Articles by Mark Hinchliffe

Kia Motors Australia PR manager Jonathan Fletcher said he could only confirm that the company's environmental testing centre outside Seoul was considering a range of options."They are looking at a lot of things such as petrol-hybrid, diesel-hybrid, hydrogen fuel cells and no doubt they would be looking at electric cars but to what extent we don't know at the moment," he said.  No date has been set for hybrid Kia models to go on sale in Australia but on-road testing of petrol and diesel hybrid vehicles is due to start in Europe this year.Kia has been developing fuel cell vehicles with working prototypes in California and Korea, testing various hybrid-engined vehicles and has plans to commercialise Liquefied Petroleum Gas hybrid vehicles in Korea within the next 12 months.  Fletcher said they would consider any of the alternative fuel options, but they would have to be tested and evaluated in Australia first."If you take the Cerato LPG hybrid that was evaluated out here, it was deemed at this stage to have insufficient range for Australia," he said.  "It's not off the cards, but it's on the backburner.  "It's important to consider all these new alternative fuel vehicles but obviously they need to be right for our environment to make them viable."The Ray was designed at Kia's Design Centre America in California and although the official photographs are shadowy and vague, it shows a different styling direction for the company.  However, Fletcher said he suspected European-based chief designer, Peter Schreyer, would have overseen the project.

As businesses take delivery this year of new cars bought under the Government's business tax break which ended in December, a flood of trade-in vehicles is expected to hit the market, driving prices down.  David Scognamiglio, boss of vedaauto.com which monitors automotive credit trends, said there would be an oversupply of traded-in business vehicles and "some great deals in the used-car market this year". Vedaauto.com's Automotive Credit Demand Index for December showed credit for new vehicles rose 10 per cent compared with the previous December while used car credit dropped 7 per cent.  While overall automotive credit demand rose a modest 0.9 per cent in December from the previous month, business vehicle credit applications increased 20.6 per cent. The average business car loan amount also increased by $1462 from $43,471 in 2008 to $44,933 in 2009 with a spike of $46,111 across the final quarter, according to the data compiled from Veda credit applications and the National Vehicle Information System.  AP Eagers Group state general manager Keith Thornton said the best buys were in utilities, vans and light commercial vehicles. "Certainly there are a lot of used cars coming into the market so it's a fantastic time to be buying used," he said.  "We noticed quite a spike in trades toward the end of the year so we have a lot of stock.  There's a real mix of cars available, but obviously because of the incentive scheme we saw a lot of business buyers so there are more used commercial vehicles than normal." Used car dealer Alex Salter said there would be "good buys" in the market, but not bargains.  "We haven't seen a flood of good used cars hit the market yet. We anticipated it but we haven't seen it just yet," he said.  "We are hoping that they will turn up but at the moment we are still paying a premium for good quality used cars." Salter said the government's tax incentive meant new car dealers did not have to offer big prices for trade-ins to attract business last year, so prices should be competitive.

Jodie Johnson owned a 1972 HQ SS Monaro when she met her future husband Paul Johnson at a friend's birthday party in September 2000.  They were both into muscle cars and hit it off immediately. They were engaged in February 2001 and married that December.But little did Holden-loving accountant Jodie know when she met truck-driving Paul that he was a Ford fan.  "I suppose opposites attract," she says.  Paul agrees: "Ford or Holden; it doesn't matter. I know what the superior make is here."The Johnsons now have a collection of muscle cars in their garage and have started an online muscle car club that has 190 members from as far as Perth.  Jodie still owns the HQ, while Paul has a replica 1970 Falcon XW GT replica, a 1971 six-cylinder Futura and a recently acquired 1971 XY panel van."The panel van is quite a rare one. It's a project for us to do next," says Paul.  "Jodie enjoys working on them. It makes my life a lot easier with her having an interest in cars. We've got a lot in common to talk about."The GT replica is a standard XW, but with factory made genuine GT parts fitted.  "It's got all the GT parts like the interior, motor, gearbox, dashboard and stripes; it just doesn't have the GT code on the compliance plate," he says.  He bought it in Sydney four years ago for $18,000. Back in 1970 a GT would cost about $3500.Genuine GTs now fetch around $100,000-$160,000 while replicas can go for as much as $70,000.  "I don't know what it's worth, but it's got all the right parts," Paul says.  "I bought it as is and I've just changed the tyres, carbies, clutch and diff housing."It has a 351 Cleveland GT engine producing about 400hp with a four-speed top-loader manual gearbox and nine-inch diff.  "I had GTs before and I'd been looking around for a few years for a good replica. I couldn't afford a real one because the prices went silly for a couple of years," he says."I'm not kicking myself that I didn't keep the '74 XB GT. I don't regret it at all.  "This is by far my favourite Ford because of the colour. It's a total selling point.  "I knew it was a replica straight away because of the compliance plate and it was advertised as a replica.  "The next best thing to a real GT is a replica."Paul has displayed his car at hot rod shows while Jodie gave up on the show circuit two years ago to go drag racing.  Her brother bought the car 20 years ago with plans to rebuild it.  "My father got sick of it sitting in the shed doing nothing so I bought it off him for $10,000 and finished it off," she says."When we rebuilt it, it only had a 253 in it and was basically a show car.  I got sick of the show thing and cleaning it all the time, so we decided we'd make it a `go car' and took it to the drags."It now features a 454 big block engine which propels it to "high 12s" on the quarter mile strip.  "The cost all up is about $40,000," she says.  "It only comes out on weekends these days. My daily drive is a 2005 Nissan Pulsar. Pretty sad, huh?"She also owned a VK Commodore which was `pretty awesome" but when their daughters Mercedes, 4, and Palana, 2, came along the Johnsons traded it in for something with airconditioning.  Jodie says that given their love of muscle cars, Palana's name is often mistaken for Torana.

