Special Deluxe

by Neil Young

  But every time I started the engine I realized the car smelled of carbon dioxide, and every time I smelled it I wanted to change it. There was something incongruous about a pure sound coming from a smelly and destructive, obsolete car. When I showed the system to Jac Holzman, a world-renowned audiophile and record company pioneer, he commented first about the pollution of the car and second about the greatness of the sound. “Neil, this car reeks of pollution. I hope it sounds better than it smells.”

  Eldora continued her service, as the Pono Caddy, polluting music lovers’ environments while spreading the word about highest-resolution music. Ultimately, Eldora’s days were numbered. The massive V8 was running on just six cylinders and needed to be rebuilt by Bruce Ferrario at Four Star Automotive, putting Eldora out of commission for a long time. With her special history with Amber and Pono, Eldora occupied a unique place in my heart. I couldn’t let it go. I had to fix it and bring it back. I had an itch to take out the original engine and replace it with something I could run biofuel in. I could not enable Eldora to continue as another destructive gasoline-guzzler. There were already too many of them on the roads, and the automobile companies were making more of them every day, presenting them with increasingly desperate and outrageous marketing schemes.

  I approached Bruce Ferrario about the idea of rebuilding Eldora’s engine into a flex-fuel engine. A California law prohibited the conversion of Eldora because it was not permitted to change the car’s emissions. This certain California law prohibited changing the engine in models built after 1976–’77 to protect the environment. Here before me was a case where a law stopped the process of making Eldora a cleaner car by running ethanol as opposed to fossil fuel. That same law also prohibited changing the engine to diesel and running biodiesel. A 1978 Cadillac had to stay the same and burn gasoline. Changing it was illegal. The law was seeking to preserve the emissions control system included in the original car, yet it should not have applied to a cleaner-running replacement engine.

  I had purchased another 1978 Cadillac from Texas through eBay that was identical—well, almost identical. The white was not as warm. The interior was nearly the same but did not have John McKeig’s special touches. I still liked Eldora because of my history with Amber and the car. I wondered if I should put the engine from the Texas car in Eldora. That engine was running on all cylinders and would be a little cleaner. The cost of doing that was almost the same as the cost of changing to an even cleaner, yet illegal, biofuel engine. I was stymied. How could I make Eldora cleaner?

  I am still working on this. I may have to take Eldora out of state to do the work and bring it back into California after. That seems wasteful and possibly illegal. I am looking into it, and in the meantime not using Eldora for long trips. I am restricting her use to Pono demos, transporting her in the mobile garage that is part of my road gym. After years of service, Eldora sits alone in a garage on the ranch, waiting for her next assignment, hoping for another ride to the theater with Amber or a night out on the town with music. Such is the lot for cars. They serve and then they are left behind. But some rise above and live, again and again.

  2004 Ford Excursion “Ray White”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  ur family had a beautiful home in Hawaii on a point with a tremendous surf break. Manta rays were plentiful in these waters. One day Pegi and I were swimming across the bay, north of our point, and on the return swim we took the outside, meaning we were as far out into the water as we usually went, crossing the bay to the point where our home was located. It was a fair swim and the water was about forty feet deep. Sea life was plentiful in those waters. We could see fish far below us. It was as if we were flying as we looked down on them through our snorkel masks.

  Those fish making their way along the sandy bottom were probably no more than two feet long. Looking ahead as I usually did, I saw four huge forms approaching us. I took Pegi’s hand in mine and brought her in close to me, and then she saw them, too. She was squeezing my hand tight and I put my arm around her, continuing forward by gently kicking and using my other hand to stabilize. The forms approached. The biggest one was about twelve feet across, and we were on a direct course toward them.

  These were manta rays, moving toward us like giant slow-motion bats; the biggest things we had ever seen in the water with us, bigger by far than the dolphins we had first swum with a few years before. The rays continued toward us. I remembered that they were very mellow, like sea cows, and probably were just going about their own business, feeding on the small life in the water. They were getting blurry in our masks as the small creatures they fed on made the water around us look like jelly. At the very last moment, the giant creatures parted ways and went over and under us, gently flying by.

  The manta ray is Pegi’s aumakua. Aumakua is a Hawaiian word describing a spirit guardian from the animal world, a bridge between humans and spirits. Sharks and other life of the sea and land can also be aumakua. Larry Johnson’s was a whale, so every year when the whales showed up at our home on the Big Island, we were reminded of Larry and were both happy and sad. The whales show up less regularly now, perhaps disturbed from their age-old pattern by changes in the earth’s climate, just as the jet stream has been disturbed by warming ocean water temperatures, resulting in erratic and extreme weather patterns. The disturbance is caused by global warming, which is caused by humans creating more CO2 than the planet can consume with plant life. The CO2 rises in the atmosphere and creates a layer around the earth, keeping heat in.

  Living on an island, the damage from fossil fuels and the massive CO2 emissions seemed even more obvious to us. We felt bad that our island’s power was coming from fossil fuels that crossed the ocean in polluting, diesel-powered tanker ships and we were doing what we could, using biodiesel renewable fuel from Maui with up to a ninety percent reduction in CO2 emissions, and hoping to be a small part of turning the tide toward preserving the earth’s balance for our grandchildren and their children after them.

