’t know what the 455 made but I’ll wager it didn’t break the 200 hp mark and got some single digit mileage. They weren’t by today’s, or any other standards, well made either.
But nearly everything else out there was even worse. If the GM cars were wheezy, flimsy, overstyled, wallowing barges, they were the best of a bad lot compared with the Ford Thunderbird/Elite/Torino and Chrysler Cordoba which were slower and worse. The GM products did have the best style and drove better than the competition and were quiet and had a luxurious feel to them. There may not have been horsepower, but there was torque. They could be optioned from v6 powered Hertz and Avis vinyl bench seated econo specials all the way up to Velour bucket seated, power windows locks air fancy stereo vinyl roof opera lamped Junior Cadillacs. Despite the smallish cabin, they were still comfortable and well suited for sitting in traffic, or devouring highway miles, or shutting out the nastiness of an unpleasant world in your own luxurious cocoon while undertaking the daily grind.
I’m happy to see that alongside ubiquitous Corvettes and Mustangs and Trans Ams, this confusing piece of history can be preserved so that future generations can marvel at this 4500 lb vehicle that seats 5-6 comfortably from their 4500 lb SUV which seats 5-6 comfortably.
Actually for 1973-74 the 455 made 250bhp which was very good for a smog era car, sadly by 1975-76 the 455 only made 200bhp.
Cars back then rarely hit 100k miles, and it that, were well worn and showed it. Also, kind of hard to have a car with no registration get driven for 100K miles and not get cited.
Of the 1973 GM personal luxury cars I liked the Pontiac Grand Prix the best, despite it being a smog era car I’ve thought these cars had much better powertrain’s than many vehicles built of the same period, this was also the only GM personal luxury car I liked better with the rounded headlights over the squared headlights as well, overall one of my favorite vehicles built in the 1973-74 era.
Spooky story, cool car! I’d vote 33k. No way 133 with an interior that nice unless it was really pampered.
I love those big bucket seats in ’73 Grand Ams and Grand Prix’s. They were very comfortable and also available in velour…actually, they’re pretty close to the Trans Am/Firebird seats as well! Yes, I can believe 33k.
Also is it just me or do the bullet style side mirrors give the car a sportier look, I always thought the bullet style mirrors looked much sportier and classier than the basic mirrors on the Colonnade personal luxury cars.
That red looks too light to be the closest color offered on this model (Florentine Red). although it could possibly be ordered with “Special Paint” (rare). Few cars are more beautiful to me than the ’73 Grand Prix.
Until 2008 when North Carolina went away from window stickers. Your registration and inspection date could be months apart. You drive for years without an inspection sticker. Unless you got pulled over, the police for most put didn’t bother you, unless they are bored. Now, you have to get your car inspected before you can redo your registration.
Before registration and inspections were synced you could get away with a year without an inspection but you would not get a new registration sticker if you went two years without an inspection.
I have found memories of the 1973 Grand Prix, Model J with the 400 cubic inch, 4 barrel V-8 .engine, because my Mother had the same exact 1973 Grand Prix in Florentine Red with the full White Vinyl Top and the Maroon interior. She gave me the Grand Prix in 1976 and it was my first car, and it truly was a great vehicle to drive.
I remember seeing this extremely nice example listed for sale in North Carolina on E Bay a few years ago for around $ 12,500.00. The seller clearly listed it as a repaint and it looked like a very low mileage car. But, I didn’t buy it because the console denoted it was an SJ Model, which it obviously wasn’t because the SJ Model came with the 455 cubic inch, 4 barrel V-8 engine with SJ Badges on the front fender’s. I also recall the Maroon interior came equipped with a Maroon Steering Column and Maroon Steering Wheel. Nonetheless, this low mileage 1973 Grand Prix was still a beautiful car.