But accounts do suggest it done in a pretty crass way. The car, as developed in a prototype form, showed potential as well as technical ambition the cars unitary construction made it relatively light and strong, it offered 6 seats, had a rear mounted transaxle, including the clutch, inboard rear brakes, long wheelbase configuration so typical of Issigonis and a modern, sophisticated 3.5 litre V8 engine. By early 1957, prototypes were running, and by mid-1957 the project was given an official drawing office project number (ADO15) so that the thousands of drawings required for production could be produced. . Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis was born into the Greek city of Smyrna (now zmir) in the Ottoman Empire. BLMC says, Archive : Lord Stokes writes to Alec Issigonis, Archive : How Harry Webster is going to shape your car, Archive : The Thoughts of Chairman Stokes, Archive : Issigonis The Giant Who Thought Small, Archive : Creative role for Issigonis in BMC board switch, Archive : Mr Issigonis looks to the future, Archive : Interview Motor meets Alec Issigonis, The cars : Alfa Romeo Alfasud development story, Opinion : Celebrating 40 years of the Austin Maestro, Essay : Austin Maestro styling the real killer, Concepts and prototypes : LM10 and LM11 facelifts, Archive : Coventry Council Debates Rover Crisis, News : PSA confirms continued van production in Luton. The childhood . Alec Issigonis was born on the 18th of November, 1906. . An image from the 1964 Racing Car Show in the aftermath of the Mini's first Monte Carlo Rally win. Building 9400 Oxford Business Park North Alec Issigonis Way Oxford OX4 2HN Daniels (right) and Sheppard (left), no doubt, had to smooth a few ruffled feathers on the way. This isnt 1942. Giving the Mini, ADO16 and ADO17 were all designed well before hatchbacks were popular, the beancounters no doubt would be up in arms at the thought of spending more money on tooling for an already old design. Sir Alec Issigonis. I got to drive his Red mini when I went for fish and chips on a Friday. 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. I was eight when my dad bought one of those brand new cars at a reduced price from the NYC dealer $850 for an Austin 850 ($6,800 in 2016 money) He failed his degree course but gained a diploma in Mechanical Engineering, at the third attempt, in 1928. All Rights Reserved. Richard Bremneris well-known for being a highly-respected motoring scribe, but in his formative years, he worked in the employ of Austin-Rover. The first front wheel drive car from BL after Issigoniss retirement was the Austin Allegro, still with the gearbox in the sump and without the obvious hatchback. It was 1961 when the humble little people-mover fell into the hands of British racing legend John Cooper. BMC . Many did not even make it through the warranty period without the transmission self-destructing. My sister had an MG 1100 which blew me away in 1970. Independence is one of their greatest strengths, but sometimes they're overly frank with others. Harris Mann, having a clean sheet, not giving the Allegro or Princess a hatch in the mid 70s is another matter. I dont have any great memories of the Mini to share, though you saw them everywhere. If (and I have no evidence and make no suggestions) a young Issigonis had been outed in, say, the early 1950s, his career progression would likely have been ended even, without any prosecution. [citation needed] Issigonis often commented to friends and colleagues that the Austin 1800 (ADO17) was the design he was most proud of, even though it never was as commercially successful as his three preceding designs. Young Alec grew up in a very affluent environment, with influences from Germany and Greece (he grew up speaking German and Greek), rather than Turkey and Britain. Fascinating piece and what a character! Heynes later became Technical Director at Jaguar and was a personal friend of Issigonis for many years. Alec Issigonis: straight from a family thrilled by technology. A truly fascinating man he was. . An engineering genius and godfather of of the Mini. . THE CREATOR OF AN ICONIC CAR: ALEC ISSIGONIS. 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 died in October 1988, aged 82. Alec Issigonis was born in the Year of the Horse. Was it to be front or rear engined? The son of a Greek merchant, Issigonis immigrated to London in 1922 during the war between Greece and Turkey. I remember being quite put off by the sound of the engine seemingly racing to maintain 45mph. And Alec Issigonis? Ruling Planet: Alec Issigonis had a ruling planet of Pluto and has a ruling planet of Pluto. The suspension was also of advanced design, with trailing arm front suspension attached to a steel cross-member, and swing axle rear, all with rubber springs made of catapult elastic. 2939 Words; 12 Pages; 6 Works Cited; Essay on The Pure Voice in Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles This guilt convinces Tess that she must now travel to the D'Urbervilles' home and claim kin with them. Alec Issigonis. His father, a successful and wealthy shipbuilding engineer, was of Greek origin but held a British passport. Looking at the Minor or the Mini, I can believe that. For his accomplishments, Queen Elizabeth knighted Issigonis in 1969. One tidbit I recall: when the Morris Minor design was almost finished the book showed the designer holding a brass model of the car it was decided to add a few inches of width at the centerline. Moulton was a scion of the family behind the Avon tyres company and a respected suspension system engineer in his own right who had worked extensively on the concept of rubber as a suspension medium, before working on the hydrolastic and later still the hydragas systems. I saw this tiny car among the Buicks Oldsmobiles Mercurys and Chevrolet Impalas that were the usual fare. Probably 30 of these made over the past dozen years, not quite Mini production numbers.. Another excellent piece Roger, and thank you for bringing it to us. Issigonis and his team produced a revolutionary car that featured a