[barracuda1412]

Back in the 1970’s Ford has actually made a few Sterling-based
cars. Read the reports from the SAE (society of automotive engineers). The issue is the size (large) of the engines and its low power.

Brief summary: Sterling engines are just external combustion engines and the main problem is the heat conduction from the exterior to the interior, thus power (i.e. energy/time) is low. With internal combustion engines, the combustion energy is INSTANTLY available to the engine interiors thus power is high.

So for common use, sterling cars are not appropriate. Now, if you are a survivalist, far from any source of liquid fuel, the Sterling car is for you since you can run a Sterling car on wood chips.

[count-your-change]

If I were a survivalist I'd stock up on avgas for fuel since it can set in storage without going bad for long periods.

But given a choice, I'd rather have a small steam engine than a Stirling engine.