Neil Young's Hybrid Car Sparked Warehouse Fire, Say Investigators

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The cause of the recent fire which ravaged a warehouse being used by Neil Young has been identified as one of the singer/songwriter's classic cars, authorities have announced.

The offending vehicle, a 1959 Lincoln Continental, had been converted into a hybrid by Young in an effort to promote fuel efficiency.

In a statement (via BBC News), Young has admitted the fire was down to human error. He said, "The wall charging system was not completely tested and had never been left unattended. A mistake was made -- it was not the fault of the car."

Young has vowed to rebuild the car -- dubbed the LinkVolt -- which runs on batteries and a bio-diesel-fuelled generator.

As previously reported by Spinner, fire fighters did manage to rescue 70 percent of the singer's possessions at the blaze in San Carlos, San Francisco, but overall damage estimated at $800,000 (£497,600) was caused.

Including the damage to the building, the total cost of the fire is believed to be in the region of $1m (£621,000).

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Duderotomy

Note the title of the article. Without reading the story you might think a Prius was at fault. This was a CUSTOM hybrid. One more example of the media's tendency to push oil.

November 18 2010 at 1:22 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Duderotomy's comment
John B.

Ken: the headline is exactly right. The car was a hybred built by Niel Young. It didn't say a damn thing about a Pirus.

November 18 2010 at 1:55 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
keith

A southern man could have wired it correctly.

November 18 2010 at 12:11 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Rich

Only a fool would store anything of value in a warehouse without automatic fire protection.

November 18 2010 at 11:51 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
watdafuk

Those silly tree huging eco-tards go figure. (shakin head)

November 18 2010 at 10:59 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
lynda

Hey Neil. It is a cheap azzz car and you look silly driving down sunset in that. be a big boy and drive not a green car. its a piece of crap. you look silly. spending all that money in that hybirddddddddd.

November 18 2010 at 10:42 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Yomps

Another self important, left wing, celebrity douchebag. Too bad he wasn't in the LincVolt

November 18 2010 at 10:33 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
RICHARDBe

Neil Young's Hybrid Car Sparked Warehouse Fire, Say Investigators....
A Good Choice of woRDS,,,, " (Sparked) Warehouse Fite "

November 18 2010 at 10:06 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
kcdgenius

This is what happens when musicians think they are engineers.

November 18 2010 at 9:48 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Average Joe

Uh, Derek, RLT isn't predictin the future by saying a fire sprinkler system wpould have saved it all, and undamaged by water..last time I checked unless any were convertibles with the top left down, water damage doesn't ruin a car and his responsibility doesn't end there...firefighters had to put their lives on the line to save a friggin warehouse with no lives at stake thanks to their little "experiment", so listen to what RLT had to say, you are wrong.

November 18 2010 at 9:40 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
John

Who in their right mind would try to make a hybrid out of a vintage automobile?

November 18 2010 at 9:25 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply