The inability of these cars to withstand business case scrutiny crucial in the companys decline, and others must also stand up for that -Issigonis didnt claim to be a product planner in the sense Ford would recognise but saw all his cars as separate entities. There he witnessed the awe inspiring (and Nazi funded) Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix cars, as well as the Alfa Romeo P3 of Nuvolari, which won the race, much to the Nazis discomfort. The 1100 and later 1300 outsold the Mini by a considerable margin and remained Britains best-selling car right through the 1960s. It amounted to no more than surface rust on the chassis. Issigonis, The Mini Mastermind - On This Day [citation needed], Issigonis was nicknamed "the Greek god" by his contemporaries. 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. Sir Alex Arnold Constantine Issigonis (1906-1988) - Find a Grave Alec Issigonis is part of G.I. Alviss options for body shell production were being reduced, at the same as the estimated costs of the body manufacture doubled. He was flattered to be copied, though. At the peak if his career he was by far the most well-known personality in the British motor industry, one of the most well-known names in the European motor industry, and was the first and perhaps the only car British designer who could claim celebrity status. 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. The Mini was launched in 1959, and became instantly popular. It was still in production when BMW, led by Bernd Pischetsreider, bought Rover in 1994. Vic Oak and Reginald Hanks, Morriss Managing Director did though, arranging a 50% salary increase for Issigonis in April 1948, to 1500 per year. After these cars, and the formation of British Leyland in 1968, Issigonis was sidelined by a new influx of engineers led by Triumphs Harry Webster. Below are all possible answers to this clue ordered by its rank. Issigonis also devised a compact suspension system made of rubber cones instead of springs to keep the wheel wells from intruding into the passenger compartment. There was a good reason for BMC selecting him for this task, for Issigonis was born in Izmir. The Lightweight Special - TNF's Archive - The Autosport Forums I remember seeing early Civics with trunks and the early VW Dasher had a trunk, in spite of its fastback bodywork. Discover what happened on this day. Issigonis was dismissive of market research, The public dont know what they want; its my job to tell them and even mathematics, derided as the enemy of every truly creative man. Issigonis 'response was dry and forceful:'I'm an engineer. Certainly, it was not the right job for him, taking him too far away from the sketching and ideas, and into meetings about pay scale reviews and marketing policies. It was more like a Lancia or a rear drive Citroen than a Rover or a Sunbeam-Talbot. He inherited his great interest in technology and machines from his father who, shortly after the turn . Issigonis and his team produced a revolutionary car that featured a small exterior with a spacious passenger compartment and outstanding handling characteristics. As such he was of the generation who experienced the privations of two apocalyptic world wars. We will continue to update information on Alec Issigoniss parents. As a person whos worked as a CAD drafter for 24 years, I wonder what his objection to CAD was. Alec Issigonis - Career - LiquiSearch He lived and worked in England " A camel is a horse designed by a committee " " Pure Math is the enemy of every truly creative man" Sir Alec's grandfather Demosthenes was sort of a mechanical genius having . . Autokonstrukteur, GBPortrt mit Zigarette- 1959. Category:Alec Issigonis - Wikimedia Commons . This page is updated often with fresh details about Alec Issigonis. Towards the end of WW2, he began work on the Mosquito project, which ended up being launched in 1948 as the Morris Minor. ), British automobile designer who created the best-selling, economical Mini and the perennially popular Morris Minor. Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis was born into the Greek city of Smyrna (now zmir) in the Ottoman Empire. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. He pressed the case, again, for the gearless 9X, complained about electronics in cars, designers using CAD systems and not slide rules, and changes in the model designations of the existing Mini. Excellent article. Sir Alec Issigonis. 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. He was reluctant to consider features such as large boots or hatchbacks, or engine access, as important. Get In Touch Call or Email. info@oxbotica.com +44 (0)1865 433 998. Alec Issigonis - the genius behind the Mini and the Morris Minor - AROnline The family had an engineering business making marine engines and pumps, and it was from observing his father at work that he determined to become an engineer. Issigonis was to use Moultons suspension ideas on all his future cars, with Moulton working in a consultancy capacity to BMC. Alec Issigonis Net Worth, Age, Bio, Birthday, Height, Facts In March 1957 Lord asked (more likely told, as Lord did not do asking) Issigonis to come up with something to compete with them. Morris Minor 1000s , Dropheads, Travelers , Panel Van, and Pick up trucks. (The Maxi, by comparison, was a bland lump.). In 1936, he moved to Morris Motors Limited at Cowley working on an independent front suspension system for the Morris 10. Are you sure Renault had transverse-engine hatchbacks by 1974? [10], There is a road named "Alec Issigonis Way" in the Oxford Business Park on the former site of the Morris Motors factory in Cowley, Oxfordshire. The cars quickly found their way to the scrapheap since the cost of repairing the automatic transmission typically was more than the car was worth. Happy birthday to the Mini! Noch ein Mini (A Mini! Given his disrupted education, unusual background and the tough economic times that were the late 1920s, finding a job was not easy, but in 1928, and by now a British citizen in his own