Muscle Cars Meet Green Technology

CBS Evening News: One Mechanic's Formula For Mean, Green Power Machines

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

Is a Ford-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 six-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 they are," he says.

Having your car green-tuned by Goodwin is gaining celebrity status. The 1984 Jeep 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 Linc-Volt.

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

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Couric & Co. blog: Learn more about Goodwin's green mechanics.

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"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?

[jtex67]

Katie stated, "This guy should work in Detroit." No, Katie, this guy should be running Detroit. The Big 3 continue to tell their Big Lies to Congress and the media[uncontested], while they have the 10 Worst Cars of the Year, by a recent, OBJECTIVE, evaluation. They have an ongoing bailout already, via sweetheart contracts with the Pentagon; and via police and firemans'' unions. Nobody who knows anything about cars, or integrity, and cares about quality buys their crappy cars and trucks, or their lies.

[badwrench13]

This is a direction we need to be going. Conversions of old technology often result in breakthroughs in new technology.

Just one question:

Is he hiring?

[madokie1]

interesting article but you left out one important detail.if you pay some one to do this its called a FELONY!!removing emision control eqipment that was factory installed and then not reinstalling it is a crime.has been since clean air laws were passed in the 70s.even if you do it on your own car its still a crime,and if Obama makes al gore head of EPA it will only be months before this guy in kansas is arrested.

[psg268]

CBS as well as the other news networks don''t seem to take the problems of alternative energy sources, energy independence, air pollution, fuel shortages, and past and future high fuel prices seriously otherwise it would be doing as many stories like this with greater depth as they do just REMINDING us that gas is up today by such and such. Katie and Hari if you think any auto maker will take this inventor seriously you have a box around your heads. I suggest everyone who reads this post read the story on http://www.investorsdailyedge.com/Blog-Entry.aspx?Id=1686. The writer is Christian Hill. This will tell you where technology is really going..... hidden in a vault somewhere. You all should also read his links within the story to past stories regarding General Motors EV1. CBS and the other networks didn''t spend much time doing stories on that "crime". I wish inventor Goodwin more luck and success with his invention, but I don''t think the multinational corporations with let it go on and certainly not in a big way. Which is quite depressing to think about. Maybe Leslie Stahl can do a 60 minutes story on Goodwin. Although Stahl''s mention of the demise of the EV1 in a previous 60 minutes show was heartening it was short lived. Journalism needs to keep pressure on Government and Corporations in a public way by repeatedly doing these stories over and over that these technologies exist and they work. When will the deception and distraction end Katie and Hari ??

[shanev137]

Pelosi needs make this guy the car czar.

[newsjunky5]

It''s good that Neil Young''s car has "zero admissions" so he doesn''t have to buy a ticket.
What does this mechanic change in these vehicles?
This article is short on details, relies on blind faith, and is one of the most poorly written articles I''ve ever seen on this site.

[bmwoman]

Through the looking glass, the modifications on the F450, Arnold''s Jeep, and the classic Impala and Lincoln may seem extravagant, and luxurious, not available to the everyday Joe or family with 2.5 children.

Think back five years ago, and recall the snickers that a Prius earned driving down the road. Now celebrities and every day Joe%u2019s and Mary%u2019s are proud owners, and rightfully so. Goodwin, his customers and employees have a like-minded, marketable, product and service - eco-friendly cars CAN be tricked out, ***, fast, and furious. Goodwin made it happen in on his own, with determination, and putting his given talent to work in the shop.

Auto Giants and Oil Suppliers: Supply and demand, attractive marketing, and mass production, are our friends with introducing eco-friendly vehicles to the market. There is money to be made, and plenty to go around, with the seemingly insatiable thirst we American%u2019s have for savvy technology, money saving vehicles, and the ever calling road trip. Get on board, embrace the change or stand back and be satisfied to watch us **** our planet good bye for future generations.

[educatedny]

As a Katie Couric fan I am disappointed in this report as more pseudoscience than critical journalism. It touts a performance shop as a "green machine" shop for wealthy and celebrities. NO - the owner should not run Detroit, and there is no such a thing as a "green" SUV or muscle car! I have seen enough of Detroit conmen like Lutz and Wagener who depend on cheap gas, marketing, and lobbying.
CBS accepts half-truths and false claims and has done a disservice regarding energy education. The future is by Japan who takes CAFE and global warming seriously.
Electric or plugin hybrid cars are not the answer if 50% of electric comes from dirty coal and 35% more is from other fossil fuels and nuclear? Electric power makes CO2 elsewhere and is not clean. Generation and transmission loss yields only 35% of heat energy burned, about the efficiency of Diesels. Do you think a 5000 lbs SUV moves using less energy than a 3000 lbs car or that more power comes without cost? Physics does not bend for mechanics, but it does for non-critically thinking journalists! Instead was a commercial saying we can have muscle cars and wasteful habits. Schwarzenegger''s HumVee is an example of waste.
Cover how "Clean Coal" misleads us. Will compressed CO2 stay underground without leaks, or deep in the ocean in a liquid "dead zone" and safe? It is site limited & energy intensive.
Cover the EU''s attempt to limit CO2, compared to US opposition. CBS has a pulpit to teach with - or not.

[docpeter1953]

This article is short on details, relies on blind faith, and is one of the most poorly written articles I''''ve ever seen on this site.

Posted by Newsjunky5 at 10:31 AM : Dec 10, 2008
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So you want this entrapenural business man to provide you with blueprints, spec sheets, and all modifications for free?

[duke1553]

I don''t see any independent lab test results (EPA, CARB, etc.) Even if his claims are proveable - He''s NOT producing half a million or more vehicles at a rate of one per minute and selling them at a sustainable profit.
Problem I see with Hybrids and all electric is once you turn on all the electrical *** people want in their vehicles your range is DRASTICLY reduced and you recharge or return to your dependence petroleum. Hydrogen ? well where do we get hydrogen? Pull up to you local rocket launching facility? How much will a tank full cost? It''s usually tied up with other elements and "cracking" will cost money ... how do we store it? Do we crack water to make hydrogen? We already are having problems with our water sources do you want to be shrinking the Great Lakes or the Oceans? Then again the direct bi-product of a fuel cell is water and we all love water , Right?........ How much water od you want along our roads and highways? Do you think all the cars during rush hour in New York City or a traffic jam on a California freeway producing water out of their tail pipes might be just a little to much water? The people in New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona might like it but what might be the long time impact on their environment? Then water promotes rust as well. Lots of thing to consider.

[edjohn66]

"Then again the direct bi-product of a fuel cell is water and we all love water , Right?........ How much water od you want along our roads and highways? Do you think all the cars during rush hour in New York City or a traffic jam on a California freeway producing water out of their tail pipes might be just a little to much water? The people in New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona might like it but what might be the long time impact on their environment? Then water promotes rust as well. Lots of thing to consider."

This is just about the stupidest thing I''ve read in a long time. "Water emissions are dangerous! We need to stick to the much-safer carbon monoxides and dioxides!

The point of the article is that the technology exists RIGHT NOW to drastically improve fuel efficiency. It has been Detroit''s resistance to doing so that keeps greener cars from the market.

[tburzio]

I''m actually betting that the alternative energy sources will all fail to pan out, and we will return to coal fired steam engines.