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. A truly fascinating man he was. He was knighted in 1969 and was honored by the city of Oxford with a street named after him, Alec Issigonis Way. Are you sure Renault had transverse-engine hatchbacks by 1974? The Atwell-Wilson Motor Museum is now home to the Issigonis Prototype 1970 Mini 9X 'Gearless', donated to the Museum by the Heritage Motor Centre at Gaydon, Warwickshire. View gallery - 6 images. Enter the length or pattern for better results. Alec Issigonis Net Worth 2023: Wiki Bio, Married, Dating, Family File nella categoria "Alec Issigonis" Questa categoria contiene 5 file, indicati di seguito, su un totale di 5. Im sure the Renault 4, 5, 6, and 16 had longitudinal engines. The Creator of An Iconic Car: Alec Issigonis. - Mini 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. Alec Issigonis is part of G.I. This was partly because of the cost but also because in 1953 Ford bought Briggs UK operations and 1954 BMC bought Fisher & Ludlow. Subsequently my main triumph of design is a carbon block conveyor that fit into an oddly shaped spot while using less pieces of steel than its predecessor. I wonder if he was to blame for the Mini never having a hatchback, or a more softly suspended version? Alec Issigonis - Wikipedie The Minor was, of course, a huge success, for Nuffield and for Issigonis. Enter a Crossword Clue Sort by Length The concept of the transverse engine and gearbox combined with FWD, which had previously been used only with two-cylinder two-stroke engines by DKW (since the 1920s), Lloyd and Saab, was adapted by Issigonis for the four cylinder A-block engine for the Mini. 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. Issigonis died in England in 1988 at the age of 81, having lived long enough to see his beloved Mini sell in excess of five million units. Updates? 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. Later, he was working on an independent suspension for the larger Humber Hawk, with another rising star in the industry, Bill Heynes. Heynes later became Technical Director at Jaguar and was a personal friend of Issigonis for many years. Iconic. AROnline Keith Adams 2001-2022 - please refer to the 'Terms of use' pages. Issigonis never had any input into MG sports cars or the large, rear drive saloons BMC were still building the late 1960s, and the Austin 3 Litre, based on Issigoniss Austin 1800 was driven by George Harriman. Issigonis studied engineering at Battersea Polytechnic in London. Not something one would anticipate until it is experienced. The family is almost penniless. British car designer best remembered for his work on the development of the iconic Mini. And his father, a Greek by origin and British by nationality, had inherited a marine engine construction company, an activity that fascinated little Alec. 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. Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis CBE FRS RDI (18 November 1906 - 2 October 1988) was a Greek automotive designer. Constantine was very proud of his British citizenship and Alec grew up in a traditional British type of household. [16], In 2003 he was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in the United States. Issigonis who designed the Mini auto Crossword Clue By the mid 1970s, Issigonis was beginning suffer from Menieres disease, and the consequent loss of full control of his balance let him to retreat from prominence. Sir Alec Issigonis started his career at Humber, known for their Humber Snipe and Humber Hawk models, even Queen Elizabeth II owned a Humber. Sir Alec Issigonis - Person - National Portrait Gallery Joseph Lowrey, [], The Mini hit its big landmark in 1969, a seismic year in the history of BMC>Rover. Even as Britain entered the 1960s, product planning remained something of an alien concept to its native carmakers, the majority of whom viewed such matters as being the sort of recondite nonsense invented in the United States, and best left there. 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. Alec Issigonis was already known for his popular and respected Morris Minor. RM G4TJWM - Alec Issigonis, creator of the British Motor Corporation 'Mini' car range, drives the 1,000,000th Mini off the production line at the Austin Plant at Longbridge, Birmingham. German Engineer Who Designed And Built The First Practical Automobile Not sure how true it is, but I read somewhere that he even designed the ashtrays for the Minor. Intriguingly, it seems that the car was possibly designed to be suitable for a front wheel drive layout, with a flat floor and compact Moulton rubber cone suspension, leaving a large and spacious engine bay. The childhood . 