Statue of first all-British Stephens car proposed for Clevedon

A statue commemorating the first entirely British-designed and built motor car is to be installed later this year.

In 1898, engineer Richard Stephens built his prototype model A on a small assembly line in Clevedon.

Car enthusiast Mark Reber, organiser of the Clevedon Cars and Coffee event, came up with the idea for a statue of the first Stephens car which will be on display in the town.

“He was a pioneer in car manufacturing, his competitors at the time were building one-offs when he made a whole fleet,” he said.

Richard Stephens was born Cwmbran, Monmouthshire, in 1856. Through his work in America, he became acquainted with Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and Ransom Olds, founder of the Oldsmobile car company.

Inspired by their companies, he set up his own car manufacturer when he moved to Clevedon, near Bristol.

“The early models were quite advanced,” said engineering historian William Fairner, who has written about Stephens’ cars.

“They could hit speeds over over 40mph, and cruised quite steadily around 30mph. Stephens even invented his own suspension systems.

“His cars had two forward gears, which were belt driven, and one reverse gear: you had to get out and push,” he added.

In the early 1900s, Richard Stephens built the first motorised taxi for an operator in Bath, and a nine-seater bus, all adaptations of his first design.

Stephens also used his cars for day excursions from Clevedon for paying customers, a return journey to Cheddar costing £1.

Today, there are only two surviving cars from the twelve that were manufactured and the company folded in 1916 after competition from other companies.

Mr Reber described Mr Stephens as a local “renaissance man.”

“When I learned about the company and nobody at my car meet had heard about the company, I knew I had to do something,” he said.

“Nobody built cars as good as he did, and there should be a small museum to him in the town.

“It’s amazing he took five local Clevedonians and made cars with locally-sourced materials which are still around 127 years later.”

The statue will be installed later this year.