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
Lotus Europa in compression and tension. The car's subsequent resulting handling prompted automotive writers to describe the Europa as the nearest thing to a Formula car for the road. The Series 1 or S1 Europa (also known as Lotus Type 46) was announced for sale to European markets on 20 December 1966. The first cars were delivered in France in February 1967. Volkswagen owned the rights to the Europa name in Germany, so cars for sale in Germany were badged Europe rather than Europa. The S1 was fitted with a modified Renault 16 1470 cc inline-four engine and a 4-speed gearbox. The