A LeMans-Spec Lotus, Century-Old Stephens, Life-Changing Miata And More: Members’ Rides

To the best of my knowledge, there has never been an auto manufacturer bearing my last  name (Forbes). But you better believe that if there was one, I would do everything in my power to have and cherish one! Who wouldn’t want to have a car they could claim was named after them? Featured Autopian Member Glenn Stephens found he shared a name with a little known, now-defunct auto manufacturer and set out to learn all he could. Today it is my privilege to introduce all of Autopia to Glenn, and the Stephens Motor Company.

Welcome to Member Rides, where we share the cars and stories of Autopian Members. The potential to be featured here is a perk for Autopian Members of every level, from the ultra-affordable “Cloth” tier all the way up to “Rich Corinthian Leather.” Click that link and join today!

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Meet Glenn

Glenn is an entrepreneur and racer with an incredible collection spanning nearly a century, he once even took his 1917 Stephens up Lookout Mountain in Tennessee which was quite the adventure. Writing this one up was incredibly exciting, but also intimidating. This is the largest garage I have ever featured, and even more than that, there is so little info out there about the Stephens motor car! Add in the fact that Glenn’s dad literally wrote a book on the subject, all that equals me being a bit nervous on this one. Hopefully I get it right. There’s a lot to explore here so let’s get into it!

Welcome to Member Rides, where we share the cars and stories of Autopian Members. The potential to be featured here is a perk for Autopian Members of every level, from the ultra-affordable “Cloth” tier all the way up to “Rich Corinthian Leather.” Click that link and join today!

What’s currently in your garage?

• 1976 BMW 2002
• 1964 Chevrolet Corvair Monza Coupe
• 1990 Mazda Miata
• 1992 Mazda Miata
• 1971 Fiat 500
• 1956 Lotus Eleven
• 1917 Stephens

How did you get into cars?

I got it genetically. I grew up with antique cars (1919 Chevrolet, 1932 Chrysler, 20s Packards, 50s Packards, and the Stephens). When I was a kid, my parents would do car shows and tours all over Michigan (and then Florida). My sister and I used to ride in the rumble seat of a 1925 Packard. Sometimes it was so cold we would duck down under a quilt and breathe exhaust fumes. Other times we got soaked in the rain.

My Dad once took us around Daytona Speedway in a 1924 Packard sedan. He insisted on driving to the top of the banking but we weren’t going fast enough so we would drive up and get weightless as he turned and drove back down. I used to ride to car shows in the rumble seat of a ’25 Packard Roadster as a child. My first car was a Corvair and I once owned a Renault 12.

All my older cars have been extensively restored/reconditioned by me. I drove the 1917 Stephens to the top of Lookout Mountain and babied the terrible brakes all the way down. I have raced all over the US and in Canada. The highpoint was competing in the Monterey Historics/Reunion in my Lotus.

I understand you daily a 1976 BMW 2002, tell me about that

The 2002 was the first car I restored all by myself. I have owned it since 1999 and have touched every nut and bolt. My brother found it down in Florida. He worked with the third owner and remembered that I said I liked 2002s. When the guy wanted to sell, I got a call and bought it sight unseen on my brother’s assessment. The first words my wife said, “You said a LITTLE surface rust!”

If I could only keep one old car (the Miata is not old!!), this would be it because it does everything well. It is comfortable,  practical, looks good (after a bumper-ectomy), and most importantly, it drives fantastic with super-sharp steering, snickety shifter, and good brakes. It will easily exceed 100mph, and the trailing-arm rear suspension will step out gently, take a set, and drift around a turn. I drive it like most people would a modern car. It is my default daily driver, especially on 90 degree days.

Have you changed anything on it?

I have improved many things on the Bimmer but it still looks stock to most eyes. 5-speed, R134 A/C, Recaro seats, springs, shocks, sway bars, higher compression and mild cam, larger carburetor, larger wheels and tires. Like most old cars, they can be reliable but it is painful work to get them there. First, replace every wear item on the car (brakes, fluids, all the rubber, suspension and steering). Then find out the weak links on this particular car model and preemptively replace those too. Then start driving it but be prepared to come home on a flatbed. After you find and replace all the vulnerable parts, it will be as dependable as it was when it was made. People traveled all over the world in 1976 so I can too.

How’s the Corvair?

Coming from a car-guy family, when I was in high school my Dad was in search of a cheap, safe, and reliable vehicle for his teenage daughter and son. Naturally, he selected a used 1967 Corvair! It was unusual to see a Corvair, even in the late 70s so I became Corvair Guy. I liked the car but drove it like a maniac. I took it off to college and eventually I wrecked it. It was a really nice low-mileage car and I felt guilty that I had destroyed it.

