2003 Mercedes Benz Clk500 Black 2-door Coupe, Excellent Condition on 2040-cars

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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."

2015 Belgian Grand Prix is a return to scheduled programming

With summer intermission over, the second half of the Formula One season commenced in the Belgian countryside at Spa-Francorchamps. After qualifying, it looked a lot like the first half of the season with just a few minor changes. Lewis Hamilton was even more dominant in his Mercedes-AMG Petronas than usual, regularly taking half a second out of his teammate in just the middle sector of the circuit. Teammate Nico Rosberg tightened it up a tad for his final hot lap, but Hamilton still took pole by 0.45 seconds ahead of Rosberg in second. With his Williams back at a power track, Valtteri Bottas got himself up to third, although more than a second behind Hamilton. Romain Grosjean in the Lotus in fourth had his best qualifying performance since his fourth-place grid spot at the 2013 US Grand Prix. This was a huge boon for Lotus, the team facing another financial issue off track that threatened to have its cars impounded as soon as they left the circuit. Grosjean had to have his gearbox changed before the conclusion of six races, however, so the five-spot penalty meant he'd actually line up ninth for the race. Sergio Perez put the Sahara Force India in fifth, where we're more used to seeing his teammate Nico Hulkenberg, just ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in the Infiniti Red Bull Racing in sixth. Felipe Massa got the second Williams in seventh, in front of the second Lotus of Pastor Maldonado in eighth. Then came the first and only Ferrari in the top ten, Sebastian Vettel qualifying ninth after a disappointing Saturday for the scuderia; teammate Kimi Raikkonen suffered gearbox issues and qualified way down in 16th. Carlos Sainz took tenth in the Toro Rosso. A new start procedure in Belgium meant drivers had to handle clutches on their own, without the engineers finely tuning bite points between the garage and the start line. That was in conjunction with another rule limiting the kinds of radio messages possible between engineers and drivers, aiming to put more of the car in the drivers' hands. After an aborted start when Hulkenberg's car quit while sitting on the grid, Hamilton made the most of the new procedure. His start wasn't amazing but he beat everyone else off the line, while those behind were alternately getting bogged down or leaping ahead. Midway through the first lap the top ten was Hamilton, Perez, Ricciardo, Bottas, Rosberg, Vettel, Maldonado, Grosjean, Massa, Marcus Ericsson. At the end of 43 laps, Hamilton would still be in the lead.

BMW M4 versus Audi RS5 | Autoblog Podcast #546

On this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Associate Editor Reese Counts. We debate the merits of the BMW M4 and the new Audi RS5 and our hopes for the refreshed Mercedes-AMG C63. We also discuss the state of Cadillac, the future of the Ford Fusion and the rumored Mercedes-AMG competitor to the Porsche 718 Boxster and Cayman. Autoblog Podcast #546 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown 2018 BMW M4 versus 2018 Audi RS5 Cadillac and Mercedes-AMG sport coupes The state of the luxury car industry The future of the Ford Fusion Replacement for the Mercedes-Benz SLC Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video: Design/Style Podcasts Audi BMW Cadillac Ford Lexus Lincoln Mercedes-Benz Convertible Coupe Crossover SUV Luxury Performance bmw m4 mercedes-amg c63