Last month we told you Neil Young's 1959 Lincoln turbine-charged electric hybrid was damaged in a fire it may have started. Determined to rebuild the LincVolt, we saw Young on webcam this week visiting the remains of his charred dream.
It seems even Neil Young is not impervious to a personal project car hell experience. Of course, when you are trying to propel a 1959 Lincoln Continental Mark IV convertible using two turbines burning biodiesel and one micro-turbine dedicated to charging 850 lbs. of lithium-ion batteries, it's a little more ambitious than the average person's backyard project. According to the LincVolt team the old Lincoln could travel 50 miles on electric power alone, even though it weighed 6,200 lbs before it was damaged by fire.
Last month the LincVolt was heavily damaged by fire in Young's warehouse, which was possibly started a failure in one of the car's untested systems. In a true car guy move, faced with a huge setback that would have discouraged most, Neil Young decided to persevere and bring the LincVolt back to life. The car was shipped to Brizio Street Rods and is currently being disassembled and assessed to see how bad the damage is to the car and what may have caused it.
Upon the LincVolt's arrival at Brizio Street Rods, a webcam that has followed the LincVolt before was set up to make tracking the rebuilding progress via live stream possible. The combination of endless procrastination possibility and the chance to see the LincVolt coming back to life in real time is too good of a combination not to watch. Like any other car in a shop, so far some days have brought a lot of activity and some days the car sits idle. We thought Thursday was one of the latter days until we checked an update of the webcam to see a familiar figure inspecting the car he loves.
According to the LincVolt website, the motors in the car will be tested and upgraded while the body undergoes an extensive rebuild. Early estimations put the car back in drivable condition sometime in the summer of 2011. We will be eagerly checking the webcam to watch progress as the LincVolt rises from the ashes (literally). In the meantime, it is a little comforting to know that even for millionaire rock stars, project car ownership can become "a long story about perseverance in the face of adversity".
[LincVolt]