Great write about a very clever guy, but he was wrong an uncomfortable driver is an irritable driver who fatigues rather more quickly, The Landcrab while being comfortable to ride in as a passenger is not so nice to drive nor are the smaller cars from BMC, there are many surviving ADO16s here and NZ is still the Morris Minor capital of the world they will never become rare here and for that matter neither will real Minis but 1800s and Maxis are quite thin on the ground already yet were popular new they werent very durable though, and the last Princess Ive seen is a rusty example outside the British car museum at Te Awanga, Personally having driven all his ideas the Morris Minor was his best one that saw production, I got my first car licence in a Morry Thou. Maybe it takes that sort of single-mindedness, bordering on obsession, to create something different, get it into production in spite of obstacles and naysayers, and make it a success. 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. 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 . I was mesmerized and I saw my schoolmate being dropped off by his older brother who was on his way to high school. Yes, it ran like hell when operable as the owner treated it like an Army Jeep. The last sighting was of a 71 America, in 81, and looking very well cared for. Alec Issigonis and Dr Alex Moulton, the creator of Hydrolastic and Hydragas suspension, with a Morris 1100, circa 1962. The Mini was launched in 1959, and became instantly popular. Alec Issigonis Net Worth 2023, Age, Height, Relationships, Married, Dating, Family, Wiki Biography . Zodiac Sign: Alec Issigonis was a Scorpio. Moultons hydrolastic suspension as installed on the BMC ADO16 by Issigonis. . 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. Your article sure did him justice; thank you, Roger. [1][2], Issigonis was born on 18 November 1906 in the Ottoman port city of Smyrna, the only child of Constantine Issigonis and Hulda Prokopp. This was partly because of the cost but also because in 1953 Ford bought Briggs UK operations and 1954 BMC bought Fisher & Ludlow. Once more details are available, we will update this section. He persisted in this into the 1980s, competing in vain against the Austin Metro, an improved version of the BMC A series engine and seemingly oblivious to the Companys financial state. Issigonis's mother, Hulda Prokopp, was descended from a Bavarian brewing family who had settled in Smyrna, and established a brewery. Alec Issigonis is a famous Entrepreneur. 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. By October 1959, the Mini was on sale and when the press first got their hands on BMCs new car, they were not shy to praise it; the Minis unique personality, exceptional space efficiency, lively performance and tenacious front-wheel-drive handling meant that it was a sure fire hit with the critics. Alec Issigonis - Etsy Check out our alec issigonis selection for the very best in unique or custom, handmade pieces from our shops. Are you sure Renault had transverse-engine hatchbacks by 1974? Alec Issigonis: straight from a family thrilled by technology. In 1961, with the Mini gaining popularity, Issigonis was promoted to Technical Director of BMC. Discover what happened on this day. I caught up to my mate and I said thats a really cool car, what is it? Thats my BrothersMini Cooper. The Crossword Solver finds answers to classic crosswords and cryptic crossword puzzles. The innovation he created by switching the orientation of the engine, changing the traditional transmission to a transaxle and sending power to the front wheels was a magnificent idea! On 15 October 2006 a rally was held at the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon, England, to celebrate the centenary of Issigonis's birth. 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. I got to drive his Red mini when I went for fish and chips on a Friday. Alec Issigonis was already known for his popular and respected Morris Minor. BMC . 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. Proslavil se zejmna nvrhem vozu Mini, kter uvedla na trh British Motor Corporation v . 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. The strengths of this sign are being resourceful, brave, passionate, a true friend, while weaknesses can be distrusting, jealous, secretive and violent. In 1961, a shipload of Minis suffered mild water damage on their journey to the east coast of US. 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. But his true interest was in the 9X and its power unit, and getting a version of it accepted by BL. Most events entered were sprints, but he also raced at circuits. Austin Maxi: Big On The Inside But Not On The Outside, What a great write up Roger. 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. Therefore some functionality is missing. 