"We used to ride motorbikes and we hadn't been using them as much as I had lost my confidence," says Gloria.  So after becoming hooked on vintage cars, the motoring fanatics decided to sell their bikes and buy a Model T Ford. "Several friends owned Model T Fords and the 2008 Model T centenary rally was coming up at Echuca which is our favourite place," Gloria explains.  Col says their 1915 Model T cost them $800 for all the pieces of rust and junk. They cost 210 when new. However Gloria wanted to buy a vintage car they could drive right away while Col was restoring the Model T so they also bought a fully restored 1929 Chevy Coupe, one of the first six-cylinder models produced.  It cost $18,000 and Col estimates it's worth "maybe a bit more now". The Chevy had been cut into a ute, but restored to its coupe glory about 20 years ago. The Evanses are the third owners since it was restored."We met the guy who restored it at a show and he said his kids never forgave him for selling it," Col says.  "We've only added some newer tyres and rebuilt the engine." Meanwhile, Col set to working on the Model T using all the mechanical skills he learnt from years of converting VWs into beach buggies as they couldn't afford a 4WD.  "I did all the work myself except the upholstery. I sold all my old VW bits and pieces in exchange for getting the upholstery work done," Col says.  "It's worth about $15,000 now but I'm not going to sell it. It's in the family for a while.  My daughter Annette would kill me if I sold it."  The Model T is a two-litre, 20hp four-cylinder model with two gears and an optional two-speed differential that gives it four speeds.  Its controls are a little confusing.  For a start the accelerator is on the steering wheel.  The left pedal is first gear when pushed in, neutral when let out half way and top gear when let right out. The middle pedal is reverse and the right pedal is the brake, while the handbrake to the right of the driver engages neutral when it is half way.  "It's not difficult to drive once you get used to it," says Col  "It will go about 60km/h comfortably, while the Chevy goes about 85km/h and they both get about 20 miles to the gallon (11.7L/100km)." His next project is a Model T panel van.  "I have enough leftover parts to be able to build about half a car already," he says.  Gloria is happy that Col will have a hobby in his retirement, but says they can only afford to register two cars at a time.  They attend about four rallies a year and their next outing is the Australia Day Bayside Vehicles Restorers Club rally at Wynnum. "It's our favourite event," says Gloria.  "We normally get a good reaction from other motorists and pedestrians but with the Australian flag flying on the car, the response is so much better."

