Motors had agreed to pay a selected vendor $20,000 ($ in dollars ) toward the cost of developing a Rankine cycle engine, and up to $100,000 ($ in dollars ) for outfitting six Oldsmobile Delmont 88s as operational patrol vehicles. This deal fell through because the Rankine engine manufacturers rejected the General Motors offer. The plan was revised and two 1969 Dodge Polaras were to be retrofitted with steam engines for testing. One car was to be modified by Don Johnson of Thermodynamic Systems Inc. and the other by industrialist William P Lear's Lear Motors Incorporated. At the time, the California State Legislature was introducing strict pollution control regulations for automobiles and the Chair of the Assembly Transportation Committee, John Francis Foran, was supportive of the idea. The Committee also was proposing to test four steam-powered buses in the San Francisco Bay Area that year. Instead of a Polara, Thermodynamic Systems (later called General Steam Corp), was given a late-model Oldsmobile Delmont 88. Lear was given a Polara but it does not appear to have been built. Both firms were given 6 months to complete their projects with Lear's being due for completion on 1 August 1969. Neither car had been completed by the due date and in November 1969, Lear was reported as saying the car would be ready in 3 months. Lear's only known retrofit was a Chevrolet Monte Carlo unrelated to the project. As for the project, it seems to have never been completed, with Lear pulling out by December. In 1969, the National Air Pollution Control Administration announced a competition for a contract to design a practical passenger-car steam engine. Five firms entered. They were the consortium of Planning Research Corporation and STP Corporation, Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, Ohio, Continental Motors Corporation, Detroit, Vought Aeronautical Division of Ling-Temco-Vought, Dallas and Thermo Electron Corporation, Waltham, Massachusetts. General Motors introduced two experimental steam-powered cars in 1969. One was the SE 124 based on a converted Chevrolet Chevelle and the other was designated SE 101 based on the Pontiac Grand Prix. The SE 124 had its standard gasoline engine replaced with a 50 hp power Besler steam engine V4, using the 1920 Doble patents, the SE 101 was fitted with a 160 hp steam engine developed by GM Engineering. Power was transferred via a Toric automatic gearbox. The results was disappointing. The steam engine was heavy and weighted 300