right, Issigonis took his first job in the motor industry, for Edward Gillett in London, through a networking contact he had made at Battersea. The Automotive Hall of Fame. Fascinating lost papers from the man who created the Mini and the. George Harriman, Leonard Lord and Alec Issogonis. It did not have everything Issigonis wanted, as he originally planned this car to have a V4 engine rather than the BMC A series. [11], Issigonis was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1964 Birthday Honours. More importantly, the end of the agreement also marked the end of goodwill payments from the Company that covered his nursing care, and he was forced to move from his home to a smaller flat. He was also referred to as the Greek God, perhaps more openly. Address 8050 Alec Issigonis Way, Oxford Business Park North, Oxford, OX4 2HW. Alec Issigonis - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia To get to this point wasnt easy. To clarify, the Renault 4, 5 (first generation, Le Car), 6 and 16 all had longitudinally mounted engines. Birth Name: Alec Issigonis Occupation: Entrepreneur Place Of Birth: Turkey Date Of Birth: November 18, 1906 Date Of Death: October 2, 1988 Cause Of Death: N/A Ethnicity: Unknown Nationality: Greek Alec Issigonis was born on the 18th of November, 1906. 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 . But it was an exciting period, and youve captured his personality and lasting impact well. O interesse pelo automvel veio aos 12 anos, quando ele viu um pela primeira vez. The loss of British sovereignty led not only to a political defeat but also to an oil crisis. 1988: The Passing of an Automotive Legend - Transportation History The MG 1100 Sport Sedan a perfect choice when a two-seater MG is too small. FamousBirthdays.com - use subject to the practices disclosed in our privacy policy. https://www.mini.com/ This was the man who persisted in pursuing a gearless car using only a torque converter, who rubbished CAD in favour of slide rules, who did most of his designs in rough and passed them to his acolytes to make real. Plenty of space and comfort in the back, as I recall, but my fathers Rover P6 was much more stylish. He attended London's Battersea Polytechnic before entering the University of London External Programme. This led to a job at Austin, but in 1936, he moved to Morris at Cowley, where he worked on the Morris 10. Issigonis then went back to the British Motor Corporation, where the influence of many political factors led him to his major breakthrough. 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. Even more significantly, it effectively defined the configuration of the small and medium car for the next 50 years. Indeed gay sex was illegal in the UK until 1968 and for many years after prejudice was rife. Again,Issigonis was able to get close to some of the most impressive cars of the era, and take ideas and influences home. He was knighted in 1969 and was honored by the city of Oxford with a street named after him, Alec Issigonis Way. The floor is flat and low to the ground and windows all round make it seem very airy. (I can remember seeing Austin Americas just a few years old being offered up for $50.) A truly great man and an honour for me. His little cars were a success despite him. Alec Issigonis. Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Death and commemorations 4 Some of his cars Getting a guy like Issigonis to design a V8 saloon and just chucking it in the bin. August 26, 2019. Tragically, Constantine Issigonis contracted a serious illness, and died in Malta in June 1923. He was appointed to this post by Lords successor, Sir George Harriman, who was even more in awe of him than Lord was, but also was even more unable to control and guide Issigonis. Issigonis had a reputation, deserved by all accounts, for arrogance and irascibility, an inability to suffer fools at all, and restricted his contact to as a small as a group as he could. Sir Alec Issigonis, in full Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis, (born Nov. 18, 1906, Smyrna [now zmir], Tur.died Oct. 2, 1988, Birmingham, Eng. He excelled in mechanical drawing, but failed his mathematics exams three times. The Royal Navy Marines evacuated British Subjects, including the Issigonis family, from Smyrna before Turkey attacked. Alec Issigonis (Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis) was born in Smyrna in the Ottoman Empire (now Izmir, Turkey). TOP 8 QUOTES BY ALEC ISSIGONIS | A-Z Quotes . At some point in the mid-60s they ran an After the New Wears Off feature by an MG 1100 owner in Los Angeles. Issigonis was an engineer, first and foremost, but I have used the terms design/designer in this piece, in the way that was contemporaneous to Issigonis and as he would have understood it, although we would now use use engineering. Great article there should be a movie about Issigonis! On 15 October 2006 a rally was held at the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon, England, to celebrate the centenary of Issigonis's birth. He despised such luxuries as radios and comfortable seats, once stating I would like people to sit on nails to be extremely uncomfortable all the time. and declaring that an uncomfortable driver is an alert driver. The Austin/Morris Mini was Alec Issigonis - Wikipedia My doodles and sketches are not the work of an academic engineer. His motor industry career at Humber, and during his time there, he competed in motor racing notably designing his own lightweight version of a supercharged Ulster Austin Seven with his own front axle. 