Dream a "Little" Dream With Me
by Terry Kohl

In 1960 John F. Kennedy became President of the United States, the Howdy Doody television show ended after 13 years, the Grammy Awards Record of the Year winner was, Theme From a Summer Place, by Percy Faith, and the first Mini Cooper arrived in the United States; cost approximately $786.75 American dollars.

The official Mini launch occurred the year before in Britain only one year after its creator, Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis, at age 50, designed the prototype. The public, having never seen anything like it, didn't know what to think. That would definitely change over the years as the last original Mini wouldn't leave the chains until October 2000.

Born in Smyrna, a port city on the Aegean Sea that is now Izmir, Turkey, Issigonis' British family owned a boiler-making factory. They lived under house arrest during World War I when Germany controlled the city. When he was 16, his mother took him to England to study, and afterward he started working in Britain's auto industry.

In 1943, as a project engineer for Morris, Issigonis designed a two-seater that represented his vision of what a small car should be. It had a unitary body, 14-inch wheels to increase passenger space, and a flat-four engine that drove the front wheels. That car evolved into the legendary Morris Minor, in production from 1948 to 1971.

In 1952 Issigonis moved to Alvis and designed the V-8 sports sedan. When Alvis decided not to make the car in 1955, Issigonis went back to Morris-Austin, now called British Motor Co. When the Suez Crisis in September 1956 led to gasoline rationing, his bosses asked him to design a car smaller than the Morris Minor that could seat four and use an existing engine.

Issigonis went to work. He shrunk the wheels to 10 inches so they didn't intrude in the cabin, and stuck them in the far corners. A compact rubber-cone suspension and a wide track allowed safe, responsive handling that later won races. He mounted the engine transversely to drive the front wheels, and then placed the transmission underneath. Eighty percent of the 10 foot long car was given over to passengers. He was a compact car design genius and the Mini, the Minor and the Austin 1100 he designed are among the five top-selling cars in British history. He dedicated his life to the small car although he was 12 before he ever saw one. Maybe that's why he was able to reinvent the automobile completely.

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