Video: Muscle cars meet green technology

Johnathan Goodwin's hybrid auto creation looks nothing like a Prius.

It is a Ford F-450. It is 14,000 pounds of pure mean, green machine, CBS News correspondent Hari Sreenivasan reports.

"I can run hydrogen, biodiesel, diesel fuel, or natural gas," Goodwin said.

Goodwin is a natural-born tinkerer. He started by tearing apart a lawnmower and putting it back together when he was just 6 years old.

Now, every big truck or car this self-taught 7th-grade drop-out from Wichita, Kan., works on gets more powerful, more fuel-efficient, and faster.

He transformed one '64 Impala into an 850-horsepower monster that gets 25 miles to the gallon and goes from zero to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds.

Goodwin and his team in Kansas have modified more than 100 vehicles in the past 10 years. He works on a small scale, and his modifications can cost anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars per vehicle. And his work is leaving car designers in Detroit jealous.

"I'm not held by the same restraints that they are," he says.

Having your car green-tuned by Goodwin is gaining celebrity status. The 1984 Jeep that Sreenivasan got a road tour of belongs to the Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"We've doubled the horsepower. We've tripled the torque and doubled the fuel economy," Goodwin said.

Goodwin's greatest creation to date is the LincVolt.

It's Neil Young's 1959 Lincoln. It weighs 2.5 tons, is 19 feet long, can go 160 mph. And it has zero emissions, because it can go more than 100 miles on just batteries.

"Nobody wants to sacrifice size and style to gain fuel efficiency, and there's no reason to do it," Goodwin said.

Why settle, when you can have big, beautiful, clean and green under one hood?

See also:

• Couric & Co. blog: From Gas Guzzler To Lean, Green Machine

• CNET News: Dreamforce: Neil Young shows off his green machine

[mrwater]

This strikes me as one of the most absurd pretensions green-ness I've seen in a long time. The most basic step in green design is to question the need in the first place, and I don't see what need deserves to be met by a 7-ton toy for His Governator. I don't care what it burns; it's a colossal waste of energy.

Same with Neil Young's car. We all should know by now that electric cars are more energy-efficient, but the power to drive 5,000 pounds of 1959 car has to come from somewhere. This strikes me as a good reason to not spend money on music.

[ferretboy88]

some people have to work for a living. Maybe they need a truck to haul around the tools. Ever think of that? We can't all drive around in little smart two seat cars and hang out in star bucks all day.

[mrwater]

ferretboy88, I'd like to point out that you've jumped to some pretty wild conclusions.

Are you really suggesting that "people who work for a living" need a 19-foot Lincoln that can go 160 mph?

And are you really suggesting that I'm not aware some people need bigger vehicles than a two-seater?

For the record, I work for a living. I'm lucky enough to be able to get by without even owning a car, but I drive one when needed. And I don't even drink coffee, let alone hang out at Starbucks.

[fokkwp]

If you accelerate rapidly, or travel at high speed, you will not achieve any sort of reasonable fuel economy. Packing a barge load of lead-acid batteries in the back of a monster car just creates more pollution at the coal-fired generating plants. Nothing green but the paint.

[dbargen]

Blah Blah waste of energy blah.

As long as the person pays for it, they can do whatever the hell they want with their energy. A strong economy is highlighted by profuse and affordable energy. That's one of the reasons America is a world financial power. See how the purportedly immune economies and India and China finally caught up with our economic issues.

And that brings us to the point of this article response. What's the point of highlighting seemingly successful "green" horsepower, in an effort to make such technologies palatable, if it costs so much? It's not going to replace oil, not when we have a century's worth or more on our own land waiting to be tapped.

As for arnold and neil, if they want to enjoy their toys, more power to them. I'd enjoy the thrill of the throttle myself in their shoes. Just try not to end up like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smug_Alert!

[SpeedRacerGT]

"Green" people all want to be dictators. This smart green technology should be applauded. We have people who are spending big dollars to compromise. Yet we still have the haters who refuse to see the positive here. What do you tell someone who has 6+ kids? What do they drive? How do they get around? People are so concerned about a the false notion that man is killing the planet by driving their cars, that they forget that people have lives. Let's focus on conservation, not just maximizing green to the detriment of happiness.

[mrwater]

Let's see. What do I tell someone who has six kids? Please stop! Actually, I don't say that to people, because I love kids and I understand the desire to procreate. But I'd like people to be considerate of our ability to provide a livable life to all the earth's inhabitants.

If you have six kids, I'd suggest something other than one of these "green" muscle cars. If this is what your happiness depends on, I feel sorry for you.

There are conflicting rights at play here. As a Montanan, I have a (state) constitutional right to a "clean and healthy environment" and I think that belongs in our nation constitution.

My preference is that we can all better understand each other's needs and respond in a compassionate way. Yes, we have lives; I'd like to not have mine shortened by thoughtless and wasteful consumption.

[ferretboy88]

If every single liberal in America stopped using their battery powered toys and stopped driving any cars at all the world would be a better place.