Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Ron's death has shocked everyone I've spoken to. He was a true genius and a very kind and generous man. We'll all miss him enormously.

By a strange quirk of fate I'd helped arrange some classic Lotus for a magazine feature (for the German magazine Autobild) at Hethel on Friday 18th Feb. They wanted an Elan and a +2 of course and Malcolm Ricketts offered to bring his Elite fastback and Metier along as well. It goes without saying that it was an emotional day with Ron's entire legacy to Lotus gathered at Hethel so soon after his death.

We were already planning to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Elan at Donington in 2012 but we must also incorporate a tribute to Ron this year. I'm sure that track parades will be possible and a special parking area for Elans can also be arranged plus a display in the hall. Any other suggestions?

Ron's funeral is on Friday 4th March in Jersey - take your Elan out for a drive then raise a glass or two to him.

There are also plans for a memorial service later in the year - details have yet to be announced.

Alan

Well it sounds like Alan & Club Lotus will be doing some special things, which is great but what about us lot?
Isn't it time for the British contingent of LotusElan.net to get together with Alan & for the first time ever set up a stand at the coming Lotus festival at Donington with a special display commemorating Ron & our beloved Elans.
Come on guys, you know it can be done & done well.
It's time to stop being just lurkers at events like this

Cheers
John

I wonder can we get a small collection of representative cars out to the Goodwood breakfast club next weekend? They might be sympathetic and allow us to line them up on the grid?

I am planning to go in any case.

Paddy

The BBC Radio 4 programme "Last Word" (broadcast today) included a tribute to Ron.

I only caught the tail end of it.

A "Podcast" of the prog will be down-loadable from the BBC website iPlayer (it currently says "Coming Soon)

Cheers - rd

An obituary to Ron is in 25/2/2011 issue of 'The Engineer'.

Link to online version.

http://www.theengineer.co.uk/1007586.ar ... email=true


Ian

Elanman99 wrote:An obituary to Ron is in 25/2/2011 issue of 'The Engineer'.

Link to online version.

http://www.theengineer.co.uk/1007586.ar ... email=true


Ian

I cringed when I read Ron's obit by Martin Buckley in the Guardian; his usual re-hash of other "journalist's" mistakes from years gone by.

ardee_selby wrote:The BBC Radio 4 programme "Last Word" (broadcast today) included a tribute to Ron.

I only caught the tail end of it.

A "Podcast" of the prog will be down-loadable from the BBC website iPlayer (it currently says "Coming Soon)

Cheers - rd

Here's the download link (13Mb mp3 file) Note: 30 days remaining

(http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/lastword)

Cheers - rd

For anyone thjat might want to get their hand on one there is a few paragraphs obituary in todays Daily Express

Eleven87 posted
" he came back to our room, to quizz me on Caterham 7's. Ron wanted to make a hard top for the Caterham, which he felt would sell in large numbers. But Ron would not believe me when I told him that Caterham only made 5-800 cars a year, he was certain that Graham Nearn had told him 5000! This discussion went on till about 3.30 in the morning. For half of that time Mike Ostrov was hanging off a beam, in our room, streching his back!
Whilst speaking with Helen Hickman the next day, she mentioned that she was concerned over the amount of time Ron was spending on this project. I wonder what happened to it?"

I wonder if that is why Ron was so interested in talking to me about my Caterham when he saw me drive into LOG 14 in the rain without a hood on the car. We spoke extensively about rain gear and such. He asked me if I would buy a car without rain gear. I always thought it was because he was designing a car that did not have rain gear.

I probably would have bought a hardtop for the Caterham for use in late fall and early spring.

I would love to pay my respects to Ron is some small way by joining an Elan meet at some point in the near future. It will give me the kick up the backside I need to get my car MOT'd and back on the road. Goodwood Breakfast Club would be a great idea, isn't the first one coming up this Sunday? I don't think i will be able to make that one but hopefully the one after.

Would it be to Ron's liking if we brought along our workmates to use as picnic tables? Seriously, long before I knew that an Elan existed I was totally enthralled by my dad's B&D workmate (even if I did use it to crush my toy cars). Seriously, where would we be without these two paradigms of engineering brilliance?

I never met Ron and it saddens me to know that I never will. All I can do is honour his memory by enjoying his greatest creation every opportunity I get, and when I don't have any woodwork to do, take the Elan out for a spin.

Ron Hickman, I salute you.

ardee_selby wrote::( Only yesterday I was listening to the mp3 of his radio interview on BBC R4 (from 2003). rd

For those that didn't catch it, the above interview can be found here:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/45450049/Hickman.mp3 (10.7 Mb)
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/45450049/Hickman_V2.mp3 (3.35 Mb)

Note: 2 versions using differing compressions.

Cheers - Richard