mod@tech

I’m not in the market for an EV, but I do glance at cruising ranges when reading about one in the buff books. Around town, most seem reasonable, but I’m the kind of guy who doesn’t want to be restricted (or stranded) by a range-limited vehicle if I have a six-hour road trip. Some are better than others, with my expectation of 350 miles being somewhat too aspirational for most new EVs. However, Lucid is bucking that trend, setting a Guinness World Record that would make any ICE-powered vehicle envious.

The Lucid Air is a car I see somewhat often in metropolitan Phoenix. I suspect the factory in nearby Casa Grande has something to do with it. Looking at the Lucid Motors website, I note several trim levels for the Air:

• Pure ($69,900)
• Touring ($78,900)
• Grand Touring ($110,900)
• Sapphire ($249,000)

Obviously, there’s more to trim levels with Lucid than a fancier interior and wheels. The “estimated range” for the respective four trim levels are 420, 406, 512, and 427 miles all impressive considering our recent Hyundai Ioniq 5 Limited AWD test car is rated by the EPA has having a 269-mile all-electric range (though the RWD version has a much more reasonable 318 miles). Considering the only EV I’ve desired—the Volkswagen ID. Buzz—can only offer a best of 234 (which seems unacceptable for a new model), the Lucid Air Grand Touring is especially impressive.

This is the same model that holds the record at Car and Driver for the longest-driving EV (at 410 miles), though now it seems it’s official, as it has set a new Guinness World Record for the longest drive on a single charge by any electric vehicle. Would you believe 749 miles?

So, how does a car that’s rated at 512 miles achieve over 200 more?

According to Car and Driver, there are several things to consider: the starting point of St. Moritz, Switzerland is 6000 feet above sea level, while the destination of Munich, Germany is 1700 feet above sea level. Though the drive between the two cities is around 220 miles, the long, scenic, and gradual downhill route can be around 750 miles. The gravity worked in conjunction with the regenerative braking system to generate the exponential improvement.

This reminds me of the old, coast-to-coast Mobil Economy Run, which was especially popular with manufacturers after World War II. Though the event was designed to show real-world fuel efficiency, companies began to find every which way to eke out fuel savings in the interest of bragging rights in marketing, even though the average driver would never achieve such results. If you thought hypermiling was a recent phenomenon, think again.

Lucid likes to brag that “with up to 512 miles of estimated range at your disposal, ‘range anxiety’ is not in your vocabulary.” While looking for a charging station and dealing with the length of time to fully charge a vehicle are other detriments to EVs, the Lucid Air appears to have removed one hurdle.

Most of my friends are into cars in one way or another. One of them is an automotive designer. Another has a small fleet of vehicles and works in the insurance industry. A third is the sales director for an auction house.

Then there’s my pal Dan Wolff, who’s not a car guy at all. As a talented comic artist, he’d rather stay up all night drawing his latest character instead of lusting over cars on the Internet or chatting stats. How were we roommates for several years without boring each other to death? How have we been great friends for more than a decade?

The simplest, most fundamental answer is that we have other interests in common. We met when we were cast in a community theater play. Right off the bat, it was clear we were both interested in the arts. The more I talked with him, the more I realized we had similar personalities. Like me, Dan is a sensitive guy with a silly side (which often leads to doing terrible Andrew Dice Clay impressions). We can talk and laugh for hours without even a mention of cars—hypothetically, of course. I always bring up cars at some point.

Just being a good human has helped too. A lot of people say it’s a bad idea to be roommates with friends, but I had no reservations about us moving into a bachelor pad in Austin back in 2014. It was great. We both always paid our rent on time, minded each other’s space, and kept the place in order (at least to the standards of two single guys in their late 20s/early 30s).

Our time in that apartment taught me even more about the importance of common interests. I learned how to discuss cars with Dan in his language. One week, I had a Toyota Prius to review. Although Dan didn’t care about the car itself, given his love of the environment, I knew he would appreciate the Prius’ fuel economy. Dan creates characters and entire worlds with the stroke of his pen, so I asked him what he thought of the hybrid’s lines and use of colors, which he was more than willing to discuss. Ultimately, despite the big difference between us, Dan and I were still able to relate to each other (but I will never be able to agree with him that Cincinnati chili is delicious).

I know it sounds strange, but sandwiches have also played a role in my friendship with Dan, giving us a reason to combine the things we enjoy. Dan was born and raised in Cincinnati, so he’s a big fan of Penn Station East Coast Subs and Graeter’s ice cream. When we were roommates, he didn’t have many chances to go back to the Midwest and get a taste of home. A quick search revealed there were three Penn Station locations in Texas, all of which were more than three hours away in the Dallas area.

Right around the time Dan made that discovery, I had the keys to a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara press loaner without a mileage limit. Not only did the seven-hour round trip teach me about the JK’s road manners and fuel economy, but it also made for a great day with one of my buddies, who finally got his fill of the food he loved when he was growing up. Dan and I made a few more treks to Penn Station, each time in a different vehicle: the Mazda MX-5 Miata Grand Touring, Ford F-150 Limited, and Alfa Romeo 4C Spider.

As much as I love cars and talking about them, the truth is that they’re not an all-powerful unifying force. I’ve known gearheads that I had no chemistry with because we had wildly different personalities and cars were the only thing we had in common. But if you make the right friends, you can have a great time with them doing something completely unrelated to automobiles, yet still share your passion for cars with them in a way that both of you understand and enjoy.

Many people lump the coupe version of the Mercedes-Benz R107 series cars in with the 450SL roadsters. The two cars look the same, so they must drive and feel the same, right? Well, having driven the roadster and the coupe, I can confidently say these are very different. Both are of the absolute highest quality, but the coupe version of the SL edges the roadster just a bit. No, the top does not go down, but the addition of the permanently fixed roof, along with a more spacious cabin, makes the SLC something that feels even better than the already excellent SL.

