Bill Lear (of Lear Jet fame)spent millions trying to build a practical steam
vehicle in the sixties. He failed. Their thermal efficiency is lower than
an Otto cycle engine, which is the kiss of death unless the fuel is very
cheap.

"MikeMandaville" wrote in message
ups.com...
Last year I bought a diesel truck, an '83 half-ton Volkswagen Rabbit,
with the idea of rebuilding the engine, and then running it on recycled
cooking oil. Now I am giving serious thought to converting it to
steam.

The idea of being able to power my truck with solid fuel is one which I
find to be greatly appealing. At the time I decided to convert to
diesel, I was looking for an economical means of moving foundry coke
from Alabama to Texas. With a gasoline powered vehicle, the cost of
the gasoline would exceed the cost of the coke by one full magnitude.
Interestingly, for about the first century of their existence, most
steam powered road vehicles which I have read about seem to have run on
coke.

In the nineteen-fifties, the Sentinel truck company sold several
hundred steam trucks to the government of Argentina. These trucks were
used for hauling coal. Of course, these trucks burned part of their
load to power their boilers. I see no reason why the Argentinian
solution should not work for me also.

Any comments?