Neil Young's Electric Car Started the Fire at His Warehouse

This probably isn't exactly what Neil Young had in mind with "repowering the American dream": it turns out one of Young's pet projects, the 1959 Lincoln Continental he's turning into an electric car, started that fire in his Peninsula warehouse last week.

The white landshark Continental somehow caught fire early in the morning of Nov. 9, starting a blaze that burned roughly $850,000 worth of the singer's guitars, art, and other memorabilia. It also took a hefty toll on the old 10,000-square-foot warehouse all that stuff was kept in.

Young thought his car was a big deal. It allowed Young to cruise around in Boomer fashion while touting his environmentalist credentials. It also had its own website.

In a statement, Young said the fire may be traced to "an operator error that occurred in an untested part of the charging system ... We are investigating the components involved with plug-in charging."

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