There’s really nothing like technology that’s reached or reaching the end of its useful lifespan, because you know, it’s been incrementally improved and it’s as close to perfect as it’s ever going to be.
That’s the case with the steam-powered cars built until the late 1920, the most impressive and usable of which being the 1925 Doble E-20, the car Jay Leno features in his latest video.
While in its day it could be matched by some internal combustion rivals in terms of power, nothing could touch it and others like it for torque – Jay says this particular E-20 was previously taken up to 132.5 mph (212 km/h) by its illustrious first owner, American business mogul Howard Hughes.
The car isn’t completely stock, and probably the single most important upgrade that’s been done to it is the addition of modern disk brakes. Aside from those, it doesn’t really need anything extra, at least not once you’ve learnt the simple 13-step starting procedure which was considered short and very simple by the steam car standards of the day.
By Andrei Nedelea
VIDEO