2010 Queanbeyan Swap Meet/All Ford Day Part 1 of 6

Every year when the AFL Grand Final rolls around, I know that the Queanbeyan Swap Meet/All Ford Day and American Car show is on. I have to arrive early on Saturday, so I can get home in time for the footy. This Saturday was no exception, and I arrived around 8AMish to begin my wandering.

 I think these are off Flathead V8's. 20 bucks? sure , I'll take both (if i had a flathead V8 that is).

 You have to wonder why people bring some things to sell. These were still there on Sunday arvo.

 Cars of all shapes and sizes. The one on the right needs a cut and polish.

 Thousands of different obscure car repair guides are available. 

 Looking for a good home.

 This almost came home with me(but I have enough junk).

 Lots of non-car junk for sale as well. Less than in previosu years though.

 Would this fit my 302 Ford Windsor ? 

 Boys from Baltons did good business. 

 Sam is pretty shy.

 Never seen this many Micro cars in one place before. 

 Repro Taiwanese Ford Panelvan doors. 100 bucks for both. Unbelievable!

 Pretty complete Plus 4 Torana. Not many of these left. 

 There were lots of cars for sale, which is a good thing at a Swap meet!

I wont bore you with the rest of the swapmeet treasures, all I can say is that at least it wasn't pissing down and 3 degrees like last year! It was a warm sunny spring Canberra day, around 20 degrees. Beautiful for treasure hunting and car photography.

The rest of these foters are of vendors cars or cars in the carpark, none of these were here for the display, but earning a crust or just driven in for the day. All the Fords are in the next few posts, and the American Car SHow cars are in seperate post as well. LOTS OF FOTERS to come!

 These are some of the swap meet vendors cars. I dont think its a genuine RT ute...

 Nice EH ute, louvered bonnet. Sat real low. 

 Mainline ute, should have been on the show ground.

 Very very tidy, parked next to me. 

 Jeep Cherokee, a little rough. 

 Pontiac Parisienne. Canadian built GMH import.

 Nice grille. Very tidy.

 F-series ambo in primer. For sale. 

 Interesting rear body.

 Biggest petrol tank I've ever seen on a car.

 Tres cool.

 52 Hudson, parked in the carpark!

 Look at those curves!

Very rare Standard Vanguard utility. Australian built.

Naturally I will have to divide these posts up to allow for the heavy photo content. Surf back over the next week or so as I put these posts up. I will make the links active as the posts go up.

Post 1 (This One) Swap meet treasures, vendor cars and non-Fords

Part 2 - All Ford Day - Fords and Falcon Coupes! 

Part 3 - All Ford Day - More Fords

Part 4 - All Ford Day

Part 5 - American Car Show (Sunday)

Part 6 - American Car Show (Sunday) 

Ford XA GT HO Phase 4 Falcon Badge

Here is something that is pretty rare. A badge from an XA Falcon GTHO Phase 4. Only a handful of these exist. Not mine unfortunately! This is genuine, and was shown to me by an ex-Ford employee.

Electric Vehicle festival 2010 - Part Two - Toyota, Mitsubishi and Better Place

Better Place were at the EV Festival last year, and they have been floating round as an entity in Australia for several years now. They have no shortage of promotional material, and a quick googling produces a flurry of media releases, photos of Better Place execs shaking hands with Chief Ministers etc. 

What exactly is their business model ? How are Better Place going to produce a paradigm shift in vehicle usage in the Australian market which will lead to a more sustainable car ? Is it a viable business model ? 

Mitsubishi i-MiEV

I will let the reader trawl through the Better Place propaganda, but my take on their business model is this:

1. Electric cars are limited due to battery capacity affecting range.

2. Quick replacement batteries can limit this problem.

3. Design cars that accept a standard quick changeover battery pack.

4. Build a network of stations where these battery packs can be swapped over in minutes.

5. Charge a fee for this service (i'm not sure how they calculate this fee).

Engine bay of Mitsubishi i-MiEV 

Now I think as business models go, thats a fairly simple one. I do see a few flaws though. Despite plenty of press announcements, I don't see any Better Place battery changeover stations. The car they bought to the EV Festival is an electric car with a proprietary battery pack. It does not have a replacement battery pack that Better Place can quickly swap over.

When I asked the Better Place people about charging stations/battery swap over sites, I was told they were coming soon. I also asked why the car didn't use the Better Place battery swap technology and was advised it didn't conform with ADR's. I think Better Place need to work the political connections a bit more. Their idea sounds good, and could remove that nagging range problem people feel they need.

Feed me

Lets look at the Mitsubishi i-MiEV that Better Place brought along. The Mitsubishi website is annoyingly Flash driven, so I wont link to it, but Google it yourself. As a commercially available electric car it is different to the Prius mainly due to it being electric only and not a hybrid. The car has been on the Japanese market since June 2010. It costs around $70,000. It can travel on a charge for 160 kilometers. Its top speed is 130 km/h. It has a single 47kw electric engine, that goes through a reduction gear into a differential driving the rear wheels. It looks like a Kei car, but thats sensible as its a market that electric cars can comfortably compete in, playing to those Kei car requirements.

 Battery pack. There are 22 modules carrying 4 batteries each. Mitsubishi have signed a deal with Lithium Australia regarding battery supply. 

 Japanese manufacturers have standardised on a single EV plug design.

 The Toyota display - Hybrid Camry, Hybrid Prius and Hybrid Lexus

The Toyota approach is different. They haven't jumped straight to an electric car, they have looked at the limitations and advantages of electric cars and designed a hybrid combustion engine/electric engine driven passenger vehicle. No battery swap over required on the highway for a Toyota hybrid. The Prius is on it 4th generation, slowly improving battery life and efficiency of its electric engine.

 The Australian built Hybrid Camry

Toyota had three cars on their display all hybrid petrol/electric cars. They were a Hybrid Camry, Hybrid Prius and Hybrid Lexus.

Producing the Camry as a hybrid is a clever tactic of Toyotas. The car looks just like that safe Camry that everybody drives. It uses 4th generation technology that wont suddenly fail, which only early adopters would tolerate. It is a larger car than the Prius, so a family could comfortably fit in it. 

It is for all intents and purposes a Camry, that costs 20 grand more and uses less petrol, with better acceleration. 

The Toyota salesman at the EV festival told me that sales were pretty good for the EV Camry, with about one third of Camry sales being of the EV model, with private purchasers opting for it as well as fleet sales. He said there were few electro mechanical issues, no recalls so far, and that the service staff had received extra training to service the new cars. Toyota have received wads of public money to build this car in Australia, so I hope that the long term benefits of this technology prove themselves.

More in Part Three -  Blade Electron (coming soon)

See also - Electric vehicle Festival 2010 Part One - Homebuilt EV Cars, Motorbikes and electric bicycles
Last years EV Festival 2009