Years later this one popped up on Facebook Marketplace 8 miles from my home. Here was an opportunity to restore my automotive karma. It was rust-free and the paint was ok. The engine barely ran but I thought it sounded smooth-ish so I dragged it home. I was unemployed at the time so I spent 3 full-time months restoring it. Then my Corvair sister and I drove it from Atlanta to Michigan and back. We even got a picture in front of the GM plant in Ypsilanti where it was made.

I love this car. The 4 speed manual is perfect for the 110hp engine. I installed a high-flow head and real wheels and it goes, stops, and handles way better than Ralph Nader would believe. It is my one of my primary daily drivers except in the heat of summer and I have logged 23,000 miles on it in 4 years (including Covid).

How did you end up with a Fiat 500?

The Fiat actually belongs to my sister but I have possessed it longer than she has. She bought it off eBay from Italy and it showed up broken. She couldn’t find a mechanic to fix it so I would get it running every year as a “Christmas miracle”. One day during a test run it went bang and stopped running so I took it home with me.

As soon as I fixed one thing, I would find the next problem. Time passed and it got ignored. Last year I got some gumption back and replaced the cylinder head and fuel system. I rewired all the lighting, refurbished the interior, and replaced much of the exterior trim. I took my sister for a maiden drive last Fall and it is surprisingly good. It will keep up with traffic with no problem and will go 200 miles on its 5 gallon tank. Top speed is about 45-50 which is fine for backroads but not for the highway. I am used to driving small cars amongst the behemoths but it does feel really vulnerable. Luckily it is safety yellow! (actually Giallo Portofino)

So now, my sister wants me to sell it for her but I keep finding more things to fix before I list it. Maybe I just like taking it to the grocery store and car shows! This car gets more attention than anything but the Stephens.

Tell me about the Miatas

I love sports cars. When the Miata debuted I had to have one so I put in an order for the first one I could get with A-package (aluminum wheels, radio, and wind-up windows), limited slip diff, and hardtop. In red, of course. The car was manufactured in Hiroshima in March 1990 and I took it home in April. I joined the Miata club and did autocross and track days. I did car club tours, rallies, road trips, work commutes, and Home Depot runs, usually with the top down. It is absolutely the best car I have ever owned. It is approaching 200,000 miles and I will never sell it.

This car changed my life, literally. Because of this Miata, I discovered that I really like driving on track. I started racing Spec Miata. To improve my skills, I invented the first GPS-based racing data system and started selling it. Eventually I quit my job and became an entrepreneur, traveling and racing all over the world, all as a legitimate business expense!

I grew up with this car and driving it hard through the mountains still makes me smile.

What led to the dedicated track Miata?

When I decided to go racing, I started to convert my street Miata. As I pulled out the interior I stopped. I couldn’t do it, I just love driving that car too much.

My Miata club friend was selling his ’92 with 275,000 miles and original everything. I bought it, stripped it, had a cage installed, and built it up to the SCCA rule book. I started racing in 2004 with that original engine and transmission. After a few years, I improved the car and became good enough to win a few races and qualify for the SCCA Runoffs at Road America which was my goal. The 1.6-liter cars are no longer competitive in SCCA so I run it in local club races and it even qualifies for historic racing!

I have sampled some other cars in endurance racing such as a Porsche 944 Turbo and a Mustang but it all comes back to the Miata. It will go 132mph in a 7 car draft at Daytona, take the kink at Road America flat, and hydroplane at 90mph at Mid Ohio which is plenty of thrill for me.

How does the Lotus fit in?

Growing up in central Florida, I would see the race cars going to and from Sebring and I knew I wanted to do that. A friend found the Lotus in a warehouse and showed me a picture.

I was smitten. I tracked down the owner and made an offer but he wouldn’t sell. Eventually, I worked many weekends with a race mechanic to get the car running so we could agree on the condition and prove myself worthy. I upped my offer and was refused again. Several months later the owner called me and agreed to take the deal. I was annoyed, but I figured it was meant to be.

Where do you run it?

I had been campaigning Spec Miatas in SCCA so I understood racing but the Lotus was a whole different ballgame. I found a great mechanic in Asheville, NC and he and I worked to get the car ready.

The car’s first event since the 1980s was Sebring in 2006 where we celebrated the 50 year anniversary of the first Lotus Eleven racing there. It had lots of problems (as race cars do) but we sorted it out over the next few years. I have raced the Lotus all over the US and even at Mosport in Canada. It is a finicky thoroughbred but when you give it the whip it will outrun just about any other 50s car under 2 liters.