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. He remained on the BL books as a consultant until 1988, shortly before his death. Thank you very much for a wonderful biography. We now call them Real Minis, to distinguish them from the post 2001 imitations. Biography: Sir Alec Issigonis - The Designer of Britain's Favourite Youre right about maintenance. Issigonis was born on 18 November 1906 in the Ottoman port city of Smyrna, the only child of Constantine Issigonis and Hulda Prokopp. His grandfather Demosthenis Issigonis . There were, as CC has seen, many and varied reasons for the failure of the Landcrab and Maxi: the control (or rather the lack of it) exercised by Lord and Harriman over Issigonis; the inherited components; and marketing and production issues. Rover used the freewheel extensively, on cars and Land Rovers, into the 1960s. Category:Alec Issigonis - Wikimedia Commons Issigonis had also been involved in the larger Oxford, Isis and Wolseley ranges. And a rally demon was born. He was reluctant to consider features such as large boots or hatchbacks, or engine access, as important. [3] 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. : Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis , CBE, FRS, RDI 19061118-1988102 . Austin Healey Sprites , 3000s Austin Americas, MG Midget, MGAs MGBs Mg 1100s I had many of each model. Sir Alec Issigonis - Driven To Write Prior to his death, Alec and his mother travelled overland to London. People : Sir Alec Issigonis - AROnline Alec Issigonis. I got to drive his Red mini when I went for fish and chips on a Friday. By 1938, Issigonis was lead engineer for steering and suspension for all the Morris car range. Alec Issigonis | Classic Cars Wiki | Fandom 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. When Alvis cancelled the project, Issigonis was invited by BMC Chairman Sir Leonard Lord to return to BMC at Longbridge, as Chief Body and Chassis engineer, and reporting to BMC Technical Director Sydney Smith. Alec Issigonis Quotes - BrainyQuote All Rights Reserved. By the mid 1950s, as Europe got back on its feet after the war, there had been many attempts to define the modern car, but none was proving to be dominantly successful. You serve us all wonderfully. Alec Issigonis, technical director of the British Motor Corporation and Charles Griffin, chief engineer, answer questions from our technical editor. Noch ein Mini! View 6 Images. Tragically, Constantine Issigonis contracted a serious illness, and died in Malta in June 1923. Here in Australia they didnt seem particularly small, but they were certainly a lot more roomy than the competition. At this time, he was working for Maurice Olley. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). On the right is Alec Issigonis and standing next to him is John Cooper. Excellent article. Issigonis legacy. Alec Issigonis was born in 1900s. Brilliant cars! document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. 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. XC/9002 became ADO16 and was launched as the Morris 1100 with the Hydrolastic interconnected suspension system in August 1962. Its practicality and affordability made it immediately popular; by the time of Issigonis death more than five million had been sold. Chinese Zodiac: Alec Issigonis was born in the Year of the Rabbit. Issigonis spent his early years as an engineer with Morris Motors working on steering and suspension. He designed the Mini, launched by the British Motor Corporation in 1959, and voted the second most influential car of the 20th century in 1999. In 1936, he moved to Morris Motors Limited at Cowley working on an independent front suspension system for the Morris 10. The Boudjah - Smyrna born Alec Issigonis was an engineering genius and even after his death there is a fan base for his cars. 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 . 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. Nkter data mohou pochzet z datov poloky. The original Minor design was so narrow they had to chop it lengthways and widen it. Alec Issigonis was born in the Year of the Horse. A colleague of his had a VW Polo then and kept shaking his head: Well, yes, if there were no other compact cars in the world , Mr. Roger Carr, Thank you. From London to Longbridge: The streets that made Mini 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 The closure of the Suez canal created . Friendly was ideal for owner-buyers, a large part of the British car buying public, but never appealed to thrusting young execs and salesmen, which is why BLMC was so desperate for the Marina to crack the fleet market. 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. Another Mini! 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 greatest overall compatibility with Scorpio is Taurus and Cancer. His fingerprints are all over other cars, too, the Austin 1800 Land Crab and the Austin Maxi for example, but not always as successfully, as we shall see. IAN NICHOLLS recalls the day the two millionth rolled off the production line [], A team of the worlds leading motoring writers, along with voters on the internet, have short-listed the legendary Mini for the ultimate motoring accolade the international Car of the [], THE GUARDIAN Lord Stokes writes about the late Sir Alec Issigonis: Alec Issigonis was a very charming and persuasive person, and a brilliant innovative engineer with a considerable capacity for [], Rover Group consultant Sir Alec Issigonis writes to chairman Graham Day. [4] Alec Issigonis - Bio, Personal Life, Family & Cause Of Death - CelebsAges Noch ein Mini! On his side, Issigonis built a large model railway in the double garage that ran out through the walls and around the garden. 