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 Elan Lotus Elan Lotus Elan is the name of two separate ranges of automobiles produced by Lotus Cars. Circa 1962 to 1975 the first range of cars comprised: After the S2 was released the original Elan 1500 and Elan 1600 models were typically referred to as the S1 (Series 1) although the car was never explicitly marketed as such. Today, all models (S1-Sprint) are often cited collectively as the 1960s Elans. A Elan-inspired model similar to the 1960s original called the "Evante" was produced from mid-1980s in very low volumes by British Lotus specialist "Vegantune". Circa 1989 and 1995 the second