NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Alec Issigonis

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 groundbreaking and influential development of the Mini, launched by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) in 1959.Alec Issigonis also created two of the top five cars,the Morris Minor,and the Austin 1100. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 478 pixel Image in higher resolution (864 Ã— 516 pixel, file size: 151 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) An old business letter depicting the Issigonis factory in Smyrna (now Izmir) in 1910. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 478 pixel Image in higher resolution (864 Ã— 516 pixel, file size: 151 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) An old business letter depicting the Issigonis factory in Smyrna (now Izmir) in 1910. ... The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority, these are Knight Grand Cross or Dame Grand Cross (GBE) Knight Commander... The Fellowship of the Royal Society was founded in 1660. ... is the 322nd day of the year (323rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... is the 275th day of the year (276th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar). ... For the new MINI, see MINI (BMW). ... BMC rosette logo old BMC share A preserved BMC ambulance. ...

Biography

Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis was born into the Greek community of Smyrna (now İzmir) 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-Aydın Railway, in the engineering works that he had established, had managed to acquire British nationality. Demosthenis's son (Alec's father) Constantine Issigonis (Κωνσταντίνος Ισηγόνης), 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). Ä°zmir, historically Smyrna, is the third most populous city of Turkey and the countrys largest port after Ä°stanbul. ... â€œOttomanâ€ redirects here. ... Paros (Greek: Î½Î®ÏƒÎ¿Ï‚ Î Î¬ÏÎ¿Ï‚; Venetian: isola di Paro) is an island of Greece in the central Aegean Sea, in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. ... Logo of the Turkish State Railways, TCDD Turkish Republic State Railways (TCDD, TÃ¼rkiye Cumhuriyeti Devlet DemiryollarÄ±) is the state corporation that operates the public railway system in Turkey. ... Arms of the Kingdom of WÃ¼rttemberg The title of this article contains the character Ã¼. Where it is unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as Wuerttemberg. ...

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. The Royal Marines (RM), are the Royal Navys elite fighting forces. ... Combatants Greece Turkish Revolutionaries Commanders Gen Leonidas Paraskevopoulos, Gen Anastasios Papoulas, Gen Georgios Hatzianestis Ali Fethi Okyar, Ä°smet Ä°nÃ¶nÃ¼, Mustafa Kemal AtatÃ¼rk, Fevzi Ã‡akmak Strength 200,000 men 120,000 men (plus village protectors) Casualties 23,500 dead; 20,820 captured 20,540 dead; 10,000 wounded The... The University of Surrey is a public university in Guildford, England. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Broadly speaking, pure mathematics is mathematics motivated entirely for reasons other than application. ... The University of Surrey is a public university in Guildford, England. ... Website http://www. ...

Issigonis went into the motor industry as an engineer and designer working for Humber and did some motor racing during the 1930s and 1940s. 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 the Austin Motor Company, 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. 1926 Humber 9/20 tourer Humber Humber was a British automobile marque which could date its beginnings to Thomas Humbers bicycle company founded in 1868. ... Morris Motor logo, from a UK Royal Mail van 1927 Morris Cowley 1928 Morris Minor Saloon 1946 Morris Ten Series M 1953 Morris Minor Series 2 1971 Morris 1000 Traveller The Morris Motor Company was a former British car manufacturing company. ... The Morris Ten was a medium sized car introduced in 1933 as the companys offering in the important 10hp sector of the British market. ... The MG Y-Type was a small saloon car built by the MG Car Company between 1947 and 1953. ... Later Morris Minor Van with aftermarket rear side windows Morris Minor Traveller (estate) Morris Minor Rally The revolutionary Morris Minor (the prototype was called Mosquito) was launched at the Earls Court Motor Show on 20 September, 1948. ... The Austin Motor Company was a British manufacturer of automobiles that rose to be a major motorcar brand, the dominant partner after merger with Morris in 1952 but declining after absorption into the British Leyland Motor Corporation, and its subsequent troubles. ... Alvis Silver Eagle mascot (late version). ... Independent suspension is broad term for any automobile suspension system that allows each wheel on the same axle to move vertically (i. ...

