Boiling point

"But for a few quirks of fate - international depressions and world wars - it would probably be the main power source for getting us around."

No. The containment requirements for steam, plus recycling the water, vastly outweigh the same for the internal combustion engine.

Flight requires internal combustion, because the power-to-weight of steam is just to low, even though, yes, the raw power of steam engines is generally much higher than internal combustion.

It's about the car that broke the steam-powered land speed record.

@ckunte please put a proper title and description in your submissions.