Another Mini! Manual transmissions seemed to hold up ok,lasting at least as long as the engine. He was knighted in 1969 and was honored by the city of Oxford with a street named after him, Alec Issigonis Way. Click the answer to find similar crossword clues . On 15 October 2006 a rally was held at the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon, England, to celebrate the centenary of Issigonis's birth. FamousBirthdays.com - use subject to the practices disclosed in our privacy policy. However, there was more to his life than just one car. Nice to see that blue Morris Oxford just the same as our first car that I remember. All Rights Reserved. . My sister had an MG 1100 which blew me away in 1970. Issigonis had no input to the Marina (other than it using substantial elements from the Morris Minor of course) or the Allegro, as BMC had passed a thin very development programme to Leyland in 1968, largely due to financial pressures. He was reluctant to consider features such as large boots or hatchbacks, or engine access, as important. Prior to his death, Alec and his mother travelled overland to London. Alec Issigonis was born in 1900s. Noch ein Mini! A British citizen born in Turkey in 1906, Issigonis did not see an automobile until he was 12 years old. As British subjects - his father having naturalised whilst studying engineering in London in 1897 - Issigonis and his parents were evacuated to Malta by the Royal Navy in September 1922 ahead of the Great Fire of Smyrna and the Turkish capture of Smyrna at the end of the Greco-Turkish War. Alec Issigonis Net Worth 2023, Age, Height, Relationships, Married, Dating, Family, Wiki Biography . He did not want more conventional answers, without at least exploring some technical advances. . But fearful that his freedom would be curbed in such a large company, Issigonis resigned from BMC and went to work for the much smaller Alvis company. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. It confronted the conservative image of BMC head on, even if the rest of BMC range didnt. He was also referred to as the Greek God, perhaps more openly. Issigonis went into the motor industry as an engineer and designer working for Humber and competed successfully in motor racing during the 1930s and 1940s. Family Life His father died in 1922, at which point he and his mother moved to the U.K.. Associated With He and Frank Stephenson are both famous car designers. ALEC ISSIGONIS Automotive Designer (1906-1988) One of the most original car designers of the modern era, ALEC ISSIGONIS (1906-1988) is best known as the creator of the Mini, but also designed two more of the five best-selling cars in British motoring history - the Morris Minor and the Austin 1100. . George Harriman, Leonard Lord and Alec Issogonis. Looking at the Minor or the Mini, I can believe that. 8050 Alec Issigonis Way, Oxford Business Park North, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX4 2HW. It was 1961 when the humble little people-mover fell into the hands of British racing legend John Cooper. His paternal grandfather, Demosthenis, had migrated to Smyrna from the Greek island of Paros in the 1830s and Constantine was a successful and wealthy shipbuilding engineer. At the end of 1955, Issigonis was recruited back into BMC, this time into the Austin plant at Longbridge, by its chairman Sir Leonard Lord, to design a new model family of three cars. Daniels effectively resumed his position as Issigoniss right hand man for the next ten years or more, guiding the interpretation of Issigoniss requests to the workshops, draughtsmen, production engineers and accountants. By placing an A series four cylinder engine transversely with the gearbox underneath in the sump and sharing the oil, and moving the wheels to the corners, he saved so much space that it was possible to accommodate a four seat car within a length of 10 feet. In 1936, he moved to Morris Motors Limited at Cowley working on an independent front suspension system for the Morris 10. Alec is also well known as, British car designer best remembered for his work on the development of the iconic Mini. This would have been in the early 70s when they were literally everywhere. A more powerful engine, bigger brakes and a few tuning tweaks later, the Classic Mini Cooper 997 was introduced. BMC had internally identified the need to move on from the concepts behind the Minor and A30, leaving behind the classic front engine, semi-elliptic spring concept but there was little clarity on which direction was perceived to be the way to go. The son of a Greek merchant, Issigonis immigrated to London in 1922 during the war between Greece and Turkey. Again,Issigonis was able to get close to some of the most impressive cars of the era, and take ideas and influences home. Most events he entered were sprints and hillclimbs, but he also competed in some circuit races. The Minor was, of course, a huge success, for Nuffield and for Issigonis. He excelled in mechanical drawing, but failed his mathematics exams three times. I saw one, in 79 or 80, sold here as the MG Sports Sedan. Issigonis also insisted that no less than 80% of the cars volume be dedicated to passengers and luggage. In 1968, he was appointed as Director of Advanced Research of the newly formed British Leyland, and Harry Webster from Triumph became BLMCs Engineering Director. That name was now engraved in my mind and as I got older I was drawn to LBCs (Little British Cars.) https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alec-Issigonis. He was a race car driver during the 30's and 40's. Striving to ensure that as much space as possible was allocated to the passengers, Issigonis used Moultons compact rubber suspension and had Dunlop build 10 inch wheels and tyres just for the Mini purely for reasons of space efficiency. Issigonis quickly arranged for Jack Daniels to move up from Cowley to Longbridge to rebuild their close rapport. Issigonis was born on 18 November 1906 in the Ottoman port city of Smyrna, the only child of Constantine Issigonis and Hulda Prokopp. This greatly modified machine was replaced with a radical special completed in 1939, constructed of plywood laminated in aluminium sheeting. Issigonis was a remarkable engineer and obviously made his mark. Issigonis was a good packaging designer. Morriss chief engineer, A V (Vic) Oak, recognised that Issigoniss greatest asset was his imagination but also noted that it needed to be guided firmly but carefully to bring out the best of it. The rest is racing . The Renault 14 was transversely engined, from 1976. Towards the end of WW2, he began work on the Mosquito project, which ended up being launched in 1948 as the Morris Minor. In 1922 the family left Turkey for England, as all British people were banished from the country. When I was in grade school in the mid-70s, the next door neighbor of my best friend had 6 Minis. Thanks for a wonderfully researched article! This car was remarkably light, weighing 587lb, of which the engine contributed 252lb. Issigonis was probably privately satisfied with that arrangement, as it took him away from the daily grind of corporate management and designing production ready cars and back into the more conceptual field where he had the opportunity to use his innovative skills the kind of role Leonard Lord had originally given him twelve years earlier and which led to the Mini and the ADO16. Later, he was working on an independent suspension for the larger Humber Hawk, with another rising star in the industry, Bill Heynes. It amounted to no more than surface rust on the chassis. No wonder Issigonis felt flattered I feel very, very proud that so many people have copied me.. Alec Issigonis, the brilliant British designer of the Morris Minor and the Mini, is one of the commanding figures in the history of automobile design and engineering. Issigonis had some success at club racing level and in 1935 travelled with his lifelong friend George Dowson to the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. The typical American indifference to regular maintenance did not play well with this setup. Ive often wondered how its 35 horses managed the Berkshires . Learn how your comment data is processed. Unfortunately I didnt turn out quite as brilliant, but I like to think I missed out some of the stubbornness/arrogance as well. This car was remarkably light, weighing less than 600lb. the outer planets, Uranus and Neptune were not yet discovered, since the telescope had not yet been invented. The war years were spent. Astrologers and astronomers could only work with planets visible to the eye. [4] And the result was the creation of more than just an economical car. Speaking of steering, one of the earlier reviews of the Mini contained the sentence, This is the first car Ive driven that caused me to laugh out loud just going around a corner ! Or words to that effect . He was knighted in 1969 and was honored by the city of Oxford with a street named after him, Alec Issigonis Way. . But there were other 20th century cataclysms that he lived and worked through as a designer - including the Suez crisis of 1956. Bernd Peter Pischetsrieder. https://www.mini.com/ He was a race car driver during the 30s and 40s. Enter the length or pattern for better results. Essay on The Pure Voice in Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles. I have labelled it the Most Significant Car of the 1940s; it is probably the most recognised British car, apart from the Mini, and the most fondly remembered car by many British families and motorists. The first application of Sir Alec Issigonis' engineering breakthrough - All Photos by Randy Stern, except otherwise noted Remember Sir Alec Issigonis? Comments about the bus-like steering wheel angle remind me of what I learned about that subject from my Italian cars (Fiats): the relatively horizontal wheel requires/enables the driver to push forward, rather than up, to make a turn a difference that makes better use of the arm, translating to easier and less tiring driving. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). However, at the end of 1956, following fuel rationing brought about by the Suez Crisis, Issigonis was ordered by Lord to bring the smaller car, XC/9003, to production as quickly as possible. Issigonis designed the most enduring small cars of the twentieth century, the Morris Minor (1948) and the Mini (1959) - a testament to his insistence that 'styled' cars dated quickly. In 1969, in recognition of his engineering genius, Queen Elizabeth granted him Knighthood. Having been a passenger in an early Austin Landcrab on several occasions I can confirm they are amazingly spacious inside, front and rear. Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis, CBE, FRS (18 November 1906-2 October 1988) was a Greek-British designer of cars, now remembered chiefly for the groundbreaking and influential development of the Mini, launched by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) in 1959. He still worked to his consultancy agreement but did so almost exclusively from home, briefing and debriefing nominated BL engineers each morning. It interested me as I had the honour of working with sir Alec for around 3 months. : Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis , CBE, FRS, RDI 19061118-1988102 . I caught up to my mate and I said thats a really cool car, what is it? Thats my BrothersMini Cooper. To clarify, the Renault 4, 5 (first generation, Le Car), 6 and 16 all had longitudinally mounted engines. Issigonis had also been involved in the larger Oxford, Isis and Wolseley ranges. Issigoniss mother, Hulda Prokopp, was descended from a Bavarian brewing family who had settled in Smyrna, and established a brewery. The AROnline development story tells the tale of how this small car changed the way we looked at economy cars almost overnight. He was a complex man, with a complex background, family story and career. At this time, he was working for Maurice Olley. Biography: Sir ALEC issigonis - The designer of Britain's favourite cars, Britain's favourite car designer . But this also reflects Issigoniss personal characteristics he was a strong minded, stubborn and arrogant man who did did not always have a lot of respect for others opinions and suggestions. It did not have everything Issigonis wanted, as he originally planned this car to have a V4 engine rather than the BMC A series. In later years, the car would become known simply as the Mini. He lived with his mother to whom he was devoted, until her death in 1972, latterly in Edgbaston in Birmingham, in a large bungalow, divided into two wings. And I myself have engineered a few things with the help of Jack Daniels . Unfortunately the ADO16 did not do well in the U.S. as the Austin America, which was imported here in an attempt to eat some of VWs lunch in the late 1960s. Sir Alec Issigonis was one of the automotive industry's great independent thinkers. Your email address will not be published. Alec's grandfather Demosthenis migrated to Smyrna from the Greek island of Paros in the 1830s. He inherited his great interest in technology and machines from his father who, shortly after the turn . The lower picture is is an early (1958) Issigonis drawing of his vision for the Mini. The Automotive Hall of Fame. The greatest overall compatibility with Scorpio is Taurus and Cancer. British car designer best remembered for his work on the development of the iconic Mini. (The Maxi, by comparison, was a bland lump.). By 1941, Issigonis had started work on an advanced post war car, then codenamed Mosquito, which became the Morris Minor. In conjunction with Issigonis work, Lord contracted Pininfarina to lead the styling of BMCs new cars, starting with the conventionally engineered Austin A40 Farina in 1958. This undated sketch by Issigonis shows some of this. BMCs Great Leap Forward was a bold move, unfortunately marred by the inability to check Issigonis tendencies that often put the buyer last instead of first. Your article sure did him justice; thank you, Roger. Where was the gearbox to be fitted on a front wheel drive car? The Mini was launched in 1959, and became instantly popular. He [], DAILY EXPRESS By David Benson Harry Webster is a quiet, unassuming, generous man of 54. Issigonis studied engineering at Battersea Polytechnic in London. He attended Londons Battersea Polytechnic before entering the University of London External Programme. A British citizen born in Turkey in 1906, Issigonis did not see an automobile until he was 12 years old. The Boudjah - Smyrna born Alec Issigonis was an engineering genius and even after his death there is a fan base for his cars. How about an uncomfortable driver is a distracted driver? He was also responsible for the development of the Mini Moke, initially intended for military use, though it subsequently became another popular icon of British automotive engineering that, like the Mini, attained cult status. The key point to the genesis of the Minor is that Issigonis owned the whole design, including the exterior style, the interior,which had some of the starkness and simple functionality familiar from Issigoniss later designs. Unique. Although primarily a station car, my parents also took it on a vacation through New England. I remember seeing early Civics with trunks and the early VW Dasher had a trunk, in spite of its fastback bodywork. His father, a successful and wealthy shipbuilding engineer, was of Greek origin but held a British passport. Suffice to say it was an ambitious project for a family of compact cars - the smaller of the pair shorter overall than . But it was an exciting period, and youve captured his personality and lasting impact well. Issigonis (just in view at the far right) was not involved in the engineering of this car, but was able to start a long term friendship with Battista and Sergio Pininfarina,seenstanding next the car with Leonard Lord and George Harriman.