Ron Hickman Ron Hickman Ronald Price Hickman OBE (21 October 1932 – 17 February 2011) was a South African-born, Jersey-based car designer and inventor who designed the original Lotus Elan, the Lotus Elan +2 and the Lotus Europa, as well as the Black & Decker Workmate. Hickman was born in Greytown, Natal, South Africa, where he worked as a courthouse clerk after leaving high school. He moved to London in the 1950s where he was employed by a music publisher. From 1954 Hickman worked for the Ford Motor Company at Dagenham first as a clay modeller and later he helped to style
Bowin Cars Lotus included the Europa road car, as well as the Type 40 and Type 41 racers. On return to Australia in 1968, he started his own company, Bowin Designs Pty. Ltd., which designed and built racing cars for sale in Australia. Fifty-six cars were built in total between 1968 and 1976. During this period, he carried out several projects for Ford Motor Company and Leyland Motors on suspension design, to improve roadholding of Ford Falcon, Ford Escort and Leyland Marina cars. Approximately ten racing cars were sold for export to Canada, New Zealand and South East Asia. Bowin Cars have