STECO

Stephens Co. (1914)

Chicago, Illinois

This is a Steco combined nameplate/serial plate (1914)     mjs
Size: 95mm wide 45mm high

The Stephens Company of Chicago used a patented method of construction to build the Steco cyclecar. The Steco was powered by a 9 hp two-cylinder air-cooled engine and had two seats in tandem. The slogan used to promote the Steco was " The Little Colossus of Roads".

At least one Steco was built in late 1913 or early 1914 and details with photographs were issued in the summer of 1914. Parts for at least two other Steco cars are known to have been made but full production did not go ahead, probably because the era of the cyclecar in America was drawing to a close.

Emblem

The Steco did not have an emblem but the engine was embossed with the "Steco" logo and publicity photos show the "Steco" logo on a pennant, see photos below.

This is a Steco cyclecar with a "Steco" publicity pennant (1914)     ms

This is a Steco cyclecar engine showing the "Steco" logo (1914)    ms

A combined Steco nameplate and serial plate displaying the "Steco" logo was produced ready for use on production cyclecars, see example above at the top of this post. This Steco nameplate is very rare.

The Steco logo is also seen on the cover of the Steco brochure, see below:

Steco Brochure (1914)