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Online Find of the Day: Lexus-engined Mercedes pickup is a vintage hybrid

You have to love someone who gets incredibly committed to a very weird idea. What you see for sale here is a right-hand drive 1971 Mercedes-Benz 220D in South Africa, but this old Mercedes is now converted into a pickup, complete with bed cover, and there's big secret under the hood, too.
The pickup conversion appears well done based on seller Sedgefield Classic Cars' photos. Even the tonneau cover fits well. You could almost believe that this Mercedes lived its life as a Chevrolet El Camino-like pickup from the very beginning.
However, the rear-quarters conversion might not be the weirdest thing about this Mercedes. The original diesel is gone from the engine bay in favor of a Lexus V8. It seems really odd to pop the hood and find a Japanese mill in this German car, but the photos make it look like a fairly well performed swap. So, bravo to the crazy thinking. According to the seller speaking to Autoblog by email, "as far as we can establish, this was done a few years ago, with all Lexus components."

The 2021 Lexus LC 500 Convertible is blissful, motoring beauty

Exquisite, grand, beautiful. Any of these words and more like them could be used to describe the 2021 Lexus LC 500 Convertible’s design. They also apply to the noise made by LexusÂ’ 5.0-liter naturally aspirated V8 engine. In fact, go down the list. The interior is just as stunning. Its handling defies the 4,557-pound curb weight. Sure, the infotainment system is hot garbage to use, but Â… who cares? Messing with a formula as perfect as the LC 500 Coupe is dicey business. That said, these designers already had one mic drop moment. WhatÂ’s a second with the Convertible? One look at the dazzling drop top is enough to turn anybody into a believer. The original LC was essentially just the LF-LC Concept brought to life in production form. Few (if any) designs of the past decade have transitioned so gloriously from the make-believe world of concept cars to production vehicles. Seeing the LC parked amongst Ford Explorers, Chevy Tahoes and other regular fare at a grocery store brings into focus how unprecedented the design is. It looks as though somebody ripped the car straight out of a fantasy novel and stuck it on city streets. The first time I drove the LC, some guy and his friend followed me for several miles until I arrived at my destination, just to scramble out of their car and get a closer look. ThatÂ’s the kind of car this is. Many years from now, there will be beautifully preserved examples of them sitting on the grass at concours shows across the country, rightfully taking its place as a shining example of peak car design from this era. And yes, those are heady words. But look at it! The Lexus spindle grille that looks so awkward and out of place on some Lexus models fits the LCÂ’s face. ItÂ’s complemented by a striking triangle-shaped triple-LED headlight design. Lexus designed the front LED daytime running lights to swoosh in the same shape and style of the grille, too. There are no obnoxious or unnecessary fake vents (looking at you, Supra). ItÂ’s not trying to be a muscle coupe with a super aggressive chin or bulging hood. The front is just clean, pointed perfection. ItÂ’s when we get to the A-pillar that the Convertible begins to diverge from the Coupe. Connecting to the top of the pillar is, well, a roof.

2020 Lexus LC 500 Luggage Test | Hey, why not?

I will admit that I initially did this as a joke. A seemingly endless parade of SUVs had been passing through Autoblog Portland HQ, each of which was subjected to my luggage test. Then the 2020 Lexus LC 500 showed up resplendent in metallic Flare Yellow, a shade that attracted gazes like it was on fire. A couple stopped in front of my house and just chatted about it for a while. A little girl exclaimed, "Look, Mom, a fancy car! The yellow is so pretty!" Indeed, little girl, indeed. So really, I had the car, I had the luggage, I'd been doing the tests every week, so hey, what the hell? Turns out I was about to learn something. First thing's first: Open the trunk. It's a fobless process like nearly everything nowadays, but finding the button can be tricky. It's not adjacent to the license plate, rather, it's encased within the right taillight. Once found, you appreciate that it's both hidden and easily accessible.  Once open, there's 5.4 cubic feet of space in this V8-powered LC 500. The 500h hybrid has 4.7 cubes, which would be the same as a Porsche 911's frunk. However, when talking about such small volumes, the shape of the trunk counts for so much more than it would in trunks of larger numerical value. In fact, it can easily matter more than the cubic-foot total, as we're about to see. As a reminder, I use two midsize roller suitcases that would need to be checked in at the airport (26 inches long, 16 wide, 11 deep), two roll-aboard suitcases that just barely fit in the overhead (24L x 15W x 10D), and one smaller roll-aboard that fits easily (23L x 15W x 10D). I also include my wife's fancy overnight bag just to spruce things up a bit (21L x 12W x 12D).  Holy crap! That's the biggest bag and the biggest medium-sized bag. They fit easily and there's some room to spare for some odds and ends. I tried fitting that same big bag in my 1998 BMW Z3, which has a 5.0-cubic-foot trunk. That biggest bag doesn't come close to fitting, going to show the importance of trunk shape, which is particularly deep and wide in the LC, if fairly shallow. It could also fit two of the medium-sized bags and my wife's fancy bag. Quite frankly, this is exceptional for a two-door GT car like the Lexus LC. I started to wonder at this point how a Porsche 911's frunk would do. Thankfully, as it turns out, I did a variation of this test back in 2013 with the previous-generation 911. And to think I was impressed by that.