alec issigonis family

Alec Issigonis was a Scorpio and was born in the G.I. Gillett was developing a freewheel device for use on cars, partly as a refinement and fuel economy device, and partly to reduce the need for double declutching gearchanges in the pre-synchromesh era. 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. Alec Issigonis Way Oxford Business Park Oxford OX4 2HN United Kingdom Telephone: +44 (0) 1865 783 000 Oxford Biomedica Solutions 1 Patriots Park Bedford MA 01730 United States Telephone: +1 781 428 4536 Email :solutions.partnering@oxb.com Oxford Biomedica (Ireland) Ltd Office 502 Balheary Demense Balheary Road Swords Co. Dublin Ireland Born Alexandros Arnoldos Konstantinos Issigonis on the 18th of November, 1906, Alexander Issigonis' family were part of the Greek community in the port city of Smrna. You could, however, discern Issigoniss influence on some of BMCs light commercials, especially the underfloor engined JU and walk through EA vans of the late 1960s. It was at Alvis that Issigonis first worked with another of the influential characters of his career. Like many famous people and celebrities, Alec Issigonis kept his personal life private. Another Mini! In August 1971, Issigonis drove the 2 millionth ADO16 off the line, as the same time as a Mini Clubman, which was the 5 millionth front wheel drive BMC car, came off the line in the next building. Sir Alec Issigonis. He took advantage of other peoples suspension designs, Moultons rubber cones and the isolastic, as they freed up more space. The closure of the Suez canal created . It amounted to no more than surface rust on the chassis. Thank you very much for a wonderful biography. He would attend the usual motor shows, but often would refuse to look in detail at the competition, so he did not become confused. 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. Suffice to say it was an ambitious project for a family of compact cars - the smaller of the pair shorter overall than . [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. I wonder if he was to blame for the Mini never having a hatchback, or a more softly suspended version? [8], With the creation of British Leyland in 1969, new chairman Lord Stokes quickly sidelined Issigonis and made him into what was termed "Special Developments Director", replacing him with Harry Webster as the new Technical Director (Small/Medium cars). My appreciation of Issigonis designs really came when Auntie Merle traded her Austin A30 (horrible car) for a Morris 1100. Omissions? He was a race car driver during the 30s and 40s. He was known for being a Entrepreneur. He was also referred to as the Greek God, perhaps more openly. 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. Are you sure Renault had transverse-engine hatchbacks by 1974? 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. . Back the early 2,000 B.C. There was a long drive way that ran along the school cafeteria that parents used to drop off students in the morning. My doodles and sketches are not the work of an academic engineer. The Mini was launched in 1959, and became instantly popular. 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. Harris Mann, having a clean sheet, not giving the Allegro or Princess a hatch in the mid 70s is another matter. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. . 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 . Lords instruction was the one Issigonis had been waiting for, and he quickly developed the first Mini prototype. Issigonis also insisted that no less than 80% of the cars volume be dedicated to passengers and luggage. Sir Alec was a combination of everything that was right AND wrong about the British car industry in his day. body design expertise was by Italian firm Pininfarina. Noch ein Mini (A Mini! Issigonis's mother, Hulda Prokopp, was descended from a Bavarian brewing family who had settled in Smyrna, and established a brewery. This would have been in the early 70s when they were literally everywhere. Was it to be front or rear engined? Happy birthday to the Mini! Issigonis who designed the Mini auto Crossword Clue The Crossword Solver found 30 answers to "Issigonis who designed the Mini auto", 4 letters crossword clue. This undated sketch by Issigonis shows some of this. Another Mini! German Engineer Who Designed And Built The First Practical Automobile (Crossword ClueThe crossword clue German engineer who designed and built the first practical automobile. The son of a Greek merchant, Issigonis immigrated to London in 1922 during the war between Greece and Turkey. Issigonis was excused service in the armed forces and remained at Cowley working on military vehicles of various types, including a very basic compact load carrier often described as a motorised wheelbarrow intended for use in jungle conditions together with an amphibious version designed for use by the Royal Navy. I was amazed at the amount of space in that car you could even hide things in the cubbyhole under the rear seat. Plenty of space and comfort in the back, as I recall, but my fathers Rover P6 was much more stylish. I remember being quite put off by the sound of the engine seemingly racing to maintain 45mph. Kereta rekaannya, BMC Mini dilancarkan dalam tahun 1959. 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. [4] His mother was Bavarian, the daughter of a brewer. 