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Written by Jeff Seabrook
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Tuesday February 28, 2006 |
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Page 6 of 8
Forty-seven years after the world debut of the first Mini, this small but sporting athlete from Britain has become a huge success in nearly
80 countries the world over. And the creator of the car was indeed just as cosmopolitan as MINI is today: Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis
was born on 18 November 1906 as the son of a Greek father and
a German mother in a region which now belongs to Turkey. At the age of 16 Alex Issigonis moved to Britain, where he completed his schooling
and studied engineering before becoming one of the most successful automotive engineers and designers ever to come out of Britain.
Not only the many technical innovations introduced in the first Mini clearly showed that the ingenious inventor of this car saw the subject of transport from a very different perspective – no, it was particularly Issigonis’ irresistible attitude in life that made the whole development so unique: “Mathematics is the enemy of every creative individual”, is how
Alec Issigonis once summed up his creed.
Not surprisingly, therefore, Mini was a highly emotional car right from
the start, chic and urban, but also perfect for winding roads and serpentine routes. Only a few months elapsed from the initial sketches to the first road-going prototypes, the Mini making its world debut in 1959. And at the same time Issigonis’ ingenious construction anticipated the principle
of front-wheel drive with the engine fitted in transverse arrangement at the front destined to become the standard concept for compact cars as of
the ’70s of the 20th century.
The first million Minis was sold by 1965 and this little high-performance car had already won the Monte Carlo Rally as well as the Thousand-Lake Rally in Finland. In consideration of this outstanding success,
Alec Issigonis was knighted by the Queen of England in 1969. Sir Alec,
as he was now called, then retired step-by-step from his everyday work,
dying in 1988 at the age of almost 82 – with production of the Mini
by that time amounting to more than four million units.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday February 28, 2006 )
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