Congressman Billybob
Much of the negative press about the Stanley Steamers was exactly that, negative press. The Stanley Brothers eschewed advertising, or responding to scurrilous reports, assuming that the truth would win out in the end. The were clever engineers, but they were babes in the woods regarding the world of hucksterism.
Even so, let us grant that an external combustion (steam) engine could be dangerous. Let us also observe that internal combustion engines are wasteful of energy, (that is why they have radiators.)
My point was that now may be the time to revisit these technologies, and try to meld the past, present, and future, along with the competitive external vs internal, gasoline propelled vs electrically propelled, vehicles we all suspect could be built, and may need to be built.
I contend that we could build a safer, more efficient, more convenient vehicle, and save money in its operating costs as well.
Here's a thought experiment for backyard garage mechanics and erstwhile inventors. Modify an engine to run on regular fuel, but with the capability of having tiny amounts of water injected directly into the cylinder after the completion of the combustion process. Then tinker with the engine through a tunable computer, backing off on the amount of fuel consumed, while trying to make up for that loss by adding the expanding steam. If one can keep it just beween the point where it would tend to quench the fire, and the point where heat is being thrown away, it should be a much more efficient engine. I suspect that tuned properly, it could increase efficiency by 25%.
Other aspects of efficiency, such as regenerative braking, could be added separately.
We really need to put our Yankee ingenuity to work, all across the country!