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. prototype mini and original Issigonis concept sketch, issued copyright free by company press office File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... prototype mini and original Issigonis concept sketch, issued copyright free by company press office File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Leonard Lord Leonard Lord (1896-1967) was a captain of the British Motor Industry. ...

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 Se7en. 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. Combatants Israel United Kingdom France Egypt Commanders Moshe Dayan Charles Keightley Pierre Barjot Gamal Abdel Nasser Abdel Hakim Amer Strength 175,000 Israeli 45,000 British 34,000 French 70,000 Casualties 197 Israeli KIA 56 British KIA 91 British WIA 10 French KIA 43 French WIA 650 KIA[1... For the new MINI, see MINI (BMW). ... For the new MINI, see MINI (BMW). ... For the new MINI, see MINI (BMW). ... Alex Moulton created the company Moulton, an English Bicycle company. ... Front wheel drive is the most common form of engine/transmission layout used in modern passenger cars, where the engine drives the front wheels. ... A transverse engine is an engine in which the crankshaft is oriented side-to-side relative to the wheels of the vehicle. ...

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. Photo from original press release of Austin 1100 The Morris 1100 was a small family car built by the British Motor Corporation and, later, British Leyland, from August 15, 1962 to June 1974, developed under the ADO16 codename. ... Hydrolastic is a type of automotive suspension system used in many cars produced by British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successor companies. ... The Austin 1800 was a saloon car built by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) from September 1964 to 1975 and colloquially known as the Landcrab. The 1800 was voted European Car of the Year for 1965. ...

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. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 599 pixel Image in higher resolution (2288 Ã— 1712 pixel, file size: 532 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Alec Issigonis ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 599 pixel Image in higher resolution (2288 Ã— 1712 pixel, file size: 532 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Alec Issigonis ... For other uses, see Royal Society (disambiguation). ...

Sir Alec officially retired from the motor industry in 1971, although he continued working until shortly before his death. He died in 1988 in his house in Edgbaston, England.^[1] Edgbaston constituency shown within Birmingham Edgbaston is an area and ward in the city of Birmingham in England. ...

On 2006-10-15 a rally was held at the Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon, UK to celebrate the centenary of Sir Alec's birth.^[2] Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 288th day of the year (289th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The British Heritage Motor Centre centre at Gaydon, Warwickshire, England holds the vehicle collection and archive of the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust. ...

Some of his cars

Later Morris Minor Van with aftermarket rear side windows Morris Minor Traveller (estate) Morris Minor Rally The revolutionary Morris Minor (the prototype was called Mosquito) was launched at the Earls Court Motor Show on 20 September, 1948. ... For the new MINI, see MINI (BMW). ... ADO16 was the codename for the development of what became the Morris 1100, a small family car built by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and, later, British Leyland. ... The Austin 1800 was a saloon car built by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) from September 1964 to 1975 and colloquially known as the Landcrab. The 1800 was voted European Car of the Year for 1965. ... The Austin Maxi was a medium sized 5-door hatchback car from British Leyland for the 1970s. ...

Notes

Year 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 279th day of the year (280th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

External links

Categories: British automobile designers | British Greeks | Alumni of the University of Surrey | Alumni of the University of London External Programme | Fellows of the Royal Society | Knights Bachelor | Commanders of the Order of the British Empire | People from İzmir | Immigrants to the United Kingdom | People in the automobile industry | 1906 births | 1988 deaths The Design Museum is a museum in Shad Thames, near Tower Bridge in central London. ... The National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery in St Martins Place, London, England, which opened to the public in 1856. ...

Contents

Biography GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

Some of his cars

Notes

References

External links

Biography