This is the single greatest honor in the motor vehicle industry, intended to honor a career and/or lifetime achievement. To become a "Hall of Famer" the nominee must be either retired or deceased. Recipients must have significantly impacted the development of the automobile or the motor vehicle industry. Typically, four to eight individuals are inducted each year.
Alec Issigonis was an independent thinker, he despised convention, and he would not take advice gladly. He is credited with uttering the now-famous line, “A camel is a horse designed by committee.” Moreover, he was a failure at mathematics, once stating that pure mathematics was the enemy of every truly creative man.
Then how did Alec Issigonis become one of the auto industry’s greatest engineering geniuses?
A British citizen born in Turkey in 1906, Alec Issigonis did not witness an automobile first-hand until he was 12 years old. Returning to England in 1922, not yet 16, he enrolled in engineering school, failing mathematics at every turn.
He was offered a job at Morris Motors Ltd. in 1936 and was immediately given the job of steering and suspension engineer. In 1942, Morris gave Issigonis overall responsibility for an all-new model. The entire team consisted of Issigonis and just two draftsmen. At last, he thought, he could design a horse, and not a camel. This new car was launched in 1948 as the Morris Minor. While the car’s styling was debated, the Morris Minor was revolutionary for the period, featuring a smaller exterior, a very spacious passenger compartment and outstanding road handling characteristics.
The Morris Minor was an immediate success, taking just eleven years to hit the one million sales mark. More importantly, the Morris Minor was the first characterization of the Issigonis design philosophy: maximize interior and cargo space while minimizing to the extreme all other components. It was a design philosophy that was not immediately understood.
In 1952, Morris Motors merged with Austin Motor Company to form British Motor Corporation. Issigonis, forever the independent thinker, saw another proverbial camel on the horizon. In opposition to the merger, he resigned and joined Alvis Ltd. to design a luxury car. Designing a luxury car was definitely not the kind of project he wanted to work on, but in 1955, when Alvis decided to cancel the project, Issigonis resigned again and rejoined British Motor.
In response to the Suez Oil Crisis of 1957, British Motor called upon Issigonis to head development of a small, fuel-efficient car. The result would become his masterpiece. Initially sketched with a pencil on a tablecloth, this top-secret project was initially called ADO 15, short for Austin Design Office Project 15.
The design challenge was clear. Issigonis somehow had to design and engineer a car that would seat four passengers and their luggage in a package not to exceed ten feet in length. Moreover, he insisted that no less than 80 per cent of the car’s volume be dedicated to passengers and luggage. This meant that the engine, gas tank, all mechanicals, wheels and tires were to make up only 20 percent of the car.
Issigonis used a front wheel drive, transverse mounted engine, the first modern application for this set up and one that would define all future front, transverse layouts. The suspension was equally innovative and compact, utilizing a rubber cone system instead of springs. In order to keep the wheel wells from intruding into the passenger compartment, he moved the wheels to the outside corners. The wheels themselves were only ten inches in diameter.
In October, 1957, just eight months after first putting pen to paper, the first two prototypes were on the road. The revolutionary car was launched in 1959, dubbed the Austin and Morris Mini. The Mini was instantly popular with buyers, and international cult vehicle and forced the industry to rethink all automotive engineering conventions.
In 1969, in recognition of his engineering genius, Queen Elizabeth granted him Knighthood.
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.
