Steam Car Blog

​This weekend's progress. Because it's my first attempt, I didn't get everflex/bison vinyl and opted for a UV treated vinyl on sale instead. It is much softer and super stretchy in comparison. And I recommend just getting the good stuff cause I have to compensate on a few things. I used a multipurpose adhesive spray to attach the lining material- I can now forget about securing the layers for the rest of the project. On the parts that were used as bracing or interfacing, I will be adding a layer of a heavy interfacing to combat the vinyl stretch. The back's 3 panels are complete minus hardware.

We regret to report that Brent Campbell, one of the most prominent members of the Steam Car Community, passed away on the 24th October, after a long illness. Brent had been around Stanleys since the early 1950's, when he rode in his grandfather George Monreau's (who had worked for the Stanley Factory) 1913 Model 65. A keen driver, Brent believed in using his car's rather than just displaying them; his first Stanley clocked more than 35,000 miles in the 13 years of his ownership. Indeed, in his Stanley model 85 he clocked 424 miles in one day, and regularly took part in the Trans Continental  and Red Rock Tours. 

He was an absolute authority on Stanleys, and was a great help to many Stanley Owners, always offering help, as well as historical information. Indeed, his contribution to the Stanley Steamer Book, written by Kit Foster,and produced by the Stanley Museum, was invaluable. 

Brent was not a person who believed in the brake pedal. In 2006, the Buick Hot Rod he owned crashed when a rear tyre blew, throwing the car firstly into the central reservation, then back across the highway to the nearside followed by five somersaults, destroying the car. Brent suffered multiple injuries in addition to three vertebrae in his spine needing to be frozen together. After a long rehabilitation period, Brent was back driving his Stanleys. 

Brent had a great collection of steamers over the years, including a Stanley CX (sadly lost at the bottom of the Atlantic after taking part in the centenary of the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run, when the container ship broke in two), a Stanley Model K, a Stanley Model 74, a Stanley 731, Stanley 82 and Stanley 85. But perhaps the cars he is known best for are the two Raymond Stanley Specials he owned, Effie, a 1911 30HP Roadster, and a 1912 30HP Roadster, the latter a painstaking multi year recreation by Brent.

With Brent, alot of Stanley and Steam Car information passes. He will be sadly missed. 

Images in slideshow above courtesy of Wumf Tuxworth.

Photos  by Chris Wedgwood

Jeff Theobald
1943 – 2010

Jeff was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent in 1943. Five years later, along with a baby sister, the family relocated to Cornwall, spending two years in a tiny hamlet now dwarfed by the “Eden Project” before moving to Calstock, a small village alongside the River Tamar.

One memorable day a steam roller rumbled through Calstock, followed by one small steam enthusiast for several miles, before the resulting hue and cry, resulted in Jeff’s safe return home. During his boyhood, Jeff had various accidents to the alarm of his parents and the fascination of his sister.