By James Fitzgerald It is easy to spot control freaks these days: they shout at you in stores if you aren’t masked up; they pump out fear through newspapers; and they twist your arm to take experimental jabs. But the wheeling and dealing doesn’t stop there; now they want to sneakily get under your hood. The great American highways — and the sedans and muscle cars that populate them — have since the post-war boom formed the circuitry that has energized and connected the nation. The freedom and convenience of the automobile has been the single most important technological and social development since humans first sparked up a fire. Talking of combustion, governments and environmental groups around the world have been critical of fossil fuels and carbon emissions for decades. Anyone who has cycled or walked in busy traffic knows that particulates and fumes from vehicles are unpleasant and harmful,…