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. I remember the Austin America when new, not an impressive car to me in any way . Get In Touch Call or Email. The last sighting was of a 71 America, in 81, and looking very well cared for. [citation needed], Issigonis was nicknamed "the Greek god" by his contemporaries. They paid him to design a tractor safety cab after their own designers had 3 attempts and we built 3 failures. Austin 1800 (ADO18 Landcrab): Best In Class Or Just Plain Ugly? 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. Contents Early life and education Career Legacy Honours Some of his cars Issigonis was giving punters what they needed, rather than what they wanted. Alternate titles: Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis. An amazing man, and someone who would probably never rise to prominence in todays auto industry. Whos the richest Entrepreneur in the world? I have heard some slander about his idea of putting the gearbox in the engine sump, but otherwise, he changed transportation for the masses on a scale not seen since Henry Ford. ), British automobile designer who created the best-selling, economical Mini and the perennially popular Morris Minor. Issigonis was a good packaging designer. 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 Mini was designed by. The Minor was, of course, a huge success, for Nuffield and for Issigonis. Alec Issigonis nasceu na Turquia Filho de um grego naturalizado britnico casado com uma turca. Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis, CBE, FRS (18 November 1906-2 October 1988) 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. It was through his mother's kinships that Issigonis was a first cousin once removed to BMW and Volkswagen director Bernd Pischetsrieder.[5]. Updates? However, there was more to his life than just one car. This isnt 1942. His efforts were concentrated on two things continuing to promote the 1968 9X concept to BLMC, and working on the concept of a gearless version of the Mini, using a torque converter, that was not a technical success. He was born on November 18, 1906 and his birthplace is Turkey. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). He didnt say by 1974 in regard to VW and Renault. BMC and Issigonis were awarded the Dewar Trophy by the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) for the innovative design and production of the Mini. Issigonis customer in this case was Maurice Wilks, later the man behind the Land Rover. 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 On a cheerier note, Id love to see that Alvin on the flesh. By 1941, Issigonis had started work on an advanced post war car, then codenamed Mosquito, which became the Morris Minor. It was also a specialist low volume producer of expensive, exclusive sports saloons cars not now associated with Issigonis and was at the same crossroads that so many smaller, upscale producers had been. 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. Most events he entered were sprints and hillclimbs, but he also competed in some circuit races. The first car I could identify was apparently a Mini and my mother still tells the story of an early trip to England where I wouldnt be quiet Ein Mini! The Minor, Mini, ADO16 and Landcrab all had character, and were all friendly cars. 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. 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. Oxford Office. 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. Copyright 2023. Alec Issigonis Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis, CBE, FRS, RDI (Alec Issigonis) was born on 18 November 1906 in Smyrna in Greece (now Izmir, Turkey) and would become world-renowned for designing the Mini and Morris Minor for BMC. Styled by Pininfarina, it was launched as the Morris 1100 in 1962, and a year later as the Austin 1100, and the clean, classical lines of the car served BMC well. His iconoclasm ensured that, despite the constraints of working in an industry where the size and complexity of the process meant that even the most forceful of designers was only one member of a large team, Issigonis cars bore his own stamp from the 1948 Morris Minor to the 1969 Maxi. 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. His father was a successful shipbuilding engineer, whose own father was from the Greek island, Paros. Bernd Peter Pischetsrieder. Sir Alec Issigonis is best remembered for the Austin Mini - a car that revolutionised the small car package and probably saved the British Motor Corporation at the same time. 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. 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. Look what happened to Alan Turing. Alexander Issigonis was born into the Greek community of Smyrna (now Izmir) in Ottoman Turkey. The 1100 and later 1300 outsold the Mini by a considerable margin and remained Britains best-selling car right through the 1960s. In 1936, he moved to Morris Motors Limited at Cowley working on an independent front suspension system for the Morris 10. [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. 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. 