small exterior with a spacious passenger compartment and outstanding handling characteristics. *27/02/01 The new Mini which will go on sale in the UK summer 2001, was , being unveiled for the first time. O interesse pelo automvel veio aos 12 anos, quando ele viu um pela primeira vez. What a great, nicely balanced piece about the ever-controversial Sir Alec, and his equally controversial designs. Ive never been inside a Landcrab or a Maxi, but I understand that while they are very spacious, the ergonomics are pretty poor. Issgonis preferred to work by sketching his ideas onto Arclight pads, each numbered in sequence and retained, and then having Daniels, looking after chassis elements, or another close confidant John Sheppard, looking after the body shell itself, work to turn these in physical reality. John Daly, Your email address will not be published. Issigonis then went back to the British Motor Corporation, where the influence of many political factors led him to his major breakthrough. You serve us all wonderfully. He was reluctant to consider features such as large boots or hatchbacks, or engine access, as important. Sir Alec Issigonis celebrates one of the many milestones of the Mini dynasty. By 1945, a full scale static prototype close to the familiar production form was completed. Designer Alec Issigonis was born in the southern Anatolian city of Smyrna in 1906. Road & Tracks test of the Austin America included the line, Superb four-speed fully automatic transmission makes more difference than youd believe possible. But they also noted that with just a few thousand miles on their test car, there was some issue (I forget what) with the trunk lock, and the outside of the engine was covered with oily black grime. Demosthenis's son (Alec's father) Constantine Issigonis (Greek: ), was born, with British nationality, in Smyrna in 1872. The Crossword Solver finds answers to classic crosswords and cryptic crossword puzzles. During 1956 Issigonis concentrated on the larger two cars, producing several prototypes for testing. In 1942, Morris gave Issigonis overall responsibility for an all-new model; the Morris Minor. From 1925-1928 he studied engineering at Battersea Polytechnic in London. The original plan called for a large family car by 1960, to be followed by a smaller car and then a city car. Perhaps it was a trait that ran in the family. His little cars were a success despite him. I dont remember Dad as being what youd call a sporting driver, but he never considered the later Austin-based Oxfords. When is Alec Issigoniss birthday? 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. It was one of the first days of the new school year early September and I was walking up the sidewalk and turning the corner to head for the campus. 130 King Street West, Exchange Tower, Suite 1800, Toronto, Canada, M5X 1E3. As a young man, Constantine was sent to England to study, and he later married Hulda Prokopp, the daughter of a wealthy German brewer in Smyrna. The Automotive Hall of Fame. In November 1971, Issigonis officially retired from BLMC, with a major ceremony at Longbridge, for which BL marshalled an example of every car for which he had led the design, of which only the Minor was no longer in production. as an American familiar only with U.S. cars. MINI, official partner of Team GB and ParalympicsGB, has unveiled its new London 2012 special, Keith Adams Well, Christmas and Boxing Day are out of the way and the, The replacement for the Austin-Healey 3000 never took off, thanks in part to a poor, British Motor Holdings the joining of BMC and Jaguar, The cars : Mini (ADO15) development story Part One, Concepts and prototypes : BMC 9X (1968-87), Blog : Why the Italians beat us to a supermini by a decade, History : The Road to Perdition Part One, Interview : Alec Issigonis on the BMC 1100, Archive : Mini Shortlisted For Car Of The Century, Archive : Mini still sold at a loss. At this time, he was working for Maurice Olley. He and Frank Stephenson are both famous car designers. His last Morris projects were the 1953 Morris Oxford and Isis saloons, launched after the BMC merger, and which used the BMC B series engine. Probably the closest British comparison is the Jaguar Mk 1 which came out in 1955 and was produced at a rate of around 10-15,000 for thirteen years. It really showed up typical RWD cars of the time as being great space-wasters. Sir Alec was a combination of everything that was right AND wrong about the British car industry in his day. He attended London's Battersea Polytechnic before entering the University of London External Programme. He still worked to his consultancy agreement but did so almost exclusively from home, briefing and debriefing nominated BL engineers each morning. Sir Alec Issigonis was one of the automotive industry's great independent thinkers. His father, however, did not survive the crossing. Another Mini! There was no radio fitted as he thought it would distract the driver. During the war, Morris Motors undertook military work, notably the development of the Morris lightweight reconnaissance vehicle for the War Department. As a person whos worked as a CAD drafter for 24 years, I wonder what his objection to CAD was. The XC (experimental car) code names assigned for the new cars were XC/9001 - for a large comfortable car, XC/9002 - for a medium-sized family car, and XC/9003 . This page is updated often with fresh details about Alec Issigonis. Another Mini! is bigger, and is just one of a family of related models. Copyright 2023. : Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis , CBE, FRS, RDI 19061118-1988102 . document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Alec's mother, Hulda Prokopp, could trace her origins back to Wrttemberg (now part of Germany). On the surface it didnt appear very desirable to Me, or to prospective new-car buyers. By October 1957, Issigonis had shown Lord a working prototype and the decision had been made to manufacture the car, using the existing BMC A series engine. One thing that I learnt the hard way well not the hard way, the