Eh, not really - god of engines. It just happened to like that type of engine. Or god of dynamic energy, it just happens to dig internal combustion. No idea about the water car or the other engines, and no need to know, really. Applying that level of rational critique to an irrational horror is a bit more than I need out of a horror story of this type - it's not science fiction. It is not known and knowing would just make the story weaker and over-explained (just as, again, Grabinski and the dynamism/horror of trains needs no explanation). I'll keep an eye out in the subs for a screed against our oil-sick culture if you'd like, but it'd have to be a good story, of course.
“...for he had acquired, as time went on, the firm conviction that any thought, even the most audacious, that any fiction, even the most insane, can one day materialize and see its fulfillment in space and time.”
Stefan Grabinski, “The Area”