Alec Issigonis The Man Who Made The Mini

This is a biography about the British motor industrys most influential and controversial engineer Sir Alec Issignois. Wood exposes a behind-the-scenes impression of the personal and corporate struggles within the declining British car industry a complex process in which Issigonis played a famous role. THE COLLAPSE in 2005 of MG Rover marked the end of Britains indigenous motor industry as a volume car manufacturer. Yet back in the 1960s its Longbridge-based British Motor Corporation predecessor dominated the market with the iconic Mini and stylish 1100. Both were the work together with the legendary Morris Minor of Sir Alec Issigonis CBE FRS the British motor industrys most influential and controversial engineer. In this full-length biography published to commemorate the centenary of its
subjects birth which falls in 2006 award-winning motoring historian Jonathan Wood chronicles the rise and fall of Issigonis born in Turkey of Greek/Bavarian parentage who arrived in Britain as a near-penniless refugee and became the most powerful automobile engineer in the land. His ingenious and effective designs had a deep lasting influence on the evolution of the motor car and on the wider history of industrial design and he deserves to be ranked with the other giants of the field like Ferdinand Porsche in Germany and Dante Giacosa in Italy. Woods candid and meticulously researched account which exposes Sir Alecs public and private faces and is the product of some 30 years of research is complemented by interviews conducted with many of Issigonis former colleagues and friends including:
Ronald Barker John Cooper Jack Daniels Christopher Dowson Paddy Hopkirk Spen King Dr Alex Moulton Dr Bernd Pischetsrieder Lord Snowdon and Stuart Turner. The finished volume is a balanced view of a remarkable immensely talented man with a behind-the-scenes impression of the personal and corporate struggles within the declining British car industry a complex process in which Issigonis played a famous role.