Tim Mees passing, I am truely saddened by this news

[garyeanderson]

Seems like just last week that I got an email form Tim. I know time passes quickly but all the same when you loose a dedicated Elan Enthusiast it hurts inside. I hadn?t heard from him in a while until he announced that the S1 and S2 crashpad tooling was going to be made and I sent the following and received this short reply.

RE: Crashpad Update
Thursday, June 17, 2010 11:12 AM
From:
"tim mees" <[email protected]>View contact details
To:
"Gary Anderson" <[email protected]>
Hi Gary,

Thanks for the good wishes, take care and keep up the task of policing on elan.net to ensure only correct information is posted...

Regards,
Tim





Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2010 08:45:07 -0700
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Crashpad Update
To: [email protected]; [email protected]

Thats great news, sounds like a bargain. Hope everything is going well for you
all my best
Gary

--- On Wed, 6/16/10, tim mees <[email protected]> wrote:

From: tim mees <[email protected]>
Subject: Crashpad Update
To: [email protected]
Date: Wednesday, June 16, 2010, 11:30 AM

Just to let everyone know, I'm delighted to be able to update everone with the news that the type26register now has sufficient interest to justify the investment in the necessary tooling for re-manufacture of Elan S1 and S2 crashpads. In fact, the company as been given the go-ahead, and are quoting a lead time of approx. 12 weeks. The cost is ?295 GBP plus packing and shipping. Please spread the word around and let me know if you would like to pre-order from the initial batch.

To remind everybody of the project:
Many fellow enthusiasts restoring S1 and S2 Elans will be scratching their head thinking of how to restore a cracked original crash pad, or indeed where to find a good second-hand or new version because their restoration project does not have one!
Whilst crash pads can be repaired, the end result is never very satisfactory. These items are a very ?visual? component of the car, so they must be ?right?.
I was driven to research the remanufacture of crash pads because the three cars I am restoring have badly damaged ones, certainly beyond repair.
Because of the demand for correctly made type 26 (S1 and S2 Elan) crash pads, the type 26 register have looked into this in some detail and have identified the (probably) only company left in the UK that specialises in this manufacturing process. They manufacture crash-pads for virtually all the British Classic Car industry, e.g. E-types, Triumph, Sunbeam Alpine/ Tiger etc, which are sold through the normal specialists for these marques. They have seen my original crash-pad and are keen to have the work.

Issues such as shrinkage are well known to these people, and they use ABS with the correct surface texture. They manufacture by digitising the 3D shape of an undamaged original item, which I have, to produce two tools - one for the ABS and the other for the foam-fill.
So the specification will be as close to the original item as possible, i.e.:
? Vacuum formed black ABS outer with correct grain pattern
? Foam filled, with correct profile at bottom to correctly fit on top of scuttle
? Built-in wooden blocks at each side to correctly secure crash pad to bodyshell
I would make the point that this is a premium product for picky road car restorers, whilst other suppliers offer lightweight ABS shells for the racers and 26GTS folks.

Regards,
Tim

It?s a bit brief but I think that he just wanted to get one of the most difficult pieces remanufactured before he left us, I hope that this passion of his will continue with others that share the same dreams. We will all miss his presence in the Elan world.


From the type 26 web page

http://www.type26register.com/

July 25, 2010
It is with deepest regret that we have to inform you of the sad death of Tim Mees. He was a devoted dad and a loving life-long partner to the late Maggie Adams. Tim died peacefully in hospital on Saturday 24 July 2010 aged 56 years. Both his daughters were by his side at the end.

He had been fighting a mild, rare form of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma since 2007 which over the past month had turned aggressive. This required a prolonged hospital stay for intensive treatment. However, he unfortunately suffered complications which could not be overcome.

If you would like to make a donation, Tim wished to continue supporting the Berkshire Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre, a local charity that provided support for Maggie during her illness. Alternatively, donations can be made to Cancer Research UK. Donations can be arranged through A.B.Walker & Son Limited, Blyth House, 105 London Road, Wokingham, RG40 1YB, telephone: 0118 978 4040.

Tim was dedicated to his family and touched the lives of everyone with his positive outlook and unique personality. He will be greatly missed and remembered forever by all his family and friends with fond and happy memories.

For any enquiries, either personal or register related, please contact Richard at [email protected]

[elancoupe]

[billwill]

Ouch...Only 56.

[Ross Robbins]

Sad news indeed but thanks for letting us know Gary.Tim did so much for us early Elan owners and though I never met or talked to him I certainly appreciate his work. Godspeed, Tim. My thoughts go to your family.

[paddy]

Really shocking and sad news. I spoke to Tim last year at the Goodwood Revival and he was promising to have his car up on the Lavant bank this year.

Paddy

[memini55]

Wow! what a huge shock. I had been a somewhat frequent talker with Tim and really looking forward to all the great products he was finding a way to get repeoduced.

He will be missed by all in this community and I for one am truly sorry to hear the news.
All the best to his family in this difficult time.

God Bless Tim