That's sad news. I always got a kick out of reading about his one-of-kind EV and the engineering that he put into it. He seemed like a good guy, always willing to share his knowledge.
On Mon, Aug 20, 2018 at 11:30 PM EVDL Administrator via EV < ev@lists.evdl.org> wrote: > If youi've been on the EVDL for a while, you probably remember reading > posts > by Roland Wiench. He gave us a lot of them -- over 4,100. His first > post, > about LRR tires, seems to have been in November of 2003. He posted > several > times in late 2016 and early 2017, then one last time in May of 2017. > > You can read many of his posts in the archive. He's also quoted in an > EVDL > library article, http://www.evdl.org/pages/battpost.html > > I realized recently that I hadn't read anything from him in quite a while, > so I did some investigation. I'm sad to report that Roland passed away on > the 16th of March this year. The obituary is quoted below. > > Roland got his El Camino conversion from Robert Aronson's Electric Fuel > Propulsion in Michigan. Aronson is probably best remembered for his > Renault- > based Mars I and Mars II conversions (Dauphines and R10s), every nook and > cranny jammed with lead batteries, but he converted several large American > cars too. > > Roland never stopped improving and refining that El Camino, which at one > time weighed over 3.5 tons. Recently, he'd fitted it with Leaf modules, > which must have significantly reduced the weight. > > You can see the car before the Leaf module conversion here: > > http://evalbum.com/470 > > ----- > > https://www.croxfordfuneralhome.com/notices/Roland-Wiench > > Roland Eugene Wiench > September 4, 1936 ~ March 16, 2018 (age 81) > > Born on Sept. 4, 1936 on Friday at 11:45 AM, I came out facing North in > Dickinson, North Dakota, in the hospital 400 feet from our home. Made it > home for lunch at 12 noon. > > My father, an electrical engineer, took me down to his electrical > laboratory > (I called it a dungeon). At the age of 8, he taught me basic electricity. > My > first project was a dog repellant that was placed in the garden. As a dog > came into the garden, I turned on a switch that tickled his feet at a real > low voltage. The dog stood up on his two back feet and tiptoed through the > tulips, dancing the jitterbug. Later, I made an overhead electrical > trolley > using an erector set with the clotheslines as the conductors. I forgot to > turn off the power and the laundry lady did the jitterbug too. > > I attended St. Patrick´s grade school and Assumption Abbey high school in > North Dakota. I also attended the College of Great Falls, Montana. > > I enlisted in the Navy in 1955 as flight, radar controller, and navigator > for carriers in the Atlantic. After studying aviation electronics > engineering, I worked for Boeing Aircraft in Great Falls. Meanwhile I was > employed as an electrical technician, then electrical supervisor at MANG > (Montana Air National Guard). > > After serving in The Navy, USAF, and MANG I was honorably discharged as > Master Sergeant in 1989. > > In 1976 I received a grant and a prototype electric car from Electric Fuel > Propulsion of Troy, Michigan. Since 1989 I have worked on the science of > improvement of the electrical vehicle. > > ===== > > While Roland remained a bachelor, many nieces and nephews survive. To some > he was an Uncle and to others, because he lived with us during our > childhood, Roland was an Uncle-Brother. Roland was predeceased by parents > Frank and Clementine Wiench; brothers and their wives: Francis (Marilyn) > Wiench and Alcuin (Annie) Wiench; sisters and their husbands: Bernice > (Paul) > Wilhelm and Beatrice Hall. > > David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA > EVDL Administrator > > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > EVDL Information: http://www.evdl.org/help/ > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > Note: mail sent to "evpost" and "etpost" addresses will not > reach me. To send a private message, please obtain my > email address from the webpage http://www.evdl.org/help/ . > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > > > _______________________________________________ > UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub > http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org > Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA ( > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20180823/bb8b4cdc/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
