RIP Ron Hickman

PostPost by: trw99 » Thu Feb 17, 2011 10:18 pm

Thanks so much for the Elan, Ron and the pleasure you have given us
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PostPost by: CBUEB1771 » Thu Feb 17, 2011 11:27 pm

elansprint71 wrote: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.
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PostPost by: hartley hare » Thu Feb 17, 2011 11:42 pm

glum news.. :(
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PostPost by: zog » Fri Feb 18, 2011 1:14 am

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!
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PostPost by: theelanman » Fri Feb 18, 2011 1:16 am

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......
:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
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PostPost by: ardee_selby » Fri Feb 18, 2011 1:26 am

theelanman wrote:...and when Brian let him loose with a marker pen......
:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:


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
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PostPost by: abstamaria » Fri Feb 18, 2011 3:45 am

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.

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PostPost by: 69S4 » Fri Feb 18, 2011 7:23 am

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.
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PostPost by: GrUmPyBoDgEr » Fri Feb 18, 2011 7:58 am

types26/36/74 wrote:Yes indeed. :cry: 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 :oops:
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Editor: On Sunday morning, February 8th 2015, Derek "John" Pelly AKA GrumpyBodger passed away genuinely peacefully at Weston Hospicecare, Weston Super Mare. He will be missed.
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PostPost by: trw99 » Fri Feb 18, 2011 9:38 am

"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
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PostPost by: GrUmPyBoDgEr » Fri Feb 18, 2011 10:06 am

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 :wink:
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
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Editor: On Sunday morning, February 8th 2015, Derek "John" Pelly AKA GrumpyBodger passed away genuinely peacefully at Weston Hospicecare, Weston Super Mare. He will be missed.
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PostPost by: ardee_selby » Fri Feb 18, 2011 10:08 am

(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
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PostPost by: wobblyweb » Fri Feb 18, 2011 10:14 am

"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.
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PostPost by: ardee_selby » Fri Feb 18, 2011 10:42 am

D.J.Pelly wrote: 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
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PostPost by: GrUmPyBoDgEr » Fri Feb 18, 2011 10:49 am

ardee_selby wrote:
D.J.Pelly wrote: 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 :roll:

John
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Editor: On Sunday morning, February 8th 2015, Derek "John" Pelly AKA GrumpyBodger passed away genuinely peacefully at Weston Hospicecare, Weston Super Mare. He will be missed.
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