Morris Mini Minor-Austin

The years immediately following World War II were not very considerate to the British car industry. Its manufacturers were strained nearly to the breaking point by more than a half decade of armed conflict that left resources constricted,  factories in rubble, and the labor force testy to get theirs after so many years of sacrifice.

Austin and Nuffield  join forces

Out of this cauldron, an amalgamation of two venerable and proud  manufacturers–Austin and Nuffield Motors –resulted in the creation of British Motor Corporation in 1952. To say the transition was an uneasy one is putting it gently.

Up to the time of the merger, the two companies had fought tooth and nail for the lower and middle end of the British car market, Austin with its Seven and successors, and Nuffield with its Morris line. Perhaps because of this, the firm decided to keep its dealership organization much as it had been before the merger, and into this competitive maw it sent a collection of “badge-engineered” cars bearing both Austin and Morris  nameplates.

Most of the models produced by the new amalgamation were far from inspired, and charges continually flew that Austin dealers were getting the best of the new cars, while Morris dealers were stuck with the dregs. Cars like the Morris Cambridge and Oxford  Cambridge seem to confirm this sentiment, even though Leonard Lord, chairman of BMC and former head of Austin, denied the charge.

Oil prices surge, and  fuel mileage matters

When one adds to this steaming pot,  “featherbedding” , labor unrest  and then throws in the Suez Crisis, which resulted in a petroleum shortage in Britain, you have the background for either abject failure or unexpected victory. It was in this difficult situation that Lord turned to Alec Issigonis to design a car that would  rival  with the high-mileage German imports, which were then plaguing BMC sales.

That he went to Issigonis in the first place was a good indication, since the engineer had deep Morris roots. Born in Izmir, Issigonis didn’t journey to Britain until he was 15 years old, but he  swiftly adapted himself to British life. He attended Battersea Technical College, and then got employed  as a draftsman for a wide variety of engineering projects until he joined Morris Motors.  He was assigned to work on suspensions, and he did so brilliantly, putting together a unique arrangement for MG.

Soon after World War II, Issigonis stunned the British motoring  field  with the Morris Minor. Among the advanced features of this version  were the 14-inch wheels on which the small car rode, considered quite small in that era.

The assignment was to create  it small

With Suez creating an immediate requirement  for a more fuel-efficient model, Issigonis received very direct orders: design the smallest car capable of carrying four adults and luggage and do it using an existing BMC engine.

With the task  clearly defined, Issigonis pulled out some of the notes he had made on a stillborn sports sedan he had designed for Alvis and went to work. The emigre’s long experience  in suspension design was especially crucial  in the Mini project, because the planned car was so small that a full load of passengers could double its weight.  Of course, this  provided a challenge to the suspension, which had to provide acceptable ride and handling whatever the load.

Traditional springs were unable to accept the load variation parameters without long suspension travel, which would have added height and weight to the car, so Issigonis went to his never-used Alvis  plan  for using rubber cones as the springing medium. Because the spring rate of rubber changes with compression, the Mini was able to deliver an acceptable ride and sporty handling no matter how many people were on board. (However, adding passengers did play havoc with the power-to-weight ratio.)

Mini’s miniscule wheels an rarity

Issigonis also pulled a page from his Morris Minor philosophy in the wheel and tire selection for his small car. Startlingly, he specified ten-inch wheels, a distinct  size for a passenger car, and a size that sent Dunlop engineers scurrying to develop a new tire. The technique  in choosing to go-kart-sized wheel-tire package was to limit the wheelwell intrusion into the limited passenger space. As an added  advantage, the little wheels gave the car an original stance.

For his powerplant,  Issigonis reached into the BMC parts bin and pulled out a rather unexceptional 950 cubic centimeter four cylinder. Much more remarkable was the way Issignonis  positioned  the engine, because, while it was radical then, it has become conventional practice today.

Rather than mounting the engine longitudinally and sending the power through a driveshaft to a rear differential and thus to the rear wheels, Issigonis decided to attach the engine transversely. Since the under-1-liter engine was much shorter that the width of the car, the only real trick to making the  concept work was locating the gearbox under it. Additional space- and weight-savings were achieved by having the gearbox share the engine sump. Power was transferred to the front wheels using a constant-velocity joint, invented by Hans Rzeppa, that had  been used on submarines in the past.

Small  engine box meant overall length savings

With all this techniques  in place, Issigonis was able to shrink his engine compartment to just 18 inches. Overall his Mini, complete with seats for four people, was simply  120 inches long. In comparison, the  2-seat Mazda Miata, one of the shortest cars on the street, is 155 inches long.

In 1958, when Issigonis showed off his creation to Lord, the BMC chairman had only two suggestions: make the car 2 inches wider and drop the engine’s displacement from 950 cc to 848 cc. Lord felt the model  car was actually too fast, not the usual criticism one has of an economy car.

Even before introduction, controversy surrounded the car when it was rumored that it would be  launched as an Austin, leaving Morris dealers out in the cold. That controversy was obviated by coming to market with both Morris and Austin versions of the car that differed in badges only. The Austin Seven and Morris Mini Minor were introduced to the market  in August 1959, and both press and public response was positive. Although one of the cheapest cars available in the United Kingdom, the Mini, as it was called, built a following and reputation that far exceeded its  cost.

Mini Cooper born of racing background

That reputation leapt ahead still further when John Cooper, whose racing machines had won Formula One championships in 1959 and 1960, approached BMC Lord with the proposal  of fitting the Mini with their heavily massaged 1000 cubic centimeter Formula Junior engine. Lord accepted the idea and, in 1961,  the Mini Cooper was born.

Through the years,  as British Motor Corporation went through a merger to become British Leyland, led a stumbling existence under that moniker, and then became Rover Group, which is presently owned by BMW, the one constant remained is the Mini. Currently, an Asian revival has perked up the sale of Minis worldwide and, nearly four decades after it was launched, the little Mini has proven to be one of the biggest successes of all time.

—© Studio One Networks—

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