  When we purchased a brand-new diesel-powered, white 2004 Ford Excursion to carry big groups of people to events and enjoy one another’s company, we named it Ray White in a not so subtle reference to Pegi’s aumakua. Diesel is much better for mileage than gasoline. Even regular petro diesel reduces emissions because of the better mileage it gets compared to gasoline. When we use biodiesel, Ray White, our biggest vehicle, puts out less CO2 than any of our others.

  Ray is now in his tenth year of service to our family and is showing no signs of weakness with his big diesel motor, powered by plants through indirect solar energy.

  When we lived at the ranch, which was a much larger percentage of the time than in Hawaii, I wanted to have a clean-running vehicle and was beginning to wonder what part I could play in raising awareness of the attributes of alternative fuels. Celebrity has to have some value, and using it to raise awareness is a good thing. That is when I discovered the Hummer H1. At first, the Hummer became known because of roadside bombings in the Iraq War. We saw them on TV nightly, some jury-rigged with armor by soldiers for their own protection. Those were the H1’s. They were so huge that they took up the width of a whole lane. Then the H1’s started showing up on the streets of America, painted in bright colors and driven by a variety of folks for various reasons, which could be the subject of another book on human behavior, which I would be starring in.

  The Hummer was attacked by environmentalists as the epitome of wastefulness. No cars or trucks have created the negative reaction that the Hummer did. The thought of soccer moms picking up their kids at school in these huge behemoths really turned off a lot of folks who saw it as a wasteful, CO2-spewing symbol of all that was wrong with America. In the USA’s still wild west, some Hummer dealerships were even attacked and burned by extremist environmentalists.

  To complicate matters more for the environmentalists, the conservation regulations passed by Congress, which were energetically lobbied for by big oil compan
y lobbyists, were written specifically for cars, not SUVs. Hummers were classified as trucks, which put them outside these regulations, even though SUVs were designed and used as family vehicles. When the slightly smaller H2 came along, a lot of soccer moms got those. Next, the H3 appeared, a compact SUV smaller than the previous models. These were designed to sell more because they were smaller, but alas, still classified as trucks and outside the government’s fuel conservation regulations. Intensive lobbying of politicians backed by money from oil interests is one of the biggest problems facing America’s quest for a cleaner world.

  The effect of lobbying on conservation regulations in the SUV example shows us quite clearly that government “by the people and for the people” is practically nonexistent. We have government by the corporation and for the corporation. Corporate money makes American laws. Separation of Corporation and State, a twist on “Separation of Church and State,” may be what we need. Until we have that, all laws will be made essentially by corporations and based on corporate strategies and values.

  Corporations are not people. They do not have the conscience of a parent guarding a child’s safety. Corporations are driven by three-month financial reports, and until corporations lose the power they are wielding, laws will be made primarily with a view toward short-term financial gain. About $3.5 billion in lobbying is spent yearly by about 12,000 lobbyists to influence laws supposedly written in the interests of the people by 435 members of Congress and 100 senators. The majority of money to run the election campaigns of the representatives and senators who write the laws comes directly or indirectly from corporate interests.

  All you have to do is step back and take a look at corporate-run government to begin to understand why the media has not presented global warming and its cause to the public as the real story of our times. Because of the corporate-occupied Federal Communications Commission, network television and printed media are now serving the corporations by not exposing the true story of climate change and the future of mankind.

  There are some brave representatives and senators who oppose these laws, but so far they seem unable to overcome the forces they are up against. The people themselves will have to drop their complacency and rally behind fundamental change, take their country back, and support brave leaders.

  However, this is a book about cars.

  2000 Hummer H1

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  n the fall of 2005, Pegi and I were attending a memorial service at a church near the Bridge School, a school Pegi started with two other folks that’s for teaching kids like Ben. She couldn’t find a school for Ben in the beginning, so in a move that typifies her resolve, she started one herself, and it is now in its twenty-ninth year. We have been to enough of these services to know that life is precious and fleeting. Courtney Jones, a beautiful little student there, had passed away. Our students are sometimes very delicate and frail. Courtney was very young. It was a sad day.

  The school was well represented, and Pegi stayed behind after the service, talking with parents of Courtney’s classmates and some Bridge School staff. I had stepped outside to get some air and reflect, and was walking around the neighborhood when I saw an H1 Hummer parked in a driveway about a block from the church. Walking over to it for a closer look, it struck me that because the H1 was diesel powered, it was a perfect candidate for biodiesel.

  I had been thinking a lot about the future of fuel in general, and I realized that a Hummer might be the perfect vehicle for a mission to stimulate awareness of biodiesel. By using the fuel in the traditionally anti-green vehicle, I thought awareness could be raised. After finding a used one at a dealership a few miles away from the ranch, I hinted to Pegi that I would love one of them for Christmas, and lo and behold, that Christmas there was an H1 parked in the barn, painted olive green, the definitive military color.

