Possible liquid fuels are kerosene, fuel oil, diesel fuel, and soybean distillate fuel. A properly designed burner system could burn a variety of fuels by using an oxygen sensor in the exhaust to control the proper fuel air mixture. Steam cars of the past outperform I.C. cars. The Doble cars produced between 1923 and 1930 weighing over 4000 lb. could accelerate from 0 to 75 mph in under 5 seconds. and could maintain a top speed of over 95 mph. The early Stanley s produced so much torque that they lifted the front wheels off the ground when the throttle was opened too quickly.
Steam cars are unreliable and require a lot of maintenance.
The Doble cars required no more maintenance then their internal combustion counter parts. Other Doble s are known to have traveled over 200,000 miles having only routine oil and tire changes. The Doble Steam Motor Company failed because of engineering design problems. This is a sad story for the steam car company that could have been. The lack of funding was brought about by one Mr. Edwin M. Daugherty, the Commissioner of Corporations in Los Angeles California.