Paul Holter, 54, of North Arm on the Sunshine Coast got his nickname from years of converting American cars, mainly Pontiacs, to right-hand drive.Over the years he claims he has restored, converted, traded and owned as many as 600 cars and now has a dozen in his backyard and shed as well as a few restoration projects belonging to mates.  "I've been collecting cars all my life," he says  "When I got married 35 years ago my wife threatened that if I got any more cars she would leave me. She's still here."Holter got his first car when he was 11 years old.  "My dad bought a Mk V Jag and sold off the tyres and battery and gave me the rest," he says.  "I sold it and bought a '48 Ford Prefect for $40."His daily drivers are a 2005 CVZ Monaro, a 2007 Holden Rodeo and a 2008 Honda Civic, while his collectible cars include a 1976 Chrysler VK Valiant Hemi, a 1968 Pontiac Firebird Convertible, a 1959 Plymouth Suburban sports wagon, a 1960 Pontiac Ventura, a 1962 S Series Chrysler Valiant and a 1983 Pontiac Trans Am race car.He bought the Trans Am for $2000 and converted it into a race car by pulling out the 305 Chevy engine and four-speed auto box and replacing them with a Gen III Commodore 5.7-litre V8, six-speed Tremec gearbox and adding GT-R Skyline rear suspension and brakes.  He claims it gets about 350hp (260kW) at the rear wheels and propelled him to 77th out of 185 cars at last year's Noosa Hillclimb.His current project is the Plymouth he bought for $8500 two years ago. It features nine seats, including a rear-facing row in the back.  He's leaving it in left-hand drive, but is replacing the engine with a 440 V8 he bought online.  "I don't know what it will all cost," he says. "I'd prefer not to know as it could get expensive."It's all the little bits and pieces you have to buy that add up."  Over the past six years he has spent up to $40,000 in a loving restoration of the Ventura he bought for $11,000 and plans to spend about $30,000 _ "or something stupid like that" _ on the S Series Valiant.  "When you do it a bit at a time it doesn't seem so expensive," he says.He plans to fuel-inject and turbo-charge the Valiant's 225 slant-six engine.  "It's rated at 145bhp (108kW), but I reckon I can get it up to the middle 300s," he says.  "I do all my own mechanical work, but I get interiors, paint and body done by experts."Holter is a qualified train driver who moved from Victoria to Queensland 21 years ago and started his right-hand-drive conversion business.  He also had a business importing Nissan Laurel four-door, rear-wheel-drive pillarless sedans but found compliance laws kept changing too often. He bought an Autobarn franchise six years ago and another a year later.Business must be good because Holter has been able to indulge his interest in American cars, travelling several times to the US to buy cars and ship them home for conversion and restoration.And Holter is always looking toward his next project.  He's currently considering trading his Firebird for a Grand Prix and he's always had a soft spot for a Valiant Charger although he reckons they cost too much these days, some fetching as much as $300,000.

His lap time flashes up on the TV monitor and it's a new circuit record.  Just as well he loosened the screws on the chassis, sanded the tyres and added some lead ballast from wheel balancer weights and angling sinkers. Welcome to "Eggy's" world of model racing in the purpose-built room under his Buderim house.  The police officer has built his own 19m track under his home after removing 80 cubic metres of soil to build the room that houses his motoring hobby. "I built this room under the house just for the track. But that's nothing. I know blokes who have built a house especially to fit their set," he says.  "But I don't go to the pub all the time, I don't smoke, gamble or go out with bad women. This is my only vice." His obsession began almost four decades ago.  "When I was a kid, the kid across the road had a Scalextric set and I used to go across and play all the time," he says. "I never had one because dad couldn't to buy me one.  "Then 12 years ago I bought a Thunder Down Under Scalextric set for $249 set because my wife was going to have a boy  — at least that's what I thought, but it didn't turn out that way. "I was going to buy it and keep it for my son but he never came. Instead I have two beautiful daughters who just aren't that interested in it."  That original track is still in a box under the couch in his track room while Van Egmond has moved on to bigger things with a track he handbuilt from wood and copper foil used in led lighting as the contacts for the model cars' brushes. It includes a computerised timing system accurate to one-thousandth of a second and if you jump the start, it shuts down power to your lane for five seconds as a penalty.  "I'm a bit embarrassed by it all. It's a bit nerdy," he says. The set even includes $178 variable ohm controllers that can adjust the triggers sensitivity and the cars braking.  He also has more than 400 model cars, trucks and go-karts. "The exact number of them I'm not sure and I don't really want to know, plus I've got three more on order," he says.  The most expensive is a Spanish-made Fly brand Porsche 935 Jaegermeister Le Mans car he paid $145 for a few years ago and is now worth more than $200.  "I don't race it. It's a collectible classic and I don't want to wreck it," he says. He claims to have made some money on shrewd trading.  "I'm a shift worker and I get the Weekend Shopper and I'd never know when to call people," he says."I'd ring people at 5am and I got a few abusive answers but I also made a bit of money on it.  I bought a set for $40, sold about a third of it for $473 and still have the rest." His collection features cars from Ninco, Fly, Cartrix from Spain, SCX formerly made in Spain but now from China, Scalextric originally made in UK now China, Carrera and Revell Monogram from Germany and Slot.it from China.  "Once I started collecting them, I didn't stop. I just kept going," he says. He has insured his collection and track for $10,000 but reckons it's worth a lot more.  "It's a sickness." he says.  "It's like when you go past a car yard and you like a car but you can't afford to buy that Porsche. However, you can afford to buy a model car." He currently drives a Toyota RAV-4 and a Ford Courier dual cab but his first car was a Chrysler Charger CM four-speed that he bought when he was 18.  "My old man had a V8 Charger 318 and we used to live near Lakeside and watch Brock and Johnson racing," he says. "I always wanted to race, but never did. This is where I get my kicks now.  "When you have four blokes racing who are very close in skill it is a hell of a lot of fun." The world of model racing is very technical and racers spend hours tuning their cars to perfection.  "Each car drives differently and you can tweak them in all sorts of ways," he says.  For stability, he adds lead fishing sinkers or wheel balancer weights. To improve grip, he sands the tyres until they are perfectly round and fits alloy wheels because plastic wheels go out of shape.  He also glues the motor in and loosens the body screws or shaves the inside of the body so it rattles and doesn't axle hop. "I'm not a master tuner by any stretch of the imagination," he says.  He belongs to a couple of different clubs that meet frequently and stage six-monthly championships in various classes according to motor capacity and A and B grades according to driver skill. Sometimes they race while Van Egmond screens the Steve McQueen Le Mans movie or during the V8 Supercars or Bathurst telecasts.  "It's good to get a few mates around and have a few beers, although that does affect your driving skills and then your lap times get worse," he says.