  Jon McKeig had painted it for Pegi. Jon really had a great sense for color and had done a stunning job, applying army stencils to the exterior that read GO EARTH (instead of GO ARMY) and BIODIESEL on the back hatch in big letters. EARTH FRIENDLY and FARM FUEL were stenciled on other areas of the exterior. The H1 ran on renewable fuel, one hundred percent biodiesel made from used vegetable oil for a ninety percent reduction in CO2 emissions, compared to petro diesel fuel. The giant Hummer had taken on a new mission, protecting the environment by being green in more than just color.

  There was no conversion needed; no cost to move to biodiesel. The cost of conversion of a relatively new vehicle is nothing. All of the materials in the new cars are perfectly suitable for biofuel. The Hummer’s fuel filters did have to be changed more often because biofuel cleaned out all the sludge from inside the engine from running on dirty fuel for seven years. That was the only cost. Over time, we changed the filters less and less.

  I drove my green H1 everywhere, and the reactions I got were pretty radical, first pissing people off because they disliked the Hummer and then making them think when they saw that the vehicle was powered by biodiesel. Larry Johnson would rarely ride in it with me, though. I don’t think he liked it. Larry’s military roots might have had something to do with that. Maybe he didn’t like to see civilians driving them. As he was proud to say, he was an army brat. I thought the Hummer’s statement was a good thing, though, and I thoroughly enjoyed its new mission.

  In 2006, I was thinking about buying a car I could run on biodiesel. I had seen some very nice new Mercedes-Benz sedans in Europe that were diesel-powered, but I couldn’t buy a new one in the USA because there weren’t any available here. They were banned. America had banned new diesel cars, missing the point that diesel has higher emissions than gasoline. However, because of the added efficiency of diesel, total emissions are significantly lower per mile, so the American laws just didn’t make sense. In Europe, people use it because diesel cars are much more economical to maintain and the fuel is cheaper. Thankfully, by 2013, the US ban on diesel cars was finally lifted and advertisements touted the amazing mileage like it was a new thing.

  We stored biodiesel fuel on the ranch in a dedicated tank that was filled regularly by a company from Princeton, California, and I was driving the Hummer a lot and leaving the gasoline cars parked, preferring to not burn gas if I could help it. Even the cost per gallon was less with biodiesel. The ranch trucks were now all running on diesel, again with a ninety percent reduction in CO2 per gallon.

  I had noticed a lot of old Mercedes-Benz diesels on the road, which must have been bought before the US ban, and reasoned that they must be very reliable. I researched the models available and found one I really liked, a little two-door coupe called a 300CD. I got on eBay and found one that looked good, called the owner of the car, talked to him, and flew with Pegi and Carl the Affection Hound to San Diego to pick up our new 300CD.

  When we got to San Diego we checked into the hotel and moved our bags into the room, where Carl peed on the drapes immediately; a big stinky pee that Carl was known for, except he usually did not do it inside. As a matter of fact, it was quite unusual that he would pee inside. We gave him a talking-to and he felt pretty bad. He was very sensitive.

  In the evening, the seller showed up with the car and told us he had brought it on a flatbed because he didn’t have a license and did not have the proper tags and was worried about being pulled over. When we first saw the car, it was parked right in front of the hotel, already running and smoking a bit. I planned on going through this old diesel at the ranch to tune it up. I was excited to get the car and drive north, so I gave the guy a check and he left right away.

  When we got up the next morning, ready to start our trip back, I went out to start the car but it ran rough and smoked a lot. I mean it really smoked a lot. The windows wouldn’t go up or down, either. The air-conditioning was also nonfunctional. For being too trusting, I had gotten screwed on eBay again. The car was no good.

  I kept remembering that the guy was sweaty and reminded me of a crackhead. Why had I
not tried the car before I paid him? That would have been easy and smart. Pegi named that car “Malaisey.” She reminded me that she was a menopausal woman and would not be going anywhere in a car with no working windows or air-conditioning. I rented another car and arranged to have Malaisey transported to the ranch warehouse on a flatbed. Not driving that car before I bought it proves that no matter how old you get, you can still do things that make absolutely no sense.

  Our rental car was a really nice, new gasoline-powered Mercedes sedan with every option known to man. Driving it on the way home, we stopped in LA overnight, and I looked on the Internet and found a second diesel Mercedes 300CD coupe in Paso Robles, a town halfway up the state toward the ranch. It was identical to Malaisey except that it actually worked. The next day we drove our gasoline rental car north, from LA to Paso Robles, and bought the 300CD.

  The previous owner had been running the 300CD on biodiesel and it ran well. We needed to get rid of the gasoline rental car, so we left it in a Denny’s parking lot with the key on the left front tire and called Elliot’s office. Two of his staff drove out and retrieved the rental car for us. Away we went farther north, not a worry in the world. Such is the life of a rock and roll star.

  • • •

  PEGI HAD NAMED our new little yellow Mercedes “Miss Daisy Green.” We elected to take California Highway 1 along the coast to enjoy the scenery and stop at a bed-and-breakfast we knew in Big Sur for the night. It was going to be great! On the coast, where the road started curving a lot, we headed north along the side of a steep cliff that went straight down to the Pacific Ocean.