In the 1970’s and 1980’s there were several books the either had characters that did it or promoted it.
Why is there no cooking tray in my new car’s engine bay?
Is it dangerous? (It would be less physically dangerous if there was a specific spot for it.)
Not who you’re replying to. But yeah, there’s plenty of vehicles that old on the road. We’re a couple, and we get by with just a single '06 Toyota Carola. So why not an old Subaru? Cars were better then! They have buttons!
Anyway, it definitely gets dirty enough in that engine bay that I wouldn’t want food in there.
Cars are more complicated now, but generally safer and less prone to rust.
It was mainly a dig at Subarus because they are pretty widely known to have had head gasket issues.
Presumably you’d clean your engine bay first and make sure there are no fluid/exhaust leaks