I'm guessing this is what happened:
Probably somewhere where there is desert, such as Nevada or Arizona....hot during the day, cold during the night. Snake was cold at night, the owner just parked the car for the night, the engine was nice and warm and the snake was attracted to it. Crawled up into the engine from underneath the car and chilled there for the night...next morning, owner drives the car and cooks the snake. Am I right, or am I right?