RIP Ron Hickman

[trw99]

Thanks so much for the Elan, Ron and the pleasure you have given us

[CBUEB1771]

Always an entertaining chap to talk to.

So true, he walked up to me at one of our Lotus Owners Gatherings at Lime Rock Park as I finished polishing the +2 for the concours. His first comment was that he was amazed that so many people bothered to keep up with these "pieces of crap". He then pulled a muddy stake out of the ground and pressed it against my clean door window to demonstrate how he worked out the curvature of the glass. I was never so pleased to have somebody drip muddy water down the side of my +2.

[hartley hare]

glum news..

[zog]

A bunch of us saw him at a Lotus sponsored dinner event in England in 1998. He spoke a bit of the first advertisment he drew up for the Elan. He was good at drawing cars but he could not draw a human. So he cut out a picture of a woman from a refrigerator ad and pasted her in the ad for the Elan!

[theelanman]

eee......the number of cars the CLOGies spent looking at with Ron and his little gadgets...looking for the elusive +2.....
happy days.......
...
and when Brian let him loose with a marker pen......

[ardee_selby]

...and when Brian let him loose with a marker pen......

I've been thinking about that since I heard the sad news. Chapman steering wheels are one thing, but that's something else.

Cheers - rd

[abstamaria]

I bought a Workmate decades ago, not discovering the connection between it and my Elan until later. The link made that Workmate special to me. I must get the Elan running soon.

Andy

[69S4]

Really sad to hear of his passing. Most days I'm either using the elan or I'm using my really ancient workmate (inherited from my father) to help fix it so his genius has had a considerable impact on my life. RIP.

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Yes indeed. RIP....never met him myself but we are all indebted to him, I heard he still had an Elan.....anyone know for sure?

There was a Blue over white Sprint displayed at Donington about 9 years ago.
It was the most immaculate restoration to totally original spec's & highly acclaimed.
That was the Elan that Ron bought.

Cheers
John

Ooops there's a Pic' of him in it in TRW99's posting

[trw99]

"There was a Blue over white Sprint displayed at Donington about 9 years ago.
It was the most immaculate restoration to totally original spec's & highly acclaimed."

It had been restored to immaculate original condition by Ken Myers. I gather it had to go back there again in the last few years for a major service, since Ron was apparently very generous in allowing all sorts of folk to drive his Sprint.

Tim

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

My posts lack that last bit of detail all so often, thanks for the added info' Tim.

Ron kindly signed a large print of a French racing cutaway 26R at one of the Donington Festivals for me.
It wishes me good luck with my Elan & Workmate.
His writing has faded a bit over the years, something he was aware of because in following years he had a breast pocket full of non-fade pens, which he told me was his solution. A thinking man!
One year I enjoyed an evening with him & a couple of German Lotus aficionados in a Pub in Donington village; most memorable.

I wonder how many of those original die-cast aluminium framed workmates were made & if they are considered collectible or valuable?

Ron once kindly gave an entertaining talk at an LDC West Midlands meeting; I took the opportunity to ask him if he was planning to write a book, to which came no answer
A loss to us all that it never happened.

All of those old Lotus men are slowly slipping away from us, such a shame, they represent a great era of sports & racing cars & are taking so many irretrievable untold stories, memories & facts with them.

John

[ardee_selby]

(elan-archive-f16/ron-hickmans-project-was-design-for-safety-t7801.html?hilit= hickman)

When he was quoted as saying:

It's a design which isn't time sensitive, so won't go out of date.

I thought, Yes, the same tenet (if that's the right word) as his design work on the Elan.

I heard some snippets about the new project, if only....

Cheers - rd

[wobblyweb]

"Ron would not be interested in a minute's silence; I think that we should take some time to reflect and then come up with a fitting tribute to the man who has given us all so much pleasure."

My mark of respect will be to drive my Elan on the day of his funeral.

[ardee_selby]

I wonder how many of those original die-cast aluminium framed workmates were made & if they are considered collectible or valuable?

I wonder if he kept hold of the prototype? The one he called "Dino-Saw"? In a design museum, maybe?

(Assumed that was steel framed since "Lotus Development mechanics" welded it up for him)

Cheers - rd

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

I wonder how many of those original die-cast aluminium framed workmates were made & if they are considered collectible or valuable?

I wonder if he kept hold of the prototype? The one he called "Dino-Saw"? In a design museum, maybe?

(Assumed that was steel framed since "Lotus Development mechanics" welded it up for him)

Cheers - rd

I've just read a claim elsewhere that the vertical links on the prototype were fabricated from Elan front wishbones!
Another bit of folk lore

John