Neil Young: Man and Motors

Anyone that read Neil Young’s much lauded first memoir Waging Heavy Peace will know that he is a serious petrolhead.

While Heavy Peace has much to say about the many and various motors that Young has owned and run over the years, this new volume Special Deluxe A Memoir of Life and Cars takes it’s very narrative structure from the singer’s multitudinous rides.

Every chapter starts with an original Neil Young watercolour of a car he owned or drove. The cars then become a portal which transport us to a particular time and place in his life, expounding that unique Youngian take on music, politics and world order.

This book is a draw for music and car fans alike, but beware all high revving gas guzzlers. While Young obviously worships the Internal Combustion Engine, the book also stands as a lament to what he sees as its inevitable and imminent passing.

The last car discussed is the Lincvolt project which is the 1959 Lincoln that he has spent many years of sweat and cash converting to run on batteries and ethanol in his struggle to put the automotive future behind us.

As he says:

“Transportation, food, government, politics….all needs to change in order for us to survive the 21st century”

Amen to that Neil. Check out the future at http://www.lincvolt.com/