Wednesday 17 November 2010

Funniest MMGW Story Of The Year

A fire that caused $1.1 million worth of damage to a warehouse, filled with rock legend Neil Young's music equipment and memorabilia, appears to have been caused by his hybrid car which was also stored at the site.



And as if that wasn't ironic hilarious enough, the music legend had just returned from an appearance at the Specialty Equipment Market Association car show in Las Vegas ....
where he had delivered a 'talk' on his hybrid electric Lincoln.

"I love my car!" he told the audience.



A hockey stick of his choice goes to C Monster for the heads up ;-)

18 comments:

Captain Haddock said...

I had to read this post twice .. in order to establish just who the hell Neil Young was/is ..

Is he, perchance related to Jimmy ?? ... ;)

microdave said...

Yeah, I saw this last night - I watched one of the 4 part YouTube videos of his talk. I suppose you have to feel a bit sorry for him - the car wasn't the only thing that he lost - but this just shows the downside of trying to be "Green".  I would not be too happy driving that 2.5 TON monster about - sure it must be great cruising down the freeway in silence.

The problem comes when you have to take evasive action. The lightweight turbine sits where a thunking great V8 used to, and the trunk (sorry boot) is now home to a very heavy battery pack. Neil is old enough to remember Ralph Nader's crusade against the rear engined Chevrolet Corvair, he would do well to consider that even Porsche have struggled to tame their 911's tail happy handling...

Caratacus said...

No M'Lud; he is a popular musician who made something of a name for himself in the 1960s.

(M'Lud mumbles to himself, "Serves the cunt right then")

Heads on poles said...

What is more enviro friendly (whatever the fuck that constitutes)?
A large electrical generator keeping all the pollution in one place or everybody having their own, expending energy lugging it and its fuel around as well as making them?
Environmentalists - they make me fucking sick.

Conan the Librarian said...

I was lying in a burned out basement, the full moon in my eyes...

microdave said...

The information I've read says that the micro turbine (which takes up all the underbonnet space) produces just 40kW, or about 55bhp. The electric motor is rated at 150 or 200kW depending on who you believe. So the "electrifying" performance is only available as long as you don't use too much of it. Would you want to travel 400 miles in a 2.5 ton tank that ends up with the same power as my Panda?

The Lithium batteries come from China, a country that doesn't give 2 fucks about its environment....

Barking Spider said...

As in "Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young". ;)

Barking Spider said...

And he has a "Heart Of Gold"! :-D

Fascist Hippy said...

No CH, and not Muriel either

Captain Haddock said...

Ahh .. but good old Mu had a very interesting & sometimes naughty Pussy ....

















called "Willum" .... ;)

Anonymous said...

Truly funny find G.O.T.
Mates who have one of these hybrid thingys swear blind that they get 50-80mpg because of the savings made when the electric kicks in; they also say that it does better in town because the ectric kicks in more often but that it is fuck all good for cruising down the motorway and, as MD points out, you've got no fucking space in the boot because it's full of battery.

banned said...

They are not charged via a generator or from the mains, the battery is charged using excess energy produced by the engine in normal use  which was previously wasted, the cost savings seem to me to be 'free energy'.

Heads on poles said...

Hybrid bullshit.
Why is it 'green' to carry around two motors, two gearboxes and half a ton of batteries made of fuck knows what, dug out of open cast mines from all round the world?
Use petrol until something worthwhile comes along and stop being a fashionably green fucktard.
Thank you.

Billy Blofeld said...

Today is rapidly turning into a shitty day for me....... however that story cheered me up no end!

microdave said...

Sorry to be a bore, but I 've just watched all 4 video's and it CAN be charged from the mains giving a 50 mile range. Or you fire up the turbine generator (which only produces 30kW - I must have misheard earlier), giving you up to 400 miles range.  The point is the same with any hybrid like this - you are heavily reliant on regenerative braking (which isn't mentioned) to recover energy when slowing down. Otherwise you effectively have no more power available than the generator provides. 

This might be fine in urban driving, but on the open road for long distances you can easily find yourself in a situation where the battery is running down faster than the generator can cope with. Alternatively buy a modern diesel and have full performance available all the time, and still get over 500 miles on a tankful...

And have a useable boot!

Granville said...

Today is turning out alright for our old mate.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-11787126

banned said...

No-one has ever called me a "fashionably green fucktard" before so i'll take that as a compliment, ta!

Heads on poles said...

I have now leaked coffee from my mouth and wee from my willy - LOL! ;)