easy way when youre designing a new car for production, never, never copy the opposition, declared Issigonis, when asked to summarise his approach to car design. I hardly ever drove a Mini or an 1100, but many miles of driving a Landcrab made me understand why it was so very good, in spite of some engineering shortcuts. When I was in grade school in the mid-70s, the next door neighbor of my best friend had 6 Minis. Encouraged by the success of the Morris Minor, Issigonis continued his design work at Morris (including work on a replacement for the Minor with a transverse 4 cylinderengine with an endon gearbox) until the merger with the Austin in 1952 to form BMC. LJK Setright, in his book The Designers describes Issigonis as working as a sculptor works, moving masses into different juxtapositions until his trained eye told him they were right. To clarify, the Renault 4, 5 (first generation, Le Car), 6 and 16 all had longitudinally mounted engines. Please check back soon for updates. Comprehensive article. 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. However, as we all know, it was no profit-maker for BMC and, during its hyper-successful first decade on the market, its maker cruelly and criminally failed to develop the concept into something that the customers truly wanted a hatchback. Issigonis would later state that pure mathematics (is) the enemy of every truly creative man. He began his engineering career at Morris Motors Ltd. in 1936 as a steering and suspension engineer. Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis, CBE, FRS (November 18, 1906-October 2, 1988) was a Greek-British designer of cars, now remembered chiefly for the development of the Mini, launched by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) in 1959.. Alec Issigonis . As you know I was away when the little ceremony took place to mark your retirement and I have, of [], Sir Alec Issigonis, designer of the Mini, among other cars, is to remain design consultant with British Leyland after he goes into semi-retirement at the end of the month. Issigonis continued to work as Engineering Director at the Austin-Morris Division of BMC, and as Technical Director of BMC in 1965. The loss of British sovereignty led not only to a political defeat but also to an oil crisis. 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. Smrna was then the second city of the Ottoman Empire and had a local population of around one million, of which more than half were Greek. Nearly $1900 was pretty stiff pricing for a car that size in the mid 60s, $150 more than a Bug. BMC had already developed, and asked outside consultants to develop, several concepts on various themes, none of which met the targets Lord had set, who was also determined to establish an internal capability to think, as we would now say, outside the box. 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. It was apparent to Morriss senior managers that Issigonis was cut from a different cloth compared to his contemporaries. He was popular for being a Entrepreneur. He was knighted in 1969 and was honored by the city of Oxford with a street named after him, Alec Issigonis Way. His mother was from Bavaria. After studying engineering, he joined Morris Motors in 1936 as a suspension designer. Even more significantly, it effectively defined the configuration of the small and medium car for the next 50 years. FamousBirthdays.com - use subject to the practices disclosed in our privacy policy. Alec Issigonis's mother was German, and it was on her side of the family that he was a first cousin once removed to automobile engineer and executive manager Bernd Pischetsrieder. Tragically, Constantine Issigonis contracted a serious illness, and died in Malta in June 1923. Fact Check: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Alec Issigonis. After briefly working elsewhere in the early 1950s, Issigonis returned to what had become the British Motor Corp., where in 1959, in response to the Suez energy crisis (1956) and the popularity of Germanys Volkswagen Beetle, he introduced the Mini. The ease of driving it, attributable to Issigoniss careful and thoughtful suspension and steering design, as well as the comparatively low weight of the car, were factors in that as well as the comfort and space it provided. A more powerful engine, bigger brakes and a few tuning tweaks later, the Classic Mini Cooper 997 was introduced. Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis, CBE, FRS terkenal kerana menjadi pencipta kereta Mini yang menjadi ikon tahun 1960-an. He was flattered to be copied, though. Towards the end of WW2, he began work on the Mosquito project, which ended up being launched in 1948 as the Morris Minor. 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. At the time of his retirement, 71, hatchbacks were not the thing they were 4 years later. Alec Issigonis Net Worth 2023, Age, Height, Relationships, Married, Dating, Family, Wiki Biography . Roger, are you saying that Graham Day ended the consultancy and goodwill payments because he was offended by Issigoniss letter? In 1952, the year BMC was formed, he moved to Alvis where he designed an advanced saloon, and experimented with interconnected independent suspension systems. Alec Issigonis Popularity Most Popular Born in 1906 First Name Alec #31 #1 Entrepreneur Born in Turkey #2 Alec Issigonis Is A Member Of Born In 1906 Entrepreneurs First Name Alec Scorpios He inherited his great interest in technology and machines from his father who, shortly after the turn . This car basically took the Mini concept and enlarged it by 20%, adding some experience, and ambition, at the same time. Alec Issigonis nasceu na Turquia Filho de um grego naturalizado britnico casado com uma turca. [7] This ground-breaking design, with its front wheel drive, transverse engine, sump gearbox, 10-inch wheels, and phenomenal space efficiency, was still being manufactured in 2000 and has been the inspiration for almost all small front-wheel drive cars produced since the early 1960s.
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