Sir Alec Issigonis (1906-1988) was a designer of cars, now remembered chiefly for the development of the "Mini" in 1959.
He was born Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis in Smyrna, Turkey, and came to live in the UK in 1923, taking up a course of study at Battersea Polytechnic in London. He went into the motor industry as an engineer and designer, and he also did some motor racing during the 1930s and 1940s. He worked for the Morris company on the design of the Morris Minor, which was produced from 1948 until 1971, and launched the Mini a decade later.
Sir Alec became famous for his creation of the Mini but he was really proudest of his participation in designing the Morris Minor, because he considered it as being a vehicle which managed to combine many of the luxuries and conveniences of a good motor car with a price suitable for the working classes, while the Mini was a spartan mode of conveyance with everything cut to the bone.