Back in 1999, the only diesel-powered vehicles on the Australian market were sports utility vehicles, light commercials and trucks.

To celebrate the first decade of the noughties, British online used car retailer Carsite, charted 10 significant moments from the past decade of motoring.  Included in the list is the retro revolution sparked by new Mini in 2001; the BBC's Top Gear TV show; the 400km/h+ Bugatti Veyron; hybrid electric/petrol cars; and the digital boom in private online car selling. However it was the introduction of the accurate automotive sat nav unit in 2000 that Carsite considers the most significant development to motoring in the past decade, revolutionising the way drivers navigate road networks.  It began on May 1, 2000, when the US government stopped the intentional degradation or Selective Availability of the Global Positioning System (GPS) signals available to the public. Civilian users of GPS were suddenly able to pinpoint locations up to 10 times more accurately than before.  At the same time, the first accurate satellite-guided navigation units for cars were brought to market. While early models were expensive and occasionally sent drivers into fields or off cliff edges, the sat nav unit became a global success and is now one of the must-have driving gadgets. Apart from the safety benefits of not having to drive with a map on the lap, modern satellite navigation units are now available with live traffic alerts, video and music playback, celebrity voices and even 3D rendering of landmark buildings. Ten years on and the sat nav market is still evolving and looks set for a major change with internet mogul, Google, expected to introduce free satellite navigation software to the mobile market.

Who do you dislike most on the road? Let us know in the comments box below if you agree with these survey results, and which area you come from.  An east coast online survey conducted for insurance provider Budget Direct has revealed that taxis are the number one dislike on Sydney roads with 30 per cent, followed by 28 per cent for cyclists and 27 per cent for trucks. In Melbourne, 36 per cent voted cyclists their number one dislike followed by trucks with 26 per cent and taxis with 23 per cent.  Budget Direct spokesperson Richelle Ward said said Sydneysiders' dislike for taxis was likely to be due to the number of them on the city's roads. "There are an awful lot of taxis in Sydney and with that increased amount taxis drivers feel like they can dominate the road and pull in and out of traffic," she said.  "As for trucks, they just make drivers nervous around them.  "They also can be difficult to pass and they reduce your visibility on the road." In Melbourne and Brisbane cyclists were top of the list with one in three rating them their top dislike.  One in four disliked trucks and as little as 23 per cent of Melbournites disliked taxis and only 14 per cent in Brisbane. Ward said the lack of patience displayed towards cyclists was alarming, especially considering how vulnerable and exposed riders are.  "Even though cyclists are not licensed they still have to abide by the road rules and they do have a right to be on the road," she said. "The consequences for cyclists are as great as they are for motorcycles, perhaps more so, because of the lack of protection provided and drivers often being unaware of their presence."  While the survey did not provide specific information about what road behaviour attracted motorists' ire, Ward said the biggest grievance was about any road user performing illegal activity or slowing them down. "From past research, the biggest problem with bikes is the fact that they are difficult to be seen and that makes drivers  nervous," she said.  "I think some people also feel that cyclists should be held responsible for wrong doing like going through a red light and stop sign." She said that at Christmas time, the volume of traffic was increasing and tempers likely to be frayed.  "That's why it's important that drivers display more patience towards other road users," she said. "While people are understandably tired after a long year, and being on the roads for extended periods of time can be frustrating and difficult, all vehicles have a right to be using the road so please be patient."

