LincVolt Lives!!! UPDATED

LincVolt after the Fire
Photo by Eric Johnson

Some good news... it looks like LincVolt may live to see another drive down that open road.

Following last week's fire at Neil Young's warehouse, comes news that LincVolt is being restored.

UPDATE:
From Lincvolt - Repowering the American Dream - Blog:

November 16, 2010 -- (Burbank, CA) - Reprise recording artist Neil Young releases this statement to the media today: We are thankful that no one was hurt in the fire at our warehouse last week. My wife Pegi and I would like to thank the Belmont-San Carlos Fire Dept for doing such an exemplary job. A lot of archival items were threatened and the fire department did a first class job protecting them. We are lucky to have these professionals in our area. Rest assured that we have the very best fire rescue and protection with the Belmont-San Carlos Fire Dept.

However LincVolt suffered a disastrous accidental fire stemming from human error. The car was plugged in to charge and left unattended. 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.

So now we pick up the pieces.

We are rebuilding. The reason we started this project has not changed. As a nation we are still excessively burning fossil fuels, doing damage to our planet that will hurt our children's lives and future generations as well. Our project is to demonstrate alternative energies for transportation that are clean. We're still in a race against time. On a project like this, setbacks happen for a reason and we can see that very well from here.

"Barn's burnt down. Now I can see the moon".

LincVolt was presented well at SEMA less than a week before the fire. We are glad we have a film of that to share.

Additional films and footage here. She was just about to emerge into the world to show what she could do. LV is smart for a car, as she likes to say in her blog.

Now she's back in her staging area and pieces are being assembled. We have done this before and know much more now. Our accumulated knowledge will help this process. We have a solid committed team. This is an opportunity.

Our rebuilding LincVolt at Brizio's is beginning now. We have already started the preparation process.

Cleaning LV continues in preparation for bead blasting her down to bare metal. Once that is done we will be ready to begin the build. LV will be built using parts from two other Lincoln Continentals.

My lovely wife gave me a parts car just like LincVolt for my 65th birthday a couple of days ago. This donor car, which we have nicknamed "Miss Pegi" in her honor, will roll in and park alongside LincVolt today, at the staging area. Parts will be contributed from Miss Pegi and placed on trays for assemblage. Miss Pegi is a 1958 model with the same metal as a 1959 in the areas that need replacing. The Uni-Body construction will enable replacement of panels warped from the heat of the fire. Miss Pegi is in perfect shape to contribute these large body parts. Quarter panels will be removed and readied for re-introduction into LV's timeless form. Even as injured as LV appears, beauty shines through.

Another car, a 1959 model, will be used to harvest detail parts that are unique to LV. In this way, old forgotten cars get a chance to live again in the timeless beauty of LV, re-powered and ready for the future with "GREEN CHARGING."

We are in talks with a Canadian battery supplier and have most of the control components for the rest of the car in house or on order.

The Capstone Micro-Turbine and its engine compartment under the hood appear to be totally intact and undamaged. The UQM prime mover under the former rear seat also looks to be uninjured. Testing will be done to confirm this is correct. The underbody of the car appears to be essentially unchanged. The engines are both made in the USA. These are encouraging signs.

LV is ready for the next chapter, and the next ride. The mission unchanged.

Stay tuned.

Neil Young
Nov 16, 2010

From NYTimes.com | Neil Young's Hybrid LincVolt Survives Fire By JONATHAN SCHULTZ:

“The car was plugged in to charge and left unattended,” Mr. Young, an avid car collector, said in the release. “The wall charging system was not completely tested and had never been left unattended.”

LincVolt is now at Roy Brizio Street Rods, the Bay Area fabrication shop in which it took shape. There, the sheet metal will be cleaned and bead-blasted “down to bare metal,” the statement continued.

Mr. Young will use a 1958 Continental, which his wife presented to him on his 65th birthday, as a donor for the body panels that warped due to the fire’s heat. Another Continental, this one a 1959, will provide undisclosed “detail parts” that are “unique to” LincVolt.

Nice gift Pegi!

Get behind the wheel!

Thanks Randy!

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