The SL’s feeling of solidity is somehow magnified in the coupe, and when you combine that with the extra space in the coupe (providing more legroom and headroom), it adds up to the 450SLC being one of the absolute finest sporting GT cars ever built. Sure, the SEC car that replaced it is also world-class, but the coupe feels like a much bigger car than the SLC. That replacement also loses a bit of its classic styling, which has been why I have always preferred the SLC to the SEC.

Featured on AutoHunter is one of these amazing cars, a 1976 Mercedes-Benz 450SLC. The car is offered by a private seller in Fort Worth, Texas, and the auction will for this car will end Thursday, July 17, 2025, at 12:00 p.m. (PDT).

The seller describes this 450SLC as being powered by a rebuilt M117 4.5L V8 mated to a three-speed automatic transmission. This W107, finished in its very 1970s Milan Brown over a Cream leather interior, is being offered by the seller with service records and a clear title.

The seller states this SLC has had $103,000 invested in it over the years. Most recently, the engine was rebuilt, and the front suspension and brake system were completely redone.

The exterior of the car looks to be in very good shape, with only a few minor scratches and tiny dings present. The Milan Brown paint seems in excellent condition overall.

The interior features the original Parchment leather, which appears to be in great shape. The carpets, door cards and dash all look to be in excellent condition as well. The only departures from original are a leather wrap for the steering wheel and a modern radio.

Lifting the hood does not show anything alarming, though the car is due for a detailing and, when doing that, I would also recommend replacing the under-hood pad.

While Mercedes SLC cars have been underappreciated by collectors for a very long time, younger collectors seem to have figured out what the SLC is about and, and as a result, prices are now slowly creeping up. When new, these were the most expensive new Mercedes-Benz cars you could buy, costing $26,000 in 1976. For now, they remain relative bargains, but good examples—as this one appears to be—are difficult to find.

The auction for this 1976 Mercedes-Benz 450SLC ends on Thursday, July 17, 2025, at 12:00 p.m. (PDT).

Visit the AutoHunter listing for more information and a photo gallery

It’s like a joke that wrote itself: an Italian and a Frenchman walk in a bar . . . and then they emerge with a car they designed themselves. A recipe for disaster? Depends on how you look at it, but that car is our Pick of the Day, a 1973 Citroen SM. It is listed for sale on ClassicCars.com by a dealership in Newport Beach, California.

My favorite Matchbox diecast was a blue and red Citroen SM. I don’t know what it was about that model, but I thought it looked cool. I had never seen one in the flesh as a kid, though I had seen one on the cover of a book that was on display at Woolworth’s. The front end looked like nothing I had ever seen before, though I didn’t recognize there were six headlights instead of four.

As my parents are originally from Argentina, I was able to see Citroens in person, though the bulk were 2CVs and Ami 8s—quite the antithesis of the SM. Yet I was also taken by those utilitarian models, and I cannot explain why. Was it the unusual shifter? At least with the Ami 8, I know that I really dug the European halogens, a common theme among other cars that captured my interest when I was a kid. Over time, I became aware of the GS and CX, both of which had what I thought were good looks and a nifty instrument panel with a rotating barrel speedometer like (I’d later discover) you’d find on a first-gen Oldsmobile Toronado.

Then, randomly, when I was around 10, I unexpectedly caught sight of my first SM at the Wanamaker’s store in Wilmington (of all places). My mom passed it and I thought, “Wait a minute—isn’t that a Citroen?” I asked her to back up and, lo and behold, here was my dream car. It featured U.S.-spec sealed-beam headlights, which was a new (and disappointing) revelation to me. I also didn’t find the view from the rear too engaging, lacking the grace of the front-end. Never did I see this car again, but I did catch a sighting of a “proper” SM in the streets of Paris when I was in high school.

During my adolescence, I didn’t understand the unique history of the SM, such as Citroen’s partial acquisition of Maserati, the development of a French GT with a Maserati V6, and front-wheel drive. The marriage of Italian and French engineering sounded like a disaster but, if properly maintained, worked fine. The problem was properly maintaining it. Unless you lived somewhere where Citroen were relatively popular, like the West Coast, it was a difficult proposition. For such an interesting, stylish car, disrepair was not an uncommon occurrence, as evidenced by the SM I saw resting on its haunches on the side of the road in Boulder, Colorado around 1996. Sure, this position was common when parked, but chances are the suspension needed a new breath of life in order to rise for the occasion of getting to Point B.

With the advent of impending safety and emissions standards, combined with the first oil crisis and financial difficulties for Citroen, the SM had trouble surviving though managed to last for five model years. Out of 12,924 built, approximately 2,007 were sold in North America, which is impressive considering the brand never really gained traction in the U.S. This Or de Simiane (Simian Gold) 1973 Citroen SM is one of those. It’s not uncommon for U.S.-spec cars to have had their headlights converted to the Euro halogen system by enthusiasts, but this one’s original system remains intact, showing off the fixed sealed-beam illumination without the aero lens covers. According to the seller, this one sold new in Beverly Hills for $13,844, which was several thousand dollars more than a Cadillac Eldorado convertible and more in line with a Mercedes-Benz 450SL. “Owned for a few years by Citroen service guru Jerry Hathaway,” says the seller. “Extensive service records, known history, well maintained and refurbished over the past 10-plus years and in wonderful condition inside and out.”

Most of these came with a five-speed manual, but this one features the Automatique—not a surprise considering its LA origin. An SM that’s sorted out is a wonderful thing and, in real dollars, it would cost a lot more than the $54,800 being asked today.

Click here to view this Pick of the Day on ClassicCars.com