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 Renault 14 was transversely engined, from 1976. Zodiac Sign: Alec Issigonis was a Scorpio. Alec Issigonis is a famous Entrepreneur. This post and its visuals and videos explains this pivotal vector of the international industry with such clarity and depth. Sir Alec Issigonis - Person - National Portrait Gallery All Rights Reserved. Issigonis name will always be associated with the Morris Minor, built for over 20 years, and with the Mini, a car he designed very quickly in the late 1950s and which was built for over 40 years, throughout the tumultuous history of BMC and BLMC, ending only after the BMW led break up of the Rover Group in 2000. Issigonis first concepts were rear wheel drive, with a conventional drive train, fully independent suspension set on a long wheelbase with short overhangs and very rudimentary styling. I do not know how many I have owned Morrises, Austins and MGs. [14], He was granted the rank of Knight Bachelor in the 1969 Birthday Honours[15] and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II during an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace on 22 July of the same year. A British citizen born in Turkey in 1906, Issigonis did not see an automobile until he was 12 years old. This car was remarkably light, weighing less than 600lb. 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. He was a race car driver during the 30s and 40s. Issigonis officially retired from the motor industry in 1971, although he continued working until shortly before his death in 1988 at his house in Edgbaston, Birmingham. Sir Alec Issigonis ( 1906-1988 ) was an exceptional car designer who is best known for his development of the Mini.He was born in Smyrna ( Izmir ) in Turkey, the son of British-Greek parents. By 1964, BMC had built over one million front wheel drive vehicles, including over 800,000 Minis and over 200,000 ADO16s, and over a third were exported. Alec Issigonis | Automotive Hall of Fame 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. Alec Issigonis Quotes - BrainyQuote Im sure this was never part of Issigoniss plan, as he was anti-style, but only the 1100 benefited from external help. At Alvis, Issigoniss main task was to lead the development of a more affordable, higher volume luxury car. So in here in the U.S. the ADO16 went down in obscurity, while its far less sophisticated but more reliable competition built by the Axis powers took over the small car market. The gearbox sharing the sump oil worked ok, but the transmission absolutely pulverised the lubricating qualities out of the oil, and it really required changing every 3000 miles if you wanted the thing to last. I saw that same car several times, so, at least in nice weather, it apparently was a daily driver. Back the early 2,000 B.C. Issigoniss legacy is undoubtedly best seen through his cars, from the Minor to the Maxi, which challenged conventions through engineering ingenuity. The car was launched at the 1948 London Motor Show, alongside the Land Rover and Jaguar XK120, and the rest is pure CC history. In 1936, Issigonis moved again, to the Morris Motor Company, as a project engineer on an independent front suspension system for the Morris 10, where his experience at Rootes would start to bear fruit. Issigonis was born in Smyrna in 1906. On the surface it didnt appear very desirable to Me, or to prospective new-car buyers. 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. 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. . A more powerful engine, bigger brakes and a few tuning tweaks later, the Classic Mini Cooper 997 was introduced. After returning to England in 1922, he enrolled in engineering school, failing mathematics at every turn. 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. Learn more. And Alec Issigonis? If so, that would seem vindictive on Days part. Im sure the Renault 4, 5, 6, and 16 had longitudinal engines. Mr. Front-Wheel Drive: Sir Alec Issigonis - Academia.edu From 1925-1928 he studied engineering at Battersea Polytechnic in London. Ruling Planet: Alec Issigonis had a ruling planet of Pluto and has a ruling planet of Pluto. A reliable car with excellent steering and cornering qualities, it was the first all-British car to pass the one million mark in sales; surviving models are still cherished by owners and collectors. Ive often wondered how its 35 horses managed the Berkshires . Issigonis and Dowson then travelled into Austria to the mountain climb competition at the then new Grossglockner Hochalpen Pass. Alec Issigonis was a Greek-British automobile engineer and designer, best known for designing the Mini, a compact car that became a cultural icon in Britain and other countries. Unique. People : Sir Alec Issigonis - AROnline British car designer best remembered for his work on the development of the iconic Mini. Alec is also well known as, British car designer best remembered for his work on the development of the iconic Mini. Thanks for a wonderfully researched article! The Motor Museum in Miniature There is a truck factory in the city of Izmir, on the western Mediterranean coast of Turkey, builtby the British Motor Corporation (BMC) in 1967, and which still builds vehiclesunder the BMC brand. Great summary of a giant of industrial design. When he officially retired from BLMC in November 1971, Issigonis was retained by BLMC on an exclusive consultancy agreement, signed off by and reporting to the Chairman, Donald Stokes. The greatest overall compatibility with Scorpio is Taurus and Cancer. Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis (Greek: , )CBE FRS RDI (18 November 1906 2 October 1988) was a British-Greek automotive designer. Issigonis worked as a draughtsman and design engineer, and also in a sales and project engineer role, succeeding in securing Rover as a customer use the freewheel device on the new for 1933 Rover Ten (P1 series, above). Later, he was working on an independent suspension for the larger Humber Hawk, with another rising star in the industry, Bill Heynes. If only it had had more power and better gearing. No wonder Issigonis felt flattered I feel very, very proud that so many people have copied me.. In 1952, the year BMC was formed, he moved to Alvis where he designed an advanced saloon, and experimented with interconnected independent suspension systems. The gearbox in sump was a dead end in terms of automotive design. I wonder if he was to blame for the Mini never having a hatchback, or a more softly suspended version?