World’s first steam car to V12 beasts—watch them roar. Vintage engines & early power history

Step into a living museum of power—from 19th-century steam to early gasoline, oil, gas, and V12 diesel legends. We tour rare survivors such as the twin-cylinder Fétu-Defize (1888), Crossley JB benzene engines, the 20HP St. Mary’s oil workhorse, a Union gas-engine + dynamo set, Dorman’s industrial diesels, a Case traction steam engine, and even the 1770 Cugnot steam carriage often called the world’s first full-size self-propelled land vehicle.
Across workshops and museum floors, you’ll see why these machines mattered: slide valves, vaporizing-cup oil systems, four-stroke pioneers, slow-running iron giants built for line-shafts, pumps, threshers, generators—and the communities they powered. If you love antique machinery, restoration details, and the origins of modern engines, this is your ultimate deep dive.

What you’ll learn:

How slide-valve steam and early four-stroke designs controlled power reliably

Why vaporizing-cup heavy-oil engines ruled remote sites before cheap gasoline

How gas engines coupled to dynamos electrified hospitals, mills, and towns

The engineering DNA linking steam tractors to modern industrial diesels

Timeline:

0:04 Fétu-Defize twin-cylinder slide-valve steam (1888): design, rarity, museum context
1:55 Crossley JB benzene: four-stroke heritage, fuel shift from gas to liquid
3:19 St. Mary’s oil engine intro: early 20th-century stationary power
4:12 St. Mary’s 20HP details: vaporizing cup, heavy-oil economy, long duty cycles
5:06 St. Mary’s durability: cast-iron, slow-running, farm/industrial uses
5:54 St. Mary’s legacy: rarity, collectors, museum displays
7:36 Union gas engine + dynamo: how mechanical power becomes electricity
8:49 Co/trigeneration note: heat recovery and absorption chilling
9:46 “Mera/Dorman” V12 segment: marine & industrial V12 overview (up to ~10:46)
11:34 Schürtz & Gross (SUG) motorcycles: 350–500cc, supplier & builder role
13:28 “McLaren M4 Mk11 diesel” myth: clarifying F1 gasoline heritage
14:50 Dorman 2DL3: compact 2-cyl diesel for stationary/marine uses
16:17 Case steam traction engine (45HP): field power for threshing & hauling
17:37 1770 Cugnot steam carriage: first full-size self-propelled land vehicle

Hashtags:

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