Exhaust Coat??

[The Veg]

To elaborate a bit more, US climates vary quite a bit but most regions get quite warm at least in the summer. Some regions, like where I live, are at a minimum warm most of the year and can be downright brutal in the summer (especially if the region is really humid as well). I used to have a Turbo Esprit, and while it had an aircon system, it was ineffective in dealing with the summer temperatures, especially with that big, skyward-facing greenhouse of a windscreen that that car had. The sun here doesn't joke around, so I rarely drove the Esprit at all in the summer. Thank goodness the heat of the exhaust system was all well-behind the cockpit, or I might not have driven it much in other seasons either!

[StressCraxx]

As an example of summer weather, normally comfortable Northern California enjoys cool afternoon breezes off the ocean. Sometimes the wind changes and the breeze comes from the central Valley.

Last August, my drive home from the Monterey Historics was in 43deg C heat with 60% humidity. Top up or down the trip was miserable. Any time I had to stop for traffic, the temp gauge climbed to the point I had to turn on the heater for aux cooling. Some parts of the desert Southwest spend weeks above 45C during summer. So, reducing under bonnet temperatures is a reasonable task to keep the driver more comfortable.