Delamare Road yesterday and nearly fifty years ago

[Maureen B-N]

Thanks for the info re the old factory Pete - I will certainly visit. Tim your comment about the book : I have a document apparently issued by Tekron International (which was Ron's company on Jersey) entitled : Ron Hickmann OBE : A short Biography. (January 2001) I imagine he wrote it himself. Anyway, at the end there are two paragraphs under 'More Recent Activities' which read as follows :

Ron is now writing the history of the first twelve years of Lotus road cars, as seen from the inside - also researching his Hickman and Beningfield family history back to the 1600's. His main current project is the design and prototyping (in Jersey) of a novel small sportscar for the maturer/larger person, who wants his fun motoring combined with utter practicality and all 'mod cons' eg for everyday, all-weather, 'golfing' or touring use. 'From wind-in-the-hair to coiffure-friendly' as he puts it; AND '...you carry it all with you, not like with a hard-top'. Hopefully prototypes will be running by the summer of 2001, and work can start on finding someone to make and sell it ....

I also have a mass of information about that car - I must say I wasn't very impressed with the styling, but I didn't like to say anything.

[Maureen B-N]

[Maureen B-N]

[Maureen B-N]

Could these pictures please be enlarged as per the first, black and white one. Thanks. The first is particularly interesting !

[ardee_selby]

Could these pictures please be enlarged as per the first, black and white one. Thanks. The first is particularly interesting !

Maureen,

They are plenty big enough if folks "right click" on them and choose "open in new tab" (or window)

One can then zoom in and see them clearly.

Great photos & info again....Lotus Corsair for Harley Copp, eh?

Thanks for your efforts - Richard

[Maureen B-N]

Oh sorry Richard, I did not know one could right click on them to enlarge - just tried they, they come out enormous ! But I hope members will save them onto their own PCs. I am thinking seriously about the book and have sent an email to the Lotus Group to see if they have any archived material (no response yet !). If I did write something it would be purely a personal memoire with amusing incidents - I know nothing about car development ! Cheers, M. PS : Just found a Lotus gear knob in a cupboard - don't quite remember how I came by that

[ardee_selby]

...I am thinking seriously about the book...it would be purely a personal memoire with amusing incidents - I know nothing about car development !

Maureen,

Please, please, write the book...and put me down for a (signed) copy!

"car develoment" ? An insight into the "who" and "how" could be more entertaining than the "what".

Regards - Richard

[gjz30075]

+1 ! My sentiments exactly.

Greg Z

[Maureen B-N]

About the 'maybe' book - as it turns out I am an amateur writer, although all I have to my credit is first prize in 2 short story competitions, and the fact that I wrote (single handed) a monthly company magazine whilst working at Western Deep Levels East Gold Mine during the 90s ! What I have in my head are my personal memories of that time - many of them amusing. Lotus was a wonderful company to work for then - the average age of the staff was something like 32, so we were all young and excited to find ourselves in this amazing environment. It was also a very 'political' company - lots of undercurrents of which I knew nothing at the time. I certainly would not want to share some of the things I have since learned - mine would simply be the story of the good times with my colleagues at Lotus Developments. Obviously I know some things about the 'development' that was going on with the vehicles at that time, but I'm not an engineer, I can only speak about what I saw and heard and did and all the exciting things that were happening around me - like the day they made the Rollo television commercial in Ron Hickman's office, or what the lads in the workshop found so amusing about the contents of the glove compartment of Jim Clark's car (which was in for service). Would anyone really be interested in reading these things ?

[Pastapesto]

Oh, yes please. That's exactly the sort of thing we want to hear about.

All the best

Adam

[trw99]

Would anyone really be interested in reading these things ?

Seriously Maureen, yes!

It all adds to our knowledge of Lotus at that particular time and we wish to record that history, from any angle, for future Lotus and auto historians. It also gives us additional aspects to the ownership of Elans from that era.

You could always write an e-book and self publish on the web.

Tim

[nebogipfel]

It would be a good idea to record your anecdotes and memories Maureen. I wish you a long and healthy life but it's a sad fact that once folk fall off the perch the information is gone forever. There is a huge interest in automotive history and and that's certainly true of the great days at Lotus. Sadly there are many stories probably already lost forever.

Don't be put off by your lack of engineering knowledge, that's another story entirely

[gjz30075]

Maureen, look to Amazon for publishing. Very reasonable costs and apparently easy to do. Zog on this forum has done it.
free-parking-f19/europa-euphoria-t25550.html

Greg Z

[Maureen B-N]

Well frankly I have very little to do all day apart from going to the gym. Perhaps I should seriously consider the book idea. I also know of someone who could assist with publishing, someone in England.

[Mazzini]

Please put me down for a signed copy of your book