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. Tragically, Constantine Issigonis contracted a serious illness, and died in Malta in June 1923. Im sure this was never part of Issigoniss plan, as he was anti-style, but only the 1100 benefited from external help. To clarify, the Renault 4, 5 (first generation, Le Car), 6 and 16 all had longitudinally mounted engines. 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. This car was remarkably light, weighing less than 600lb. His father died in 1922, at which point he and his mother moved to the U.K.. The typical American indifference to regular maintenance did not play well with this setup. I thought I knew everything about Issigonis already, but there were some fascinating insights here. Great summary of a giant of industrial design. Sir Alec Issigonis was one of the automotive industrys great independent thinkers. I remember seeing early Civics with trunks and the early VW Dasher had a trunk, in spite of its fastback bodywork. Alec Issigonis and Dr Alex Moulton, the creator of Hydrolastic and Hydragas suspension, with a Morris 1100, circa 1962. Ive often wondered how its 35 horses managed the Berkshires . The Axis Powers? And the 1800 the rear seat really seemed limousine-like for the size of the car. Click the answer to find similar crossword clues . Alec Issigonis was already known for his popular and respected Morris Minor. 8050 Alec Issigonis Way, Oxford Business Park North, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX4 2HW. As such he was of the generation who experienced the privations of two apocalyptic world wars. In October, 1957, just eight months after first putting pen to paper, the first prototypes were on the road. Issigonis actually sketched the Minis original design with a pencil on a tablecloth. 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. 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. Youre right about maintenance. I am well acquainted with the brilliant/stubborn/arrogant type of engineer, I have occasionally served as a Daniels, and my own brilliant/stubborn/arrogant Grandfather could have probably used one too. Shortly after in 1962, when gender roles were thought to be defined, one woman chose a life of speed. 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. But, as ever, events intervened in this case the Suez Crisis of 1956, complete with petrol rationing. The Automotive Hall of Fame. The cars design with its front wheel drive and independent suspension provided good road handling, but Issigonis had scant regard for passenger comfort. 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. He attended London's Battersea Polytechnic before entering the University of London External Programme. He also had plans for a flat four cylinder engine, and at frequentlychallenged convention and Morris Motors conservatism. BMC was producing over 11,000 Issigonis-designed front-wheel-drive models a week, with demand still exceeding production, which was continually increased. is bigger, and is just one of a family of related models. 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. Twitter; Proslavil se zejmna nvrhem vozu Mini, kter uvedla na trh British Motor Corporation v . The suspension was trailing arms at the front, attached to a steel cross-member, and a swing axle rear, all with rubber springs made of catapult elastic. This was partly because of the cost but also because in 1953 Ford bought Briggs UK operations and 1954 BMC bought Fisher & Ludlow. 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. I saw one, in 79 or 80, sold here as the MG Sports Sedan. Fact Check: We strive for accuracy and fairness. 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. Constantine married a German lady whose name was Hulda Prokopp and in 1906 they had a baby who they named Alexander Arnold Issigonis, or Alec to his family. The childhood . Alec Issigonis was born on the 18th of November, 1906. 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. The boxy, inexpensive, fuel-efficient Mini used a transverse engine to power its front wheelsa radical design at the timeand thus could comfortably seat four passengers despite being only 10 feet (3 m) long. Whos the richest Entrepreneur in the world. Lord (later Lord Lambury, above) had big ambitions for BMC and initially tasked Issigonis with developing the basis for a range of modern family cars to replace the existing collection of BMC products. 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. Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis was born into the Greek community of Smyrnain Ottoman Turkey. Lord Alfred Robens , Chairman of the National Coal Board, wearing cap and gown as he is installed as the new Chancellor of the University of . Perhaps it was a trait that ran in the family. Issigonis showed little interest in things mechanical until he was well into his teens, not riding in a car until he was 14 years old, and was seemingly more interested in art, under the strong influence of his mother. Sir Alec Issigonis. It interested me as I had the honour of working with sir Alec for around 3 months. It was more like a Lancia or a rear drive Citroen than a Rover or a Sunbeam-Talbot. 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. Ultimately, Alvis had to cancel the project, after the first prototype had been built but before the company had committed to the expenditure of production tooling. Issigonis usually won, even when entered in the 1100cc class if there was no 750cc category.