In 1906 Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis was born in Turkey to Greek and German parents, but he inherited British citizenship through his grandfather who had done work for the British built Smyrna Railway.

In 1923 he moved to the UK where he studied engineering then went into the motor industry working for Humber in the 1930s. His passion of designing race cars soon took him to Austin then on to Morris Motors. While at Morris he began work on a design that later became the MG Y, but the war interrupted plans for production. Following hostilities Issigonis moved to Alvis, then in 1955 was recruited to BMC by Leonard Lord with the intent of designing a new line of family cars...large, medium, and small. Fate intervened however, fuel rationing due to the1956 Suez Crisis, and Lord ordered Issigonis to bring the small car to production as soon as possible.

Launched in August 1959 as the Morris Mini Minor and Austin Mini, the new car was successful beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. Production continued until the year 2000 totaling more than 5.3 million vehicles. Initially nicknamed “The Greek God” by his contemporaries, Alec Issigonis is remembered today as the designer of the best-selling British car in history, the Mini.

Reprinted from British Boots & Bonnets Chronicle— June 2017 issue.