Ron Hickman the 105E Ford Anglia. He became the director of Lotus Engineering in the 1960s, designing the first Lotus Europa as part of Lotus's GT40 project bid. He left Lotus in 1967. Hickman invented the wood-and-steel foldable Workmate bench after sawing through a piece of wood into a chair used as support, when making a wardrobe. His offer of a licence for the product he developed was rejected by several companies who could not see a large market for it, so Hickman sold the benches himself to professional builders at trade shows until Black & Decker saw the light in 1973
Lotus Europa S test a production model in Belgium's Spa-Francorchamps circuit, saying that the car was a "refreshingly mature and desirable sports car." During the same session, "Evo" group tested the Porsche Cayman S, BMW Z4 M and Nissan 350Z GT-S and "couldn't resist" comparing the Lotus to these three decidedly more expensive sport coupés. While the Lotus was slower than the three cars, Evo concluded that at around £33,000, it would be a very good match for the three cars' lower spec versions. Compared to the Europa S, the SE received a fairly positive response. British magazine "The Independent" while reviewing the