Actually, "cubic dollars" does make some kind of sense in respect to engines. Calling cost in dollars per cubic inch displacement = "cubic dollars" makes satisfying sense.
A real annoyance with me is this fad of tying all units to physical standards and then naming the new units after scientists. It seems like an exercise in anality.
"Pascal," for example, is too small a unit to be practical, so we're stuck with "kiloPascals. I suppose I can get used to that, but wasn't a mllimeter of mercury also a pressure measurement based on natural physics, and called a Torricelli, or "Torr" for short?
And a Joule, which is a Watt-second has two (2, count 'em) scientists involved in it already. And come to think of it, a Watt itself is an Ampiere times a Volta and an Ampiere is a flow of Coulombs of electrons per second.
And who was this guy called "Second" anyway?
Or, for that matter, who was Mr. Gram or Dr. Liter, or Ms. Meter?
'Tis a puzzlement.
Terry, 230RN