Neil Young has always been a man of timeless, simple tastes. Over a four decades-plus career, he's displayed an expertise of seemingly every form of rock n' roll, including rockabilly, grunge (which he famously "godfathered"), country rock and folk. He smoked funny stuff with the hippies in late 60's Laurel Canyon before settling down on a ranch near San Francisco.

He is an insatiable model train hobbyist. He has copped to standing barefoot in horse manure for proper, pre-practice inspiration.

And he likes cars. Classic cars. The kind of automobiles that this here land of ours was built on: solid cars and trucks made by solid people before the industry went into a tailspin. Which is why Young has taken to the Huffington Post to pen a treatise on how to save the American auto industry. Finer details are in the piece (and a New York Times article from late October) of course, but the Big Points deal with a repurposed industry in which cars are still manufactured, but without engines and transmissions. Instead, take these so-called Transition Rollers (that is, the cars without the engine/transmissions) and have them refitted to become, essentially, electric cars. Assembly lines remain busy, mileage is increased, existing technology is used, and we all have neat new electro-cars to drive to the next Crazy Horse show.

Before anyone suggests that Young is just another celeb using an available soapbox to spout armchair policy, consider that Young puts his motor where his mouth is: Young has assembled a team intent on winning the Progressive Insurance Project X Prize, which will deliver $10 million to anyone, any team or any company that can develop a vehicle with the ability to get 100 miles to the gallon... and develop it by 2009.

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