Stephens

GB, 1898 – 1900

R. Stephens, Clevedon, Somerset

Stephens was a cycle and general engineer who made a small number of Stephens cars, including two nine-seater buses which plied between Clevedon and Portishead in 1900. The 1898 prototype Stephens cars still exists; this Stephens car has an 8hp 2-cylinder horizontal engine built into the frame, and drive is taken by belts to a countershaft and thence by chains to the rear wheels. Front suspension is independent, and the Stephens car has wire wheels, although production Stephens cars had wooden wheels. About 12 Stephens cars were made altogether.

US, 1916 – 1924

(1) Moline Plow Co, Moline, Ill., 1916 – 1921

(2) Stephens Motor Car Co, Freeport, Ill., 1922 – 1924

The Stephens car was a highly regarded car that used a 3.7-litre sv Continental engine up to 1918, and thereafter a similar-sized ohv unit of the Stephens car company’s own manufacture. Nearly 25.000 Stephens cars were sold during the years of production and a variety of open and closed models Stephens cars constituted its catalogue. Until 1922, Stephens cars were prosaic in appearance, if good dependable cars. That year, the Stephens Salient Six Model 10 appeared as the 1923 line and the moderately-rounded radiator on the earlier Stephens cars was replaced by a high rounded type similar to that used by Kissel or ReVere. Among its more aesthetically appealing types, the new line Stephens cars featured a four-seater, close-coupled sports phaeton with cycle mudguards and side-mounted spare wheels. Wire wheels were used for this Stephens car model which was sold in French grey with apple-green wheels and trim.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; GNG, KM

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