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. The task: a car with lots of space inside with minimum dimensions outside, seats for four passengers, impeccable driving characteristics, superior fuel economy, and a very affordable price. I had a book about Issigonis, but its lost. Suffice to say it was an ambitious project for a family of compact cars - the smaller of the pair shorter overall than . He said the engine was turning 4500 rpm at 68 mph and commented, This seems fast enough for an obsolete three-bearing long-stroke engine., Digging up the articles is left as an exercise for the student. That's exactly what he did. The ways in which things went sour for BMC , and for Alec himself, are all too well known: but with this little car, they surely both earned a big place in history. [citation needed], Issigonis was nicknamed "the Greek god" by his contemporaries. During 1967, Sir Alec Issigonis approached his BMH* superiors, asking to be temporarily relieved of day to day duties so that he could devote himself to a new vehicle project, one intended to directly replace the Mini. Thanks for the great article. It was, though, used on the postwar MG Y Type saloons. 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. Issigonis spent his early years as an engineer with Morris Motors working on steering and suspension. Issigonis did observe and try to improve on what he saw, but always challenged himself to be original and better. Issigonis returned to BMC to design a range of family vehicles. Unique. The problem was that I would never have initially chosen to drive one. (I can remember seeing Austin Americas just a few years old being offered up for $50.) It is really amazing, when you think of it, that some 60 years later his basic vision rolls off of assembly lines all over the world. My appreciation of Issigonis designs really came when Auntie Merle traded her Austin A30 (horrible car) for a Morris 1100. 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. In 1952, the year BMC was formed, he moved to Alvis where he designed an advanced saloon, and experimented with interconnected independent suspension systems. 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. 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. A more powerful engine, bigger brakes and a few tuning tweaks later, the Classic Mini Cooper 997 was introduced. His retirement gift from the company was the largest available Meccano set, complete with a steam engine. Plenty of space and comfort in the back, as I recall, but my fathers Rover P6 was much more stylish. Brilliant cars! Constantine studied in England. View gallery - 6 images. : Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis , CBE, FRS, RDI 19061118-1988102 . At some point in the mid-60s they ran an After the New Wears Off feature by an MG 1100 owner in Los Angeles. Production only finished after BMW had bailed out of Rover in 2000. Joseph Lowrey, MOTOR: As soon [], Mr Alec Issigoniss New B.M.C. Unfortunately I didnt turn out quite as brilliant, but I like to think I missed out some of the stubbornness/arrogance as well. He also took his lunch with the workers in the local pub and travelled to this in our Bedford crew bus with wooden bench seats. So Sir Alec Issigonis had an impact on my life. The AROnline development story tells the tale of how this small car changed the way we looked at economy cars almost overnight. Tragically, Constantine Issigonis contracted a serious illness, and died in Malta in June 1923. After studying engineering, he joined Morris Motors in 1936 as a suspension designer. He convinced Issigonis to ready the Mini for the Rallye Monte Carlo. Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis was born into the Greek community of Smyrnain Ottoman Turkey. I dont have any great memories of the Mini to share, though you saw them everywhere. It is arguably doubtful that Lord, knowing Issigonis better, would have seen him as the ideal candidate for the overall technical leadership of BMC. Rover used the freewheel extensively, on cars and Land Rovers, into the 1960s. 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. I do not know how many I have owned Morrises, Austins and MGs. [], The Mini is 63 years old this week. 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. 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. body design expertise was by Italian firm Pininfarina. He didnt say by 1974 in regard to VW and Renault. Contents Early life and education Career Legacy Honours Some of his cars His family had to flee Smyrne to es- cape the genocide of 1922 by the Turks. He was a complex man, with a complex background, family story and career. His love/hate relationship with the companys products stayed with []. XC/9002 became ADO16 and was launched as the Morris 1100 with the Hydrolastic interconnected suspension system in August 1962. I saw this tiny car among the Buicks Oldsmobiles Mercurys and Chevrolet Impalas that were the usual fare. This post and its visuals and videos explains this pivotal vector of the international industry with such clarity and depth. He died in October 1988, aged 82. People born under this sign are seen as warm-hearted and easygoing. . November 18, 1906 Car designer Alec Issigonis, the man who gave the world the Mini, was born in Turkey on this day to a Greek father and Bavarian mother. Absolutely brilliant article about an engineering genius. [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.
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