Click on the photo of any engine below to jump to the original post honoring that engine.

Toyota R	Ford Flathead V8	BMW M30
Nissan L	Small-Block Chevrolet V8	Volkswagen Air-Cooled
BMC B Series	Chrysler Slant Six	Rolls-Royce V8
Honda B	GMC Twin Six	Jaguar XK
Pontiac V8	Mazda B	Fiat Twin-Cam
Porsche Flat Six	Offenhauser	Willys Go-Devil
Chrysler LA	Packard Inline 8	Mazda 13B
Crosley COBRA	Volvo Red Block	Subaru EJ
AMC Straight Six	Citroën Type A	Toyota A
Ford Windsor V8	Mercedes-Benz OM617	Nissan SR
Chrysler Trans Four	Chevrolet D V8	Ford Modular
Chrysler A57 Multibank	Ford OHC	Honda D
Buick Nailhead	Buick 215/Rover V8	BMW M10
Volkswagen W	Chrysler IV2220 V16	MEMZ-968
Lotus 900 Series	Ford 385	Mercedes-Benz M100 V8
Chrysler B V8	Toyota M	General Motors LS
Honda F20C	Alfa Romeo Twin Cam	Yamaha SHO V6
BMW M70 V12	Mitsubishi Sirius	Saab H
GM Iron Duke	Coventry Climax FW/FP	Ferrari Dino V6/V8/V12
Ford FE V8	BMC A	Audi 4.2 V8
Big-Block Chevrolet V8	BMW M20	Fiat SOHC
Chrysler Flathead Six	Saab 2-Stroke	Oldsmobile Gen 2 V8
Suzuki G	PRV V6	Cadillac OHV V8
Hudson Six	Nissan VH	Ford Model T
Buick V6	Nissan VG

See, if you're serious about Porsches- and what Porsche zealot isn't?- you want a book about Ferdinand Porsche, the father of the brand, to pack some heft! You'll need a level of detail that's so overwhelmingly, in fact alarmingly, obsessive that you'll learn something new on every page.

This is such a book. Nearly 500 pages, a bonanza of Über-Geeky technical details (ever wonder how Ferdinand managed to make the connecting-rod arrangement work in a W9 aircraft engine in 1917?), and eleventy-million vintage photographs. On top of that, you get eight gorgeous, porn-grade foldout color pages with cutaway illustrations by artist Wolfgang Franke, featuring such machines as the 1922 Austro-Daimler ADS-R and the 1936 Auto Union C-Type. This thing- which weighs about as much as a manhole cover- is definitely one of the most beautiful car books I've ever seen, and it will make the other car books on your coffee table look like Go, Dog Go.

But hey, now that I've mentioned Porsche's role in designing the Auto Union race cars, we've got to address the most troubling aspect of Genesis Of Genius: its treatment of Ferdinand's activities once Hitler and the National Socialist Party came to power. Here's what we get on that subject: deafening silence. The narrative reaches the early 1930s and then… starts… treading… very… carefully… among… the… land mines. For example, the Auto Union racers were pure propaganda tools for the Third Reich, just like their athletes in the '36 Olympics- surely Porsche had some comments on the subject at the time? Not in this book. As Ludvigsen states in the preface: "This account of Ferdinand Porsche's career stops short of detailed description of the well-known achievements that some consider his greatest, the Auto Union racer and the Volkswagen. Thus we've characterized these years as the Genesis Of Genius." A cop-out? Sure! Perhaps acceptable in a straight-up wank job of a book aimed at the most devoted of single-interest car geeks, but we're dealing with a high-quality, obsessively researched and well-executed biography here and such omissions say something- is ominous too strong a word?- about the author's expectations of his readership.

So, because I'm an elitist biography snob who gets offended when the subject's warts get airbrushed out (I'm reading this book at the moment), I'm going to deduct a rod from the highest possible 5-rod rating (in honor of the Mercedes-Benz OM617) and give this book four rods. Murilee says check it out!

Images reprinted with permission from Ferdinand Porsche—Genesis of Genius by Karl Ludvigsen, © Bentley Publishers, all rights reserved.
[Bentley Publishers]

My initial plan was to call today's challenge the "PCH Cleveland Steamer Edition," but that's just too easy, plus neither of the cars is anywhere near Cleveland... then the Toots & The Maytals song (above) got stuck in my head. So, Pressure Drop Edition it is.

There's nothing more macho than driving a vehicle that can have a boiler explosion at any time! Just think, you could be like the immortal Steve in the "Wreck Of The Old 97" and get scalded to death by the steam... and we've found a steam car that's already committed explosive double homicide: this 1917 Stanley Steamer. In fact, the owner (a "state deputy of boilers and pressure vessels") wants to be sure prospective buyers know that the explosion was so catastrophic that it "resulted in a CA safety law." It hasn't been run since 1990, the boiler is 44 years old, and you'll have to track down or fabricate plenty of interior and trim components, but you know you can make it happen!

Come on, the Stanley Steamer is the only steam-powered car that everyone has heard of- it's, like, a total cliché! When you're steam-powered car shopping, only a French steam car will do! Better stock up on fuel oil, because this 100+ year old Gardner-Serpollet Type D is just waiting for you... in Russia. The price is a bit daunting, we'll admit; in fact, it's the most expensive vehicle in Project Car Hell history: one million Euros! That's $1,500,000, give or take a few ten thousand, but just look at this... well, it's not quite a car these days, but it looks like many good components could be extracted from the fused-solid hulk somewhat weathered car, using methods perfected by archeologists digging for ancient bones. There are no details about the car in the listing, not even the year of manufacture, but just shoot an email to the totally non-dodgy-sounding Vadik Kidav and he'll give you the info.

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