Race Retro Classic & Competition Car Sale 2023 24th - 25th February 2023

154 Race Retro Classic and Competition Car Sale 2023 - Cars Registration: KXF 67K Chassis No.: 7108180446G Estimate: £70,000 - £90,000 Lot 455 1971 Lotus Elan Sprint Drophead Coupé ‘Ron Hickman’ In 1956, Hickman, whose ambitions lay beyond styling ‘worthy’ saloons for Ford, ‘bumped into’ Lotus founder Colin Chapman at the Earls Court Motor Show. As we know, Chapman was a brilliantly gifted engineer whose early competition cars were enjoying success but he was in need of ingenious, energetic characters such as Ron to help get his ambitious new Elite road car into production. Brought in as a production engineer with Lotus in North London, Ron became a general manager and eventually a director, however, the Elite proved to be a false start. It was beautiful to look at and drive but too complicated to build and too frail in service to have the mass appeal Chapman was looking for. Something more practical was needed. The Elan, with Hickman’s light uni-mould glass-fibre body, brought the thrills of single-seat racing car handling to the road driver who could muster £1,200, or less if he built it from a kit. Its handling is still unsurpassed and the backbone chassis, conceived by Hickman as a temporary measure for developing the car’s suspension, formed the basis of every subsequent Lotus of the classic era. As well as devising the car’s famous vacuum-operated pop-up headlamps and its distinctive bumpers, Hickman is attributed with having come up with its name - by looking through the ‘E’ section of the dictionary. Ron left Lotus in 1967 to start his own design company and develop the ‘Workmate’. Black & Decker eventually signed an exclusive manufacturing deal in 1972 for his Mark II version, with a lightweight foldable alloy frame so it could be stowed in the boot of a car, but by then Hickman had already sold 14,000 Workmates by mail order. Even with a comparatively low 3% royalty, Hickman soon joined the tax-exile bracket, moving in 1977 to Jersey, where he built a modernist villa with views of St Brelade’s Bay and filled it with his own labour- saving gadgets. In 1994 he was honoured with an OBE. This gorgeous Lagoon Blue Sprint DHC, KXC 67F, was purchased directly by Ron on 27th November 1996 in its currently restored state from the restorer Neil Myers, shipped to Jersey, popped into Ron’s garage and only used occasionally. It must have felt rather special to open his garage doors and see two of his creations, the Elan and the Workmate side by side knowing that both had received worldwide acclaim. The car was purchased from the Hickman family by our vendor on the 9th March 2021 and, although it remained exactly as it was post- restoration, it was given a very light recommission by Neil Myers upon its return to the UK and prior to joining the Piddington Collection. In common with the other Elans on offer today, KXC 67F retains its original chassis, body and engine and naturally your inspection of this important Elan is welcomed. It’s accompanied an original Elan tool kit, Certificate of Vehicle Provenance, spare keys, 2 copies of the Elan Sprint Owners Handbook, lots of photographs and acres of interesting correspondence, as you might expect from the man who designed the Elan. A goldmine for Lotus enthusiasts. On offer from the Piddington Collection, formerly the property of Ron Hickman, the South African-born, Jersey-based automobile designer and inventor responsible for the original Elan, the +2 and the Europa but best known for creating the Black and Decker ‘Workmate’. Consignor: Rob Hubbard Telephone No: 07775 511825 More Details Lot 455 Bid On Lot 455