Let’s talk about the Lotus’ bias-ply tires

The Lotus has 4.5″ bias-ply Dunlops on the front and 5″ in the rear. These are the exact tires they won with at Le Mans and other races in England, Europe, and the US.

I use them for 2 reasons: they are required for the best historic races; and the car works well on them. If I installed grippier tires, the 1000lb Lotus would probably fold up like aluminum foil. They are surprisingly good tires but they need to be warm. And the bias-ply tires will give you a very high slip angle before letting go, compared to a modern radial. In cars of this era, you carve the racetrack like a downhill skier, drifting from apex to apex. When you get it right, it’s magic.

The Stephens

In the early 1900s, approximately 2000 companies  were producing automobiles. Most did not make it through the 1920s. Stephens was one such automaker. They are so little known these days that Wikipedia doesn’t even have an entry on them! George Stephens founded the Moline Plow Company in 1866. In the early days, Moline Plow produced farm machinery and buggies. When the car burst onto the scene in the early 1900s, Moline knew it needed to shift gears and wanted to break into car manufacturing. The Stephens Motor Branch of Moline Plow was established in 1916, with the first cars rolling out of the factory that same year.

In 1918, John Willys, of Willys-Overland took a controlling interest in the company, and as more and more automakers coalesced into the big three throughout the 20s, Stephens shut its doors in 1924. The official statistics claim Stephens manufactured 26,179 cars from 1916-1924. Only 25 are known to exist today. Today’s example is the oldest known Stephens still in existence, and the 739th ever built.

How did you come by your Stephens?

My last name is Stephens,  and my father is the world’s foremost authority on the Stephens Motor Car Company of Freeport Illinois.

We tried hard to find a family connection but alas, no relation. Interestingly, a friend, Michael Stephens in California, is descended from George Stephens, who started the company.

My father restored this car and several others and I helped where I could. He had three Stephens, of which this was my favorite so I bought it from him and worked hard to make it reliable. Then my wife and my sister joined up with our parents on the Glidden Tour (a bi-annual week-long antique car tour). My parents drove their 1932 Packard. The tour was in Chattanooga, TN.

Are the controls the same as a modern car?

Most cars had coalesced into a standard layout by this time (left-hand drive, with the brake, clutch, and shifter where you would expect). This is the oldest surviving Stephens and one of the first mid-range cars (think Buick) to have an electric starter. Of course, it also has a crank. I think most savvy drivers could figure it out if they could get it started.

The starter button is on the floor under your seat. You turn on the ignition (no key!) and adjust the throttle and retard the spark a bit with the controls on the big wooden steering wheel. Then you press down the choke lever on the left side of the dash and crank.

Sometimes it starts right up. Other times you need to prime the cylinders by filling thimble-sized cups on top of the cylinder head and then allowing the gasoline to drip into the engine.

Do you drive it often?

I take it out for drives around the neighborhood and I have driven it on a few 100+ mile tours. That is a real ordeal and will make you appreciate what it was like to drive these cars over rutty roads back in period. Now it is mostly car shows, going out to dinner, or drives around my general area. Top speed is about 25 so you can’t go too far or drive on fast roads.

In 2017 we threw a 100th birthday party for the car. We issued an open invitation to all car enthusiasts in Atlanta and hosted over 100 people. Cool vintage cars were parked all down the street and on my back lawn. My wife and I dressed in period costumes and I gave rides in the Stephens to everyone, along with BBQ, draft beer, and of course, birthday cake. People are still talking about that garage party.

How was it taking up Lookout Mountain?

Well, the car has lost a few of its 40 ponies over the last 100 years. It started off well but then was laboring after about halfway up. Soon we were crawling at about 5mph in first gear. I swear you could feel each stroke of the big cylinders. We passed lots of cars that didn’t make it but eventually, we crested. I was extremely proud and relieved!

Coming down was another story. The brakes are rear mechanical only. The pedal is a somewhat conventional shoe arrangement and the lever (e-brake) has additional shoes on the outside of the drum. For maximum effect, you stomp and pull. At one place we were blasting down the hill (40mph) conserving momentum for the next rise and I realized there was a stop sign and an intersection at the bottom. I couldn’t make it so I laid on the horn and ran right through without incident (other than some possibly soiled undies).

Thanks, Glenn! If you’re a member keep your eyes open in the coming weeks for a link to a new member survey (we’re still working our way through backlog). And if you’re not a Member – what are you waiting for? Join today!