A superb and rare photo of the ingenious
designer of the Morris Mini –
Austin Seven
: sir Alec Issigonis. The
image was taken in the 1960s.
Sir Alexander
Arnold Constantine (Alec) Issigonis, CBE, FRS was a
Greek-British designer of cars, now remembered chiefly for the groundbreaking
and influential development of the Mini, launched by the British Motor
Corporation (BMC) in 1959. He was was born in 1906 into the Greek community of Smyrna (now Izmir) in the Ottoman
Empire. His grandfather Demosthenis Issigonis migrated to Smyrna from Paros in the 1830s
and through the work he did for the British-built Smyrna-Ayd?n Railway, in the
engineering works that he had established, had managed to acquire British
nationality. Demosthenis's son (Alec's father) Constantine Issigonis, was born,
with British nationality, in Smyrna in 1872. Constantine studied in England, and later,
passed his love of all things English on to his son. Alec's mother, Hulda
Prokopp, could trace her origins back to Württemberg (now part of Germany). Because
Alec and his parents were British subjects, they were evacuated to Malta by British
Royal Marines in September 1922, ahead of the Turkish re-possession of Smyrna at the end
of the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922). Following the death of his father in
1922, Alec and his mother moved to the UK in 1923.
Alec studied engineering at Battersea Polytechnic in London. He failed
his mathematics exams three times and subsequently called pure mathematics 'the
enemy of every creative genius'. After Battersea Polytechnic, Alec decided to
enter the University of London
External Programme to complete his
university education. Issigonis went into the motor industry as an engineer and
designer working for Humber and competed
successfully in motor racing during the 1930s and 1940s. Starting around 1930,
he raced a supercharged "Ulster" Austin
Seven, later fitting it with a front axle of his own design, leading to
employment at Austin. This
greatly modified machine was replaced with a radical special completed in 1939,
constructed of plywood laminated in aluminium sheeting. 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. This car was remarkably light, weighing 587lb, of which the engine
contributed 252lb. By the time the chassis had been completed (hard labour - it
was all done by hand, no power tools), Issigonis had moved to Morris, but Austin supplied a
"works" specification supercharged side-valve engine. Issigonis
usually won, even when entered in the 1100cc class if there was no 750cc
category. Most events entered were sprints, but he also raced at circuits. In
1936, he moved to the Morris Motor Company at Cowley working on an independent
front suspension system for the Morris 10. The war prevented this design from going
into production but it was later used on the MG Y Type. 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. In 1952, just
as BMC was formed by the merger of Morris and Austin, he moved to Alvis Cars
where he designed an advanced saloon with all aluminium V-8 engine, and
experimented with interconnected independent suspension systems. This prototype
was never manufactured because its cost was beyond Alvis's resources. 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. 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 - for a small town car. During 1956 Issigonis concentrated on the
larger two cars, producing several prototypes for testing. 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. 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. In August 1959
the car was launched as the Morris Mini Minor and the Austin Mini Seven or just
Austin Mini. In later years, the car would become known simply as the Mini. Due
to time pressures, the interconnected suspension system that Issigonis had
planned for the car was replaced by an equally novel, but cruder, rubber cone
system designed by Alex Moulton. The Mini went on to become the best selling
British car in history with a production run of 5.3 million cars. 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.
In 1961, with the Mini gaining popularity, Issigonis was
promoted to Technical Director of BMC. He continued
to be responsible for his original XC projects. XC/9002 became ADO16 and was
launched as the Morris 1100 with the Hydrolastic interconnected suspension
system in August 1962. XC/9001 became ADO17 and was
launched, also with the Hydrolastic suspension system, as the Austin 1800
in October 1964.
Issigonis (nicknamed "The Greek god" by his
contemporaries) was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1967 and was
awarded a knighthood in 1969. Whilst he is most famous for his creation of the
Mini, he was most proud of his participation in the design of the Morris Minor.
He considered it to be a vehicle that combined many of the luxuries and
conveniences of a good motor car with a price suitable for the working classes
- in contrast to the Mini which was a spartan mode of conveyance with
everything cut to the bone.
Sir Alec officially retired from the motor industry in 1971,
although he continued working until shortly before his death. He died in 1988
at his house in Edgbaston, Birmingham.
This is a very
nice and very rare photo that reflects a wonderful era of Mini and automotive
history in a wonderful way. This is your rare chance to own this
photo, therefore it is printed in a nice large format of ca. 8" x
12" (ca. 20 x 30 cm). It makes
it perfectly suitable for framing.