The second is the four double-door garages.  Then he opens the doors to reveal cars stacked on top of each other on hoists. Jags, Mercs, a Porsche, Bentley and even a VW Karmann Cabriolet, plus five 1980s-'90s BMW motorcycles.Bitneris is a serious motoring nut.  But he almost wasn't, thanks to bad experiences with his first car, a "1950s-something" Standard 8.  "What a piece of crap that was. Even the floor fell out," he laughs."I was studying engineering _ it's tough being poor _ and I bought it in total ignorance because the guy that sold it to me left the country and it was still under finance.  They repossessed it and I went through a lot of heartache.  Then I bought a 1947 Fiat. What a piece of crap that was, too."Then came his motoring epiphany.  "The highlight of my life was working for the Ford Motor Company back in the late '60s, early '70s when they were developing the GTHO," he says."My job as a young engineer was to build the plant expansion to make the new models. I built all the assembly lines.  A GTHO cost about $4800 at the time and now they're fetching more than 100 times that. I should have stolen a couple of them.  I used to get to drive them on the weekends after working 80-100 hour weeks. They were great days for motoring."His career took him overseas for the next 30-odd years, living in 21 countries and learning to speak six languages.  Bitneris says his first "collector" car was a 1960 Jaguar XK 150 he bought in 1976 in Canada.  "It didn't cost a lot of money. It was the first one I could afford to buy," he says.He won't talk about how much he paid for any of his cars _ he has mostly forgotten _ and he won't talk about what they are worth now.  "People squander their money. I squander it on cars," he says. "I'd like to think that they could be my superannuation."  Bitneris has owned several different marques, all European."After the Jaguar it's a bit of a liar's contest," he says.  "I've bought a lot of cars I don't have anymore such as Series I and II Rolls-Royce Shadows."  He currently owns a 1961 Bentley Continental Park Ward Cabriolet which is number 68 of only 125 handbuilt at Crewe. It features a 6.25-litre V8 with about 150kW of power and four-calliper brake pistons."I paid a lot of money for that but it's worth a lot of money now," he says.  He also has two Mercedes-Benz 220S models.  One is a 1958 220S Cabriolet like the one Princess Grace died in. He bought it from a "crook" in Western Australia. The other is a 1959 Coupe he bought off a restorer who now wants it back.But Bitneris won't sell it to him. Instead he has flown to Russia to negotiate selling the two Mercs and Bentley to a collector.  He also owns a 1971 Jaguar E-Type Roadster which is one of the first with a V12 engine.  "I love Jags. They were the ants pants in my day. You could pick up women with them," he says.He also tends to favour cabriolets because "that's where the money is".  Sitting on top of one of the Mercs is a 1965 Porsche 356 SC, one of only 12 brought into Australia.  "I bought it from a guy whose wife ran off with the boss and he didn't want her to have it so he sold it to me cheap," he says."It was in totally original condition with a spare engine.  "The gods favoured me that day."  He boasts it has such a good drag co-efficient you can slip it into neutral at 160km/h and it will coast for more than 1.5km before stopping.There is also a 1979 VW Karmann Cabriolet in his garage that he admits is "a piece of crap, but mechanically perfect".  He's thinking of putting a Subaru engine in it.Bitneris is also planning to convert a four-door 1959 Jaguar Mk IX to two doors and right-hand drive with a bonnet that hinges forward like on the E-Type.  "My next project will be a Series 1 E-Type; I'll pull out the engine, gearbox and brakes and strip it down to about 900kg and put in a four-litre modern Jag engine," he says."At 900kg it's lighter than my Porsche 356.  I'll use it as a run-around."  He even has plans to start building replica Porsche RS 61 Spyders using the original drawings.  "It's a tiny car with only has a 1.6-litre engine, but boy is it quick," he says.Bitneris used to drive all of his cars, but now claims he can't afford to register them.  "I mainly drive the E-Type which has been converted to fuel injection using a Skyline GT-R system and injectors," he says.  "The car was quick as it was, but it's quicker now with about 50 per cent extra power."They are all my favourites."  Bitneris says that even as a dedicated revhead, he still has concern for the environment.  "I've got a couple of stills and I'm going to make my own ethanol so I can drive all of these around without having to worry about the cost to the environment or the cost of fuel."