Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Ellis]

Which was the last car designed by Alec Issigonis?
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Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[Journer]

Maxi
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'Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another'

[Rick]

[Ellis]

Quite correct, both of you.

I thought that Lord Stokes' comment on Issigonis being sidelined to "Special Developments Director" in 1969 as "We'll sharp sort this fellow Issigonis out"
as being one of the most disrespectful and disloyal comments ever made by a Captain of the British motor industry about a respected automotive genius.

Ellis
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Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[clan chieftain]

Issigonis was a design genius. Thats why he was made a Sir.
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The Clan Chieftain

[Peter_L]

[clan chieftain]

Why did Ford wait until 1975 to go FWD with the Fiesta. 16 years after the mini. They hung on to Escorts and Cortinas for years albeit they changed the models where BMC had minis.1300s 1800s and Maxis.....but Fords were the better cars.
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The Clan Chieftain

[Peter_L]

[Salopian]

Well Ford made money BMC/BL whatever did not even on the mini it seems. There has been a well argued case that Issigonis was a major factor in the decline of his employers. Of course the closing of many small dealerships who sold BMC products to their area by Filmer Paradise did not help as they went to Datsun etc and their customers followed.
We forget now just how awful the quality of the products and service provided by BMC/BL was in the late 60's early 70's.
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Jonathan Butler
Alvis SD 12/50 1928 MG TD 1950

[clan chieftain]

Very true Salopian. Even though Issigonis was a design genius his cars were very prone to rusting very badly. As far as after sales go I remember doing a homer on a Maestro and I went to Taggarts looking for a wing and was told that because the car was over 10 year old the parts were cleared off the shelves to make way for newer models. OK they cant keep everything and they were probably snapped up by motor factors.
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The Clan Chieftain

[V8 Nutter]

Not wishing to take anything from Issigonis, but here is some food for thought.

Back about 1907 Walter Christie built several successful racing cars with a transverse engine, mounted above the front wheel drive. Much like a big Mini, the engine was a 19 litre V4. In the thirties Christie was designing military vehicles when he came up with a new idea for tank suspension. His designs were rejected by the American military, but they were used by the Russians on the T34. At the start of world war II Christie came to the U.K where he worked in the Nuffield Organisation (one of the original partners in B.M.C.) designing tanks. At the same time Issigonis also worked for Nuffield on tank design.

As I said before, food for thought.

[clan chieftain]

So Issigonis pinched Walter Christies idea.?
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The Clan Chieftain

[Jim.Walker]

A lot of praise on here for the Fords of the early 1060's. I cannot help but ask how many people subscribing were actually driving then?
I was, and I always felt that the Ford offerings were better "gift wrapped", often with an obvious American influence in styling. Which probably accounted for a large percentage of sales.
Beneath the skin, the engineering was cruder, sticking with heavy cast iron encased components, semi-floating rear hubs (half shaft break-lose wheel!), three speed gearboxes etc. and they were generally much heavier on fuel. Though admittedly fairly robust. Ford replacement parts were often cheaper, but a complete replacement part was not usually needed for BMC vehicles where individual bits and pieces were generally available. An example here might be buying a complete Ford track control arm because a replacement bush (for 1/10th of the price) could not be bought- from Ford agents anyway.
The Family firm run buy my father ran taxis and private hire cars, The fleet, entirely Austin/BMC from the end of the second world war, was only changed to Ford Cortinas when the "Landcrab" was no longer available and the Ambassador unfortunately did not appeal.
Fuel and maintenance costs went through the roof!!!
Jim.
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Quote from my late Dad:- You only need a woman and a car and you have all the problems you
are ever likely to want". Computers had not been invented then!

[clan chieftain]

None of us were driving in the 1060s You were waiting on some smart a@@@ putting on that comment werent you
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The Clan Chieftain

[Peter_L]