Neil Young warehouse blaze started in hybrid 'LincVolt' car

[Gingersnap]

Neil Young warehouse blaze started in hybrid 'LincVolt' car

By Joshua Melvin

jmelvin@bayareanewsgroup.com
Posted: 11/16/2010 07:47:46 AM PST
Updated: 11/16/2010 10:02:40 AM PST

The three-alarm blaze that caused $1.1 million in damage to a warehouse filled with rock legend Neil Young's music equipment and memorabilia appears to have started in a one-of-a-kind hybrid car stored at the site, a fire official said Monday.

Flames began in a 1959 Lincoln Continental dubbed LincVolt, which runs on electric batteries and a biodiesel-powered generator, and then spread to the warehouse at 593 Quarry Road in the early morning of Nov. 9, according to Belmont-San Carlos Fire Marshal Jim Palisi and a website devoted to the car.

Young assembled a team of workers in 2008 to convert the 19.5-foot behemoth from gasoline to hybrid power, an effort he chronicled in a four-part film series.

It would be wrong to laugh, of course.

Mercury News

[bijou]

Perhaps it is not always better to burn out than fade away. ;)

[Articulate_Ape]

All I can say is, hey hey, my my.

[lacarnut]

All I can say is, hey hey, my my.

and shit happens.:D

[Odysseus]

Blaze at Calif. Storage Facility Began in 1959 Lincoln Continental Converted by Singer Into Hybrid "LincVolt"


Neil Young is seen with LincVolt at The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla., Sept. 23, 2010. (Jeff Daly/PictureGroup via AP)

(CBS/AP) Fire officials in California say a fire at a warehouse that stored memorabilia belonging to Neil Young started in a vintage car the singer had converted into a hybrid vehicle.

Belmont-San Carlos Fire Marshal Jim Palisi told the San Mateo County Times the Nov. 9 fire began in Young's 1959 Lincoln Continental and spread to the nearby warehouse in the San Francisco Bay area.

Young had converted the car to run on batteries and a biodiesel-powered generator as part of his LincVolt project to create the world's most efficient full-size vehicle.

Young had just returned from Las Vegas where LincVolt was presented at the SEMA automotive show.

In a message posted on the LincVolt website, Young wrote, "Lincvolt was severely damaged in the fire. We are still investigating the exact cause although it appears to be an operator error that occurred in an untested part of the charging system.

"We do know that the car has been operating perfectly for almost 2 thousand miles and the system in question would not be in use while driving the car. We are investigating the components involved with plug-in charging."

He also said a computer in the car which may function as a "black box" may offer information about the fire.

"While this is a setback for us we are planning ways to continue. We will begin cleaning and inspecting Lincvolt today," he said.

LincVolt, which weighs 2.5 tons, is 19 feet long, can go 160 mph, and has zero admissions, was featured in a December 2008 video report by CBS News correspondent Hari Sreenivasan about car re-designer Johnathan Goodwin and his "green" music cars.

Mean Green Machines
About $1 million in damage was caused by the two-alarm blaze at the 10,000-square-foot building - three-quarters of that to the contents, which included memorabilia stored there by Young and his family.

(KPIX)The rocker's items included six vintage cars, musical instruments, paintings and pictures.

Young thanked the Belmont-San Carlos Fire Dept for an "exemplary job," and for protecting a lot of archival items which were threatened.

Fire crews were able to save about 70 percent of the warehouse's contents, including other cars and music equipment belonging to Young.

No one was injured in the fire.

Young lives nearby in the unincorporated San Mateo County community of La Honda.

© MMX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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In a related note, my gasoline-powered Honda Civic has not exploded. The Civic, which has not been converted into a pretentious "green" egomobile, continues to provide safe, reliable transportation without ostentatiously demonstrating any of the preening self-absorbtion of celebrities who have more money than brains.

Of course, I'm a transplanted Texan now, and to Neil Young, I can say that transplanted southern man don't need him around, anyhow.

[NJCardFan]

Sorry for his loss but this is damned funny.

[wilbur]

In a related note, my gasoline-powered Honda Civic has not exploded. The Civic, which has not been converted into a pretentious "green" egomobile, continues to provide safe, reliable transportation without ostentatiously demonstrating any of the preening self-absorbtion of celebrities who have more money than brains.

Of course, I'm a transplanted Texan now, and to Neil Young, I can say that transplanted southern man don't need him around, anyhow.

So what exactly is your issue with a man using his own cash to develop a technology that he is interested in and feels is important? Isn't that the kind of freedom you "fight for" (from your recruiting desk)? From what I know, he's not working with government handouts or subsidies.. he's working totally independent, using his own cash. And with that in mind, the progress - so far- is by all accounts a pretty impressive achievement. Set-backs and problems are the norm when developing any new, groundbreaking tech. But I guess he should just give up...

Or are you just jaded because its in service to a cause that internet-psychic Odysseus has deemed unimportant and irrelevant?

[Odysseus]

So what exactly is your issue with a man using his own cash to develop a technology that he is interested in and feels is important? Isn't that the kind of freedom you "fight for" (from your recruiting desk)? From what I know, he's not working with government handouts or subsidies.. he's working totally independent, using his own cash. And with that in mind, the progress - so far- is by all accounts a pretty impressive achievement. Set-backs and problems are the norm when developing any new, groundbreaking tech. But I guess he should just give up...

