Monday 22nd October 2012

PH Blog: another Elan anniversary

Another Elan-related anniversary and a chance to salute one of the men behind it

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After all the bad news from Hethel over the last few months it's been nice to have been (cautiously) a little more celebratory about Lotus recently. We had Matt Bird's first impressions of the Evora 414E and the tech behind it and it's hard not to feel real pride at the fact beleaguered Lotus is - despite it all - up there with the might of Porsche in the development of next-gen hybrid supercars. The 918 Spyder is a more polished and powerful statement but there's something engagingly British, like the Bloodhound, about the Lotus project. And it's hard not to feel hopeful about the possibility of selling the tech on to mainstream carmakers and guaranteeing a future income that could keep things afloat.

Jim Clark flies the flag for his employer

While we're celebrating Lotus's ingenuity we owe PHer Zeast a debt of gratitude for pointing out a more poignant Elan-related anniversary than the one we used as a flimsy excuse to link to a vid of Diana Rigg flouncing about in an Elan. Flimsy but most valid!

Anyway while the show debut we were trying to pinpoint was apparently October 15 for the 50th anniversary of the press unveiling of the Elan at Earl's Court, yesterday would've been the 80th birthday of Ron Hickman. Hickman's death in February last year was picked up on by the mainstream media for his invention of the Black & Decker Workmate, my own of which I was using just this weekend! Sadly I don't have an example of Hickman's more exciting work, namely the Lotus Elite and Elan he played a key part in the development of. But it's a good excuse to share some of the period pictures of the Elan Lotus sent to me (including one of Hickman's design sketches), further celebrate 50 years of the Elan and salute one of the men intimately involved in its creation.

Dan

[BigTom85]

There are few classics I'd like to own more than an Elan. I bet I don't fit in one mind.

[Turbobanana]

Lotus Elite
Lotus Elan
Black & Decker Workmate

Not a bad legacy is it?

[WillBrumBrum]

Here's my own tribute to Ron Hickman OBE which I wrote back in February this year:

21.10.1932 - 17.02.2011

Each of our lives are shaped by a handful of people and Ron has had a huge influence on mine. I’m very grateful to have known Ron Hickman OBE for the last fifteen years and to have had him to look up to as a design mentor.

Ron made his fortune from an idea for a simple but multifunctional bench with a gap down the middle to grip wood. The Workmate enabled DIY enthusiasts to saw through pieces of timber without using the edges of chairs and tables for support. The idea had come to him in 1961 when he accidentally sawed through the leg of an expensive Swedish chair while making a wardrobe. Nearly 70m Workmates have been sold since Black & Decker put Ron’s design into mass production in 1973.

I first met Ron as a teenage boy with my father, Ron took great delight in showing us around his futuristic house with a roof that stretched all the way down to the floor. The highlight of the visit was a trip in the 1962 Lotus Elan that he’d designed and then a ride in his pride and joy, his 1931 Cadillac V16.

As a twenty-year-old I returned to work for Ron on a sportscar project that he was developing in his retirement. The memory that I will keep of Ron is his unbridled enthusiasm for the power of his own beliefs, be that in design, the power of good or the un-compromised ability to carry on regardless of all the nay sayers.

At his funeral, his lifelong friend and former business partner, Derek Bernard, commented that Ron’s philosophy on life was to just keep on trying until you had exhausted every feasible option available.

View a tribute TV interview to Ron online here: http://www.channelonline.tv/channelonline_jerseyne...

[Chrisw26]

Are there 50 Elans amongst the Pistonhead following? Here's mine.

[JasDK]

... and here is mine

[Speed_Demon]

I like where this thread is going!

[UnluckyTimmeh]

BigTom85 said:

There are few classics I'd like to own more than an Elan. I bet I don't fit in one mind.

I'm 6ft 5 and I fit in both our FHC and DHC

[Chrisw26]

I'll back this up. I am 6ft and fit just nicely. Come to think of it, the Black and Decker workmate is just right too.

UnluckyTimmeh said:

I'm 6ft 5 and I fit in both our FHC and DHC

.

[edo]

Lovely. Good ones arent cheap are they?!

http://classifieds.pistonheads.com/classifieds/use...

[I WISH]

I have had a 1998 Elise S1 from new ...... and I love it to bits .... but if anything the Elan looks even fresher.

It could have been designed yesterday. I can't think of any other car that the years have been kinder to.

I know in my heart that I will have to own one sooner or later.

If only they were getting cheaper .....

[61GT]

I WISH said:

.........If only they were getting cheaper .....

I wish indeed!

[emicen]

My dad's Vegantune S3




I really need to get round to getting it back on the road.

[Oakman]

Some of Ron' Hickman's major contributions to the Élan were the then upmarket features of the pop up headlights, with a clever use of the front chassis crossmember as a sealed vacuum chamber reservoir, tapped off the engine inlet manifold.

Also the electric wind up windows, bearing in mind this was 1962, which he cleverly and inexpensively created from the inspiration of his draught-mans board, with a wire and pulley arrangement. These were allied to a windscreen wiper motor, both of these designs appealed to ACBC's desire to cost less and in the case of the window system weigh less !

The Élan's double Y backbone sheet steel chassis was also his inspiration, initially devised as a simple subframe to hang the major running gear on as a test bed, history records it was so effective and crucially for Chapman it was cheap to build and install.

Lotus throughout the early years of their development attracted some of the best and most innovative designers, engineers and drivers under Colin Chapman's guidance. Think of the household names in the car world associated with them, Cosworth, Ford, GM etc. Ask Gordon Murray who his biggest influence was, he owns an S3 Élan by the way.

Happy birthday Élan

Oakman

Owner of a 1971 Élan Sprint DHC

[F.C.]

I own an original workmate, it is a beautiful piece of design engineering, not like the mass produced pressed metal st they produce today.
Unfortunately the design icon that is the élan sprint (for me, that is) has eluded me.
I wonder if someone would swap my workmate for an élan?

[PILCH 23]

BigTom85 said:

There are few classics I'd like to own more than an Elan. I bet I don't fit in one mind.

I bet that you do. They are tardis like. My dad and I are both 6'4" tall and can sit in our S3 Coupe with plenty of spare head room and leg length.

[crusty cobb]

Chrisw26 said:

Are there 50 Elans amongst the Pistonhead following? Here's mine.

LOVE IT

[johnnymaestro]

Here is mine. Currently being restored for the end of this year. Has been sat for the last 10 years or so.

[WillBrumBrum]

If Ron was 80 and the Elan was 50 years old, that means it came out when he was 30. So he was head of design at Lotus and designed it when he was 28... impressive.

Plus I remember when I worked for him for 3 months on a retro fitted hard top for the Caterham 7 (I was 19, he was 68) and he let me drive his V12 Jaguar. We got back to his house afterwards and his accountant went ballistic... "Ron, you can't just let that kid drive your cars like that, he's not insured!" But neither Ron nor I seemed to care.

I also remember on another occasion when we went into the local DIY shop to buy a saw... we ended up spending around £350 on various bits and pieces. He was like a kid in a candy store. Strangely though, he always bought more than one of everything... and then if he didn't like it when he got home he'd take them back (or get me too).

[dinkel]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3KWU1qlfIM

Lovely!

Another delve into Harry's Garage. evo's Editorial Director and Founder Harry Metcalfe shows us around his 1972 Lotus Elan Sprint, he takes it for spin and explains why this 40 year old sports car is still very "evo" Follow us on twitter @evomagazine @harrym_evo

[BSC]

Chrisw26 said:

Are there 50 Elans amongst the Pistonhead following?

Hope so. Here's mine.