Dylan Smith wrote:

The accepted wisdom is that aviation engines are tough, because they can
be run at full rated power for hours on end, and auto engines are
fragile, and must not be thrashed or they won't last very long.

It all depends what "full power" is.

I remember a marine diesel (forgot the brand, maybe Volvo), which was
available in two variants: Heavy duty and light duty. Both were
basically the same engine, only the heavy duty model developed about 40%
less power. Of course it could be run at "full power" the whole day long!

Now imagine a car with a 360 cubic inch engine that develops a mere 180hp!

Stefan