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. Sir Alec Issigonis - Motoring Weekly an alec issigonis family car launched in 1969 (6,4) Crossword Clue Daniels (right) and Sheppard (left), no doubt, had to smooth a few ruffled feathers on the way. is military terminology referring to "Government Issue" or "General Issue". He worked on various projects for Morris through the war and towards its end started work on an advanced post war car codenamed Mosquito that became the Morris Minor, which was produced from 1948 until 1971. Ruling Planet: Alec Issigonis had a ruling planet of Pluto and has a ruling planet of Pluto. Issgoniss retirement, with George Turnbull, then Managing Director of Austin-Morris. So Sir Alec Issigonis had an impact on my life. I was amazed at the amount of space in that car you could even hide things in the cubbyhole under the rear seat. Alec Issigonis and Dr Alex Moulton, the creator of Hydrolastic and Hydragas suspension, with a Morris 1100, circa 1962. In 1969, in recognition of his engineering genius, Queen Elizabeth granted him Knighthood. Sir Alex Arnold Constantine Issigonis (1906-1988) - Find a Grave He then moved on to Alvis, where he worked on the development of a luxury saloon, but the project had to be discontinued for cost reasons. He took advantage of other peoples suspension designs, Moultons rubber cones and the isolastic, as they freed up more space. Issigonis was a good packaging designer. While the intention was for the space efficient FWD cars to replace much of the existing overlapping BMC range (that all should have been hatchbacks in retrospect), it would have been interesting to see a rear-wheel drive Cortina rival with fully-independent suspension derived from Issigoniss work at Alvis to slot between the 1100/1300 and 1800/2200. 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. The image his cars achieved for BMC was arguably a factor in the survival of the company in the market place, and BMC used his personality extensively in advertising whichyou can imagine Issigonis publicly hating but privately loving. As such he was of the generation who experienced the privations of two apocalyptic world wars. Where was the gearbox to be fitted on a front wheel drive car? Noch ein Mini (A Mini! The war years were spent. Whos the richest Entrepreneur in the world? By 1941, Issigonis had started work on an advanced post war car, then codenamed Mosquito, which became the Morris Minor. [], By Clifford Webb British Leyland are selling the Mini at a loss despite the latest price increase and the fact that after 14 years it is still their top export [], Lord Stokes writes to Sir Alec Issigonis on this day. What a great. 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. A more powerful engine, bigger brakes and a few tuning tweaks later, the Classic Mini Cooper 997 was introduced. Alec Issigonis - Wikipdia, a enciclopdia livre 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. 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. I thought I knew everything about Issigonis already, but there were some fascinating insights here. 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. This prototype was never manufactured because its cost was beyond Alvis's resources. 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. Happy birthday to the Mini - New Atlas ADO15, 16 & 17 (36792752942).jpg 1 712 1 936; 589 KB His stubbornness, I would say, had more in common with Ford starting production of the T, when everyone was telling him to make expensive cars because they were more profitable. Sir Alec Issigonis celebrates one of the many milestones of the Mini dynasty. Click the answer to find similar crossword clues . Issigonis and Dowson then travelled into Austria to the mountain climb competition at the then new Grossglockner Hochalpen Pass. That's exactly what he did. Sir Alec Issigonis. In many ways, this car was a clear, but simpler, derivative of the work Issigonis had been doing at Alvis, and Issigonis recruited some former colleagues from Alvis to BMC to develop V6 and V4 engines for the projected BMC cars, possibly using the aborted work at Alvis as a basis. 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. Alec's grandfather Demosthenis migrated to Smyrna from the Greek island of Paros in the 1830s. [], In Part One of this fascinating series, which originally appeared in Vehicle Engineer,AROnline Contributor IanElliott applies his insider knowledge to spelling out the exact sequence of mergers that led to [], Photography: Martin Bell One of the design team who worked on the original Mini has revealed how the revolutionary small car came about. 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. PDF SIR ALEC ISSIGONIS was an automobile engineer whose name will always be The rest is racing . The 1100 and later 1300 outsold the Mini by a considerable margin and remained Britains best-selling car right through the 1960s. Proslavil se zejmna nvrhem vozu Mini, kter uvedla na trh British Motor Corporation v . 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. Most events entered were sprints, but he also raced at circuits. 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. Etsy Search for items or shops Close search Skip to Content Sign in 0 Cart Cyber Sales Event Jewelry & Accessories Clothing & Shoes He would instead research work on his Mini replacement the 9X with its compact transverse engine. Again,Issigonis was able to get close to some of the most impressive cars of the era, and take ideas and influences home. Ive never been inside a Landcrab or a Maxi, but I understand that while they are very spacious, the ergonomics are pretty poor.