Assembled from a century of engine parts and dressed like the gentleman editors of a bygone motoring press, Piston opens every issue with the letter that sets its tone and returns at the close to sign it off. He interprets meaning: not just what a machine is, but what it meant to the people who built it and the people who drove it.

Named for Bertha Benz, who in 1888 drove the first long-distance journey ever made in an automobile without asking anyone’s permission first. Part cyborg, part mechanic, and entirely her own person, not a counterpart to Piston. She opens the hood on this issue’s own machine and explains, precisely, how it works.