Don't tell me they haven't figured out how to make a steam-driven automobile; we'd had them since the late 1800s (photo right). Anyway, for what it's worth, I've just given you my two cents on the subject of 'oil independence'.
Here is even a book about steam-powered cars (White Company). You know, the more I look at the diagrams of these simple old cars the more I get to thinking someone with a mechanical aptitude could build one in the garage.Thinking that way, I looked up the general diagram of a simple steam-powered car and found this: