'One thing that I learnt the hard way - well, not the hard way, the easy way - when you're designing a new car for production, never, never copy the opposition.'
This belief explains why the Minor and the Mini looked like no other car, as indeed they were not copied or inspired by existing cars. In addition to this policy, the new engineering principles Issigonis incorporated into them ensured that they would look different from their rivals.
The first 'modern' small car - designed by Alec Issigonis in 1959 and greeted with amazement by the public. Much smaller wheels than those previously seen and an overall utility look with sliding windows and a sash-pull for opening the doors did not deter the buyers who saw the mini as an accessible small car.
With the engine mounted transversely a reduction in length was achieved which in a car designed for city travel - parking being a priority - was essential. Parking being rated a priority in the less populated roads of 1960 now seems vaguely amusing !
Born in Smyrna, Turkey, in 1906. His father, a naturalised British subject of Greek descent who had married the daughter of a wealthy Bavarian brewer with a branch brewery in Smyrna, ran a marine engineering business with his brother and Alec soon developed a talent for this subject.
At the end of World War I, the British community in Turkey, which had been on the side of Germany in the war, were evacuated by the Royal Navy.
Alec’s father died en route in Malta, and the family arrived in England almost penniless in 1922. Alec’s mother wanted to send him to art school but he preferred engineering. He completed a three-year course at Battersea Polytechnic. He hated the rigidity of mathematics, which he failed three times at Battersea Polytechnic in London. He called pure mathematics “the enemy of every truly creative man.”
By 1928 was working as a draughtsman/salesman in London with an engineering consultant, who was developing a type of semiautomatic transmission.
He frequently visited the Midlands and was offered a job in the Humber Drawing Office at Coventry.
During this time he lived at a house in Kenilworth with his mother. After two years he met Robert Boyle, Chief Engineer at Morris, who offered him a job at Cowley, where he developed an independent suspension.
In the early 1940s, Issigonis began to work on the design of the car, which was to become the Morris Minor.
In 1943, as a project engineer for Morris, he designed a two-seater that represented his vision of what a small car should be. It had a unitary body, 14-inch wheels to increase passenger space, and a flat-four engine that drove the front wheels. He had to give up his idea for the drivetrain, but the car evolved into the legendary Morris Minor, in production from 1948 to 1971.
When Austin merged with Morris in 1952, internal squabbles between workers of the two former competitors disenchanted Issigonis. He moved to Alvis and designed V-8 sports sedan. When Alvis decided not to make the car in 1955, he went back to Morris-Austin, now called British Motor Co.
As the chief engineer, he immediately set up a task force to study his ideas for a small car. The time was right. The Suez Crisis in September 1956 led to gasoline rationing, and his bosses asked him to design a car smaller than the Morris Minor that could seat four and use an existing engine.
Issigonis exploded into action. He shrunk the wheels to 10 inches so they didn’t intrude in the cabin, and stuck them in the far corners. A compact rubber-cone suspension and a wide track allowed safe, responsive handling that later won races.
He mounted the engine transversely to drive the front wheels, then placed the transmission underneath. Eighty percent of the 10-feet (3-meter) long car was given over to passengers.
The car went into production in 1959, and the last original Mini didn’t leave the chains until October 2000.
Issigonis, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth for his success, was arrogant and highly opinionated. He thought market research was inane. He hated interior luxuries, such as radios and comfortable seats, because he thought they distracted the driver.
He thought little of styling. Battista “Pinin” Farina, who admired the lines of the Mini, asked him if he was a stylist. Issigonis was offended: “I am an engineer,” he said.
But he was a creator. The Mini, the Minor and the Austin 1100 he designed are among the five top-selling cars in British history. And his packaging ideas are the foundation of modern small-car design, living on in every front-wheel-drive passenger vehicle with a sideways-mounted engine on the road.
Issigonis worked as the engineer director at Austin Rover until 1971 when he retired. Suffering from Parkinson’s disease, he was then only able to stay on as a consultant until 1987. Sir Issacc Issigonis passed away on October the second, 1988. The Mini defines his design philosophy, “Less is More.”
The Mini was in continuous production from its introduction in 1959 until the last one rolled of the line in Oct. 2000. With over 5.5 million sold in its 41 year run the Mini was voted the European “Car of the Century” by an international panel. It represents the first use of a transverse mounted front wheel drive configuration in a production car. Over the years the engine size has increased from the original 848 cc engine to 1310 cc and the body has been upgraded to improve creature comfort and safety. However, the basic appearance is unchanged, in fact many body panels are interchangeable between the Mark I and the Mark V models. Minis have also been produced as pick up truck, a “woody” wagon, and panel van models as well as a jeep like vehicle called the Moke. Specially prepared Mini’s have won innumerable races and road rallies, including 3 consecutive overall wins at the Monte Carlo rally.
In the 60?s British fashion designer Mary Quant named her newly introduced skirt after her car, as “neither was any longer than absolutely necessary”. Mini’s owners include: Peter Sellers, Tim Allen, Princes Diana, and of course Mr. Bean. Minis can be spotted in numerous TV shows and movies such as the recent feature “Borne Identity” with Matt Damon. Three Minis starred alongside Michael Caine and Noal Coward in the 1969 movie “The Italian Job”
