The Mini’s creator, the late, great Sir Alec Issigonis, was a genius. The Mini was entirely his work and not the work of a whole team, as happens today. He designed the Mini to be a small, cheap, economic wee car with safe handling…little did he know that the car would go on for 40 historic years. He had a marvelous ability to visualize the completed car during its design stages. There are many examples of this, such as the one where an engineer asked him what size to make the wheels. Issigonis held his hands apart and said “this big”…the engineer measured the distance between his hands – 10 inches – and made the wheels exactly that size! Casual sketches made by Issigonis could almost be used as blueprints by the engineers assembling the first prototypes. He called himself “The Ironmonger” because he preferred to be hands-on rather than paper-based. “Market research is bunk” he said…”the public don’t know what they want, it is my job to tell them”. with more than 5.25 million Minis produced, who can argue? Sir Alec designed many other successful cars including the legendary Morris Minor and Austin 1100/1300 range.
Revolutionary Design
Born of necessity during the Suez Crisis, it had a revolutionary design for the time – with front wheel drive, the gears mounted in the engine’s sump and a transverse engine. The entire engine and transmission unit was contained on sub frames and fitted compactly under the Mini’s tiny bonnet. It was also VERY small – just over 10 feet long – which made it all the more incredible that it could take 4 people and (some) of their luggage.It has been available as saloon, station wagon, pick-up, van, cabriolet, utility vehicle (Moke) and numerous other permutations!
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The Mini’s creator, the late, great Sir Alec Issigonis, was a genius. The Mini was entirely his work and not the work of a whole team, as happens today. He designed the Mini to be a small, cheap, economic wee car with safe handling…little did he know that the car would go on for 40 historic years. He had a marvelous ability to visualize the completed car during its design stages. There are many examples of this, such as the one where an engineer asked him what size to make the wheels. Issigonis held his hands apart and said “this big”…the engineer measured the distance between his hands – 10 inches – and made the wheels exactly that size! Casual sketches made by Issigonis could almost be used as blueprints by the engineers assembling the first prototypes. He called himself “The Ironmonger” because he preferred to be hands-on rather than paper-based. “Market research is bunk” he said…”the public don’t know what they want, it is my job to tell them”. with more than 5.25 million Minis produced, who can argue? Sir Alec designed many other successful cars including the legendary Morris Minor and Austin 1100/1300 range.