Or are you just jaded because its in service to a cause that internet-psychic Odysseus has deemed unimportant and irrelevant?

I'm not a recruiter, but thanks for asking. I can't wait for your explanation of the "internet-psychic" comment.

No, it's funny because it's silly. The tech that he has spent his time and money on doesn't eliminate the need to burn fossil fuels, unless you believe that electricity comes from a magic hole in the wall. I also enjoy it when a rock star, whose concerts use more carbon in an hour than most of us use in a year, has his hypocrisy blow up in his face, or at least in his garage.

Any other questions, Wilbur? Here's a thread about a kid who was told to take an American flag off of his bike because it offended the bullies at his school, which was just outside of San Francisco. Maybe you can go there and post about how he is a dupe for loving his country.

[wilbur]

I'm not a recruiter, but thanks for asking. I can't wait for your explanation of the "internet-psychic" comment.

We've been over this - you apparently have the power to peer into the minds of others across the internet, to tell them what they believe and feel. It must be late, and your powers must not be at full strength at the moment or else you would have known this.

No, it's funny because it's silly. The tech that he has spent his time and money on doesn't eliminate the need to burn fossil fuels, unless you believe that electricity comes from a magic hole in the wall.

Right, but it has the ultimate goal of being more efficient than gasoline powered cars in mpg and emissions, and included in the calculations is the power it requires from the grid to charge. The fact that it has to be plugged into the grid to charge hasn't escaped anyone - you aren't the only genius to consider that problem, believe me.

The car also runs on bio-diesel as well as electric charge - so its not all battery power from coal plants either. Its battery can be charged as it drives on bio-diesel.

And it aims to do all this in the body of a big,solid, traditional American machine... not a little rinky-dink go-cart death trap, like smart cars or typical hybrids. Even if you don't care about the emissions, I don't see how the prospect of an 100mpg land yacht with good performance is something to laugh at. And aside from emissions and mpg, another goal of the vehicle is to reduce our demand for foreign oil, so we have to pay less of a cost in the lives of our soldiers, in conflicts over the resource. That's something I would think you could appreciate, if nothing else.

Pretty damn cool, if you ask me.

I also enjoy it when a rock star, whose concerts use more carbon in an hour than most of us use in a year, has his hypocrisy blow up in his face, or at least in his garage.

I don't know when or how in his career he started being concerned about the environment, but I would suppose he makes a decent effort to minimize the impact during his concerts. And if his tech paves the way for a new type of energy efficient car... well, he may have made it all worthwhile. And in any case, emissions aren't the only target of this vehicle.

Any other questions, Wilbur? Here's a thread about a kid who was told to take an American flag off of his bike because it offended the bullies at his school, which was just outside of San Francisco. Maybe you can go there and post about how he is a dupe for loving his country.

Well, I say until the kid starts going off the deep end for pointing out the obvious stupidity of the question, "Is America the greatest country on earth", more power to him.

[Odysseus]

We've been over this - you apparently have the power to peer into the minds of others across the internet, to tell them what they believe and feel. It must be late, and your powers must not be at full strength at the moment or else you would have known this.

As I said before, I don't have to have any special powers to read your mind. You've put it on display for all of us. If you don't like what I infer about you from your posts, then the person to blame can be found in the nearest mirror.

Right, but it has the ultimate goal of being more efficient than gasoline powered cars in mpg and emissions, and included in the calculations is the power it requires from the grid to charge. The fact that it has to be plugged into the grid to charge hasn't escaped anyone - you aren't the only genius to consider that problem, believe me.

No, but Neil Young isn't exactly a genius, now is he? He's a dope-addled rock star who has spent his life flitting from one cause to the next, and I find him to be a fit object for ridicule.

The car also runs on bio-diesel as well as electric charge - so its not all battery power from coal plants either. Its battery can be charged as it drives on bio-diesel.

And it aims to do all this in the body of a big,solid, traditional American machine... not a little rinky-dink go-cart death trap, like smart cars or typical hybrids. Even if you don't care about the emissions, I don't see how the prospect of an 100mpg land yacht with good performance is something to laugh at. And aside from emissions and mpg, another goal of the vehicle is to reduce our demand for foreign oil, so we have to pay less of a cost in the lives of our soldiers, in conflicts over the resource. That's something I would think you could appreciate, if nothing else.

Pretty damn cool, if you ask me.

Let me check... Nope. Didn't ask you. But thanks for playing.

I don't know when or how in his career he started being concerned about the environment, but I would suppose he makes a decent effort to minimize the impact during his concerts. And if his tech paves the way for a new type of energy efficient car... well, he may have made it all worthwhile. And in any case, emissions aren't the only target of this vehicle.

Or, like Al Gore, he might just be posing. But, for a guy who complains about my supposed psychic abilities, you're certainly happy to read a great deal into his good intentions.

Well, I say until the kid starts going off the deep end for pointing out the obvious stupidity of the question, "Is America the greatest country on earth", more power to him.

Nothing stupid about the question, just the guy who feigns ignorance of the meaning of "great" in order to avoid answering it.