Have You Ever Heard of – The Stevens Cipher Coupé?

It’s an intriguing title. The Stevens Cipher Coupé. Who is Stevens for a start? And the word Cipher is inherently cryptic. All we can deduce really is that the car has, by definition of the word coupé, a fixed roof, two doors, and a sloping rear. So what exactly is the story here? Well, its actually based on a Proton Satria, which immediately extinguishes any of the mystique we may have just cultivated. Sorry. Having said that, however, it does remain a truly unique, one-of-a-kind car. Yep, there is only one in existence, which makes it rather special despite it’s somewhat mundane underpinnings.

Stevens Sienna

To tell the Stevens Cipher story we have to go back to the ’70s. The Stevens in question is Professor Anthony Stevens, a British motoring enthusiast, vehicle designer and auto-maker who in 1978, after a few other projects, penned his own contemporary version of a Morgan, named the the Stevens Sienna, using Reliant mechanicals. Unhappy with the results, however, Stevens quickly moved on to his next endeavour, the Stevens Cipher, in ’79. This stylish, two-seater sports car was unveiled at the Birmingham Motor Show the very next year and although it was a huge hit and orders were taken, Stevens was unfortunately unable to secure funding and the project was scuppered before it even had a chance to get off the ground.

Stevens Cipher

Undeterred, Stevens continued to feed his passion for designing and building cars, juggling various projects over the next few years, explaining in a 1995 interview for Autocar magazine: “Everything I’ve made in my life has been ploughed back into trying to make a British car”. In reading the full article Anthony’s drive and ambition clearly shine through and this passion, combined with his background and experience in engineering and design caught the eye of the Tuwin Corporation of Malaysia in 1996. They wanted to develop a new batch of sporty cars using Proton/Mitsubishi running gear and saw Stevens as the man to help bring this idea to Fruition. Jumping at the chance to re-ignite the Cipher concept Stevens built an initial coupé prototype based upon the Proton Satria with a view to producing 50,000 units using Proton’s own assembly line.

Everything was seemingly finally falling into place for Stevens and the Cipher but unfortunately there was a rather large bump in the road that nobody foresaw. And by bump we mean a huge financial crisis and by road we mean the whole of Asia. Malaysia’s GDP plummeted and to give you some idea of the magnitude of the crash, its economy didn’t fully recover until the early 2000s. There was nothing Stevens or Proton could do and the project was dead in the water.

The silver lining to that particularly disastrous cloud, however, is that the prototype Cipher Coupé remains the only one in existence and therefore quite the collector’s piece. It just so happens that at the time of writing that very car, number one of one, is for sale via Car & Classic Auctions. Not only is it a one-off but it is also a one owner car with Stevens being the sole keeper after he purchased the thing from his design consultancy when it closed its doors.

Although based on the Satria, Stevens created the body and chassis himself and nestled under that svelte bonnet is a 1.8-litre, 4-cylinder 16-valve DOHC Mitsubishi engine. The rest of the mechanicals are Proton/Mitsubishi items and as such are robust and reliable. The car runs and drives and has covered a mere 1,911 miles since its creation. The small ’90s coupé still looks fantastic with its quad headlights, sweeping lines and Kamm tail rear end and while the panel gaps may not be perfect (it is a prototype after all) it has endured the 26 years since its creation exceptionally well.

The interior is from the period Proton Satria but with the addition of a pair of Recaro sports seats. It may not be the fanciest of cabins but it sure is practical and easy to maintain should anything break or go missing. And that’s what makes the Stevens Cipher Coupé such an appealing prospect; its exclusively beguiling whilst being reliable and easy to live with thanks to the conventional base upon which that individuality can shine. The Cipher Coupé would make a wonderful, stand-out addition to any collection and while it would be a top contender for museum piece material it would be a shame to keep it tethered. It really does deserve to be out on the road and turning heads, just as Stevens had originally intended.

It’s not all doom and gloom though. Anthony Stevens went on to launch Stevens Vehicles with his son Peter in 2008. The company designs and manufactures zero emission electric cars and vans and also provides project and management services in the research, development and testing of positive and clean end to end customer journeys. There’s even talk of a modern, electric version of the Cipher, so the story hasn’t quite been brought to a close just yet and we shall wait patiently with baited breath for the much anticipated sequel.