Stephens Six

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Stephens

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Six Series 60
Production period: 1916-1917
Class : Middle class
Body versions : Roadster
touring car
Engines: Otto engine :
3.7 liters
(42.5 kW)
Length:
Width:
Height:
Wheelbase : 2921 mm
Empty weight : 1315 kg
successor Salient Six

The Stephens Six Series 60 was a US mid-range passenger car offered only for the 1917 model year. The manufacturer was the specially set up Stephens Motor Branch of the farm equipment manufacturer Moline Plow Company in Moline ( Illinois ). The Stephens Six was designed as a quality automobile in its class, but was not publicly perceived as such because of its construction from purchased components.

The car was intended to compensate the Moline Plow Company for lost sales in its core business of manufacturing agricultural machinery. This did not succeed with the technically and visually inconspicuous Stephens Six , although the vehicle was a carefully designed, solidly built and in its class powerful vehicle at a competitive price. Not least because of this, the vehicle department had to struggle with profitability problems, even though a very small team was responsible for production preparation. It worked under the managing director Matthew A. Steele from the end of 1915, initially from Detroit , where two chassis were made by February 1916. The Stephens Six was produced right from the start in the specially acquired former premises of John W. Henney & Co. in Freeport ( Illinois ).

Assembled vehicle

The design of the Stephens Six was bought in, not developed in-house. It came from the pen of the respected engineer ET Birdsall , a founding member of the SAE ( Society of Automobile Engineers ) and responsible for a number of automobiles from various manufacturers.

Although many components were specially manufactured for Stephens and the body was unusually manufactured in-house, the public perceived the vehicle as an assembled vehicle , ie a car that was put together from purchased components. There were dozens of such brands; few have held their own in the market for a long time. In the public perception, they were mostly of inferior quality - often wrongly, as demonstrated by Argonne , Biddle , Cole , Daniels , Handley-Knight , Kenworthy , Revere or Roamer . The most expensive car made in the USA, the Brewster Knight , was also an assembled car .

The brand slogan was: "Best by Test" .

technology

engine

The water-cooled six - cylinder engine was purchased from Continental . It was a conventional, side-controlled in- line engine of the type 7-W with a triple-bearing crankshaft , such as that used by Abbott , Anderson , Columbia , Davis or Elcar .

The 7-W has 224.0 ci (3670 cm³) displacement with a 3¼ inch bore and 4½ inch stroke and makes 55 bhp (41 kW). The NACC rating based on the engine bore results in a value of 25.3 HP, which in Great Britain also corresponds to the applicable tax HP; This value says nothing about the actual engine performance. Cooling was typical of the time by thermosiphon , the mixture formation means Stromberg - downdraft carburetor .

The factory stated in an advertisement a maximum speed of 50 mph (about 80 km / h). This engine was used in the Six Series 60 built through July 1917 ; then Stephens switched to an overhead six - cylinder with identical dimensions and initially 57 bhp (43 kW) power.

Power transmission

The power is transmitted via a dry disc clutch to a conventional, unsynchronized three-speed gearbox with reverse gear and via a cardan shaft to the rear axle with a spiral-toothed differential . The reduction on the rear axle is 4.75: 1.

It was advertised that downshifts would only be necessary at speeds below 3 mph (about 5 km / h).

Chassis and suspension

The robust chassis is provided as a conventional pressed steel - lead frame constructed. It consists of two cranked longitudinal members, five cross members and one torsion tube each at the front and rear end. The front and rear rigid axles came from Timken and the steering from Gemmer . The rear axle was braked by drums . The Stephens Six received wooden spoke artillery wheels with 32 × 4 inch tires from Fisk Cord and a removable rim .

The wheelbase is only 115 inches (2921 mm), which turned out to be too short for a vehicle of this class.

Bodies

A special feature of Stephen is the body, which was created by hand in small series according to the principles of individual body construction. The structure is made of stored hardwood. It was planked with sheet steel. A five-seater Touring was initially available ; a three-seater roadster was pushed in.

Furnishing

The large standard equipment includes a room - central chassis lubrication , a Stewart Tacho to 75 mph (), electric horn, air intakes in front of the windshield, a transmission lock from being stolen, and even a Kellogg -Luftpumpe for the tire. Whether a Boyce - Motometer the basic equipment (as in later Stephens was one) or whether it was extra charge, is not known. The radiator grille was apparently available in a nickel-plated or painted version.

Model overview

Type construction time engine W × H
in./ mm
Cubic capacity c.i./cm³		 Power
bhp / kW 1 / min		 Wheelbase in / mm body List price
US $
000000000000062.000000000062 1916-1917 R6 sv
Continental 7W		 82.55 x 114.3 224.0 / 3670 55 / 41.0 @ 2400 115/2921 Roadster
3 pl.		 000000000001150.00000000001,150
000000000000064.000000000064 1916-1917 R6 sv
Continental 7W		 82.55 x 114.3 224.0 / 3670 55 / 41.0 @ 2400 115/2921 Touring
5 pl.		 000000000001150.00000000001,150

production

The most exact production figures can be found in the Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 . According to this source, a total of 1337 vehicles were built in the 1917 model year.

Remarks

  1. ↑ The notation Continental 7-W is used according to William Wagner: Continental !: Its Motors and its People , Aero Publishers (1982), ISBN 0-81684506-9 . Alternatively, the spelling Continental 7W is also common.
  2. ↑ Predecessor formula for SAE-PS . NACC ( National Automobile Chamber of Commerce ) was an association of the automobile industry founded in 1913 and the successor to the ALAM ( Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers ), which introduced the first standards in US automobile manufacture in 1903. The method was also used by the RAC in Great Britain .
  3. ↑ To make work easier after a flat tire, only the removable wheel rim and tires were replaced, the hub and wooden spokes remained on the vehicle. Such wheels were common in the 1910s and 1920s.

literature

Web links

Commons : Stephens  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Willys Overland Knight Registry: Stephens History
  2. ↑ Kimes / Clark, Standard Catalog (1996), pp. 62–63 (Argonne)
  3. ↑ Kimes / Clark, Standard Catalog (1996), pp. 125–126 (Biddle)
  4. ↑ Kimes / Clark, Standard Catalog (1996), pp. 350–354 (Cole)
  5. ↑ Kimes / Clark, Standard Catalog (1996), p. 413 (Daniels)
  6. ↑ Kimes / Clark, Standard Catalog (1996), p. 674 (Handley-Knight)
  7. ^ Kimes / Clark, Standard Catalog (1996), p. 803 (Kenworthy)
  8. ↑ Kimes / Clark, Standard Catalog (1996), pp. 1286–1287 (Revere)
  9. ^ A b c Motor Age, February 8, 1917: Stephens Six advertisement
  10. ↑ a b c d e f carfolio.com: Specifications Stephens Model 60 (1917)
  11. ↑ a b c Wagner: Continental !: Its Motors and its People , p. 19
  12. ↑ a b classiccardatabase.com: Standard Specifications 1918 Davis HI & K Series
  13. ↑ NACC: Handbook of Automobiles 1915-1916 (Reprint 1970), p. 212
  14. ↑ carfolio.com: Specifications Stephens Salient Six Model 75 (1918)
  15. ↑ earlyamericanautomobiles.com: Pictures Stephens Six (1917) and Salient Six (1920)
  16. ↑ a b Kimes / Clark, Standard Catalog (1996), pp. 1395-1396 (Stephens)
  17. ↑ Burness: American Car Spotter's Guide, 1920-39 (1975), p. 257