alec issigonis family

At the opening of the factory BMC was represented by Sir Alec Issigonis. The son of a Greek merchant, Issigonis immigrated to London in 1922 during the war between Greece and Turkey. . as an American familiar only with U.S. cars. Generation also known as The Greatest Generation. Despite its stated mission being to provide basic transport, this level of driving enjoyment, and capability, was like a non stop Christmas present. His mother was from Bavaria. The Boudjah - Smyrna born Alec Issigonis was an engineering genius and even after his death there is a fan base for his cars. LJK Setright, in his book The Designers describes Issigonis as working as a sculptor works, moving masses into different juxtapositions until his trained eye told him they were right. What a great. Another Mini!). 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. Another Mini! After returning to England in 1922, he enrolled in engineering school, failing mathematics at every turn. Alec is . 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. Issigonis's mother, Hulda Prokopp, was descended from a Bavarian brewing family who had settled in Smyrna, and established a brewery. 8050 Alec Issigonis Way, Oxford Business Park North, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX4 2HW. The lower picture is is an early (1958) Issigonis drawing of his vision for the Mini. Was it to be front or rear engined? Brilliant cars! Issigonis would work on the 9X programme, which included a replacement Mini and a new and innovative gearless transmission system. Issigonis would later state that pure mathematics (is) the enemy of every truly creative man. He began his engineering career at Morris Motors Ltd. in 1936 as a steering and suspension engineer. Sir Alec Issigonis. When we stopped sending children up chimneys we reemployed them to work or minis. Thanks for the great article. I was amazed at the amount of space in that car you could even hide things in the cubbyhole under the rear seat. Our tool for managing your permission to our use of cookies is temporarily offline. He still worked to his consultancy agreement but did so almost exclusively from home, briefing and debriefing nominated BL engineers each morning. Alec Issigonis, or more formally Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis CBE FRS RDI* (1906 1988), is best known as the creator of the Mini, but he also designed two other cars that have featured on CC and that are amongst the best-selling cars in British motoring history the Morris Minor and the Austin-Morris 1100 (ADO16). Alec Issigonis's mother was German, and it was on her side of the family that he was a first cousin once removed to automobile engineer and executive manager Bernd Pischetsrieder. His grandfather Demosthenis Issigonis . 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 . Innovative. Alec Issigonis was a hugely . The end of the agreement came in 1986, when Issigonis wrote directly to Graham Day, BLs then new Chairman. [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. It was created in response to a crisis and was a genius piece of packaging which will forever be Sir Alec Issigonis legacy to the automotive world. Issigonis was born in Smyrna in 1906. 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. During the war, Morris Motors undertook military work, notably the development of the Morris lightweight reconnaissance vehicle for the War Department. His name will always be associated with the Morris Minor and the Mini, but he was a complex man with a complex background, family, story and career. 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. Moulton was a scion of the family behind the Avon tyres company and a respected suspension system engineer in his own right who had worked extensively on the concept of rubber as a suspension medium, before working on the hydrolastic and later still the hydragas systems. The Renault 14 was transversely engined, from 1976. 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. To achieve this feat, Issigonis utilized a front wheel drive layout with a transverse-mounted engine, the first modern application of this concept. The closure of the Suez canal created . He also has one of the finest technical brains in the country and he is [], THE GUARDIAN IAN BREACH interviews LORD STOKES Safety: British or American standards? By 1938, Issigonis was lead engineer for steering and suspension for all the Morris car range. Alec Issigonis was a Scorpio and was born in the G.I. Most events he entered were sprints and hillclimbs, but he also competed in some circuit races. I wanted to know the genesis. He [], DAILY EXPRESS By David Benson Harry Webster is a quiet, unassuming, generous man of 54. It was at Alvis that Issigonis first worked with another of the influential characters of his career. 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. The Mini caused a sensation with its design and rather small size in the late 1950s thanks to its inventor, the Englishman Alec Issigonis. As a Morris Minor owner I appreciated it . Issigoniss legacy is undoubtedly best seen through his cars, from the Minor to the Maxi, which challenged conventions through engineering ingenuity. MINI. Alecs education details are not available at this time. Updates? At this time, he was working for Maurice Olley. 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. Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis was born into the Greek city of Smyrna (now zmir) in the Ottoman Empire. His love/hate relationship with the companys products stayed with []. Sir Alec Issigonis. 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. But accounts do suggest it done in a pretty crass way. Alexander Issigonis was born into the Greek community of Smyrna (now Izmir) in Ottoman Turkey. It was the highlight of my career and came early as I was just 18 years old and just an apprentice engineer for a tractor company. Issigonis made a grandfather clock from it, which kept good time. [11], Issigonis was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1964 Birthday Honours. Alec Issigonis was already known for his popular and respected Morris Minor. That's exactly what he did. It was a very ambitious intention, which Alvis were not capable of delivering on without importing a lot of engineering talent. A British citizen born in Turkey in 1906, Issigonis did not see an automobile until he was 12 years old. 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. The Minor, Mini, ADO16 and Landcrab all had character, and were all friendly cars. Engine access on the Mini was very awkward, and this was only improved on the ADO16 because Jack Daniels was able to keep Issigonis away from the detail work, which was largely done at Cowley in Oxford rather than Longbridge. Another thing Sir Alec did not think was important perhaps? The Axis Powers? 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. Alec Issigonis: straight from a family thrilled by technology. He left Morris in 1952 for Alvis just as BMC was created from Austin and Morris (as well as Riley, Wolseley and MG).. Later, he was working on an independent suspension for the larger Humber Hawk, with another rising star in the industry, Bill Heynes. 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 . On 15 October 2006 a rally was held at the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon, England, to celebrate the centenary of Issigonis's birth. Alec Issigonis. 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 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. The family is almost penniless. He often had to be discreetly talked through financial documents when he was in the board meetings. Issigonis and Dowson then travelled into Austria to the mountain climb competition at the then new Grossglockner Hochalpen Pass. Great summary of a giant of industrial design. In 1961, he became Technical and oversaw the launch of the 1100, 1800 and Maxi all hugely advanced machines, with front-wheel drive, in-sump gearboxes, and interconnected suspension. Issigonis had some success at club racing level and in 1935 travelled with his lifelong friend George Dowson to the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. Sir Alec Issigonis, in full Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis, (born Nov. 18, 1906, Smyrna [now zmir], Tur.died Oct. 2, 1988, Birmingham, Eng. Not sure how true it is, but I read somewhere that he even designed the ashtrays for the Minor. Contents Early life and education Career Legacy Honours Some of his cars [], 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. XC/9002 became ADO16 and was launched as the Morris 1100 with the Hydrolastic interconnected suspension system in August 1962. Issigonis was a remarkable engineer and obviously made his mark. is bigger, and is just one of a family of related models. It was as modern and progressive in 1948 as the ADO16 Morris 1100 was in 1962, and let down only by the relatively weak and old side valve engine.

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