Product Description

‘An amazingly thorough book, with plenty of insight into Issigonis’s life and work. Bardsley paints a colourful image of a shy yet stubborn engineer, and has unearthed some amazing design sketches which have never before seen the light of day. Even if you’re not a Mini nut, this is a must.’ Auto Express

Sir Alec Issigonis lived his life in parallel with the rise and decline of the British motor industry, becoming its first and only celebrity. He was the designer of the Morris Minor and the Mini, two of the most important British car designs of the 20th century.

Beautifully presented, including many of Issigonis’s original sketches, as well as photographs of his personal life and his famous cars, this is a highly acclaimed account of a gifted but complex man.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #334537 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

Times Higher Educational Supplement
Gillian Bardsley’s first-rate biography should be compulsory reading ... a fascinating story of a remarkable engineer

Classic Car Weekly
An impressively detailed account [which is] difficult to put down. We would not hesitate to recommend it.

Oxford Times
An authoritative account of the life of this British icon ... a fascinating, beautifully presented study of an enigmatic man.

Customer Reviews

The definitive book
For someone who has been so massively influential its amazing that there hasn't been a serious book on Issigonis before. This one is really very good with masses of information and detail as you'd expect given that the author is the official archivist and had the family's cooperation. The book is full of gems but the Issigonis sketches of his car designs are extraordinary ..absolutely amazing and worth the price alone. Anyone interested in the history of the British motor industry and certainly any serious mini fan will love this.

Not as clear as it could have been
It's not hard to tell that this book on Issigonis was written by someone who was asked to research into his life and work. As a subject it would be hard to not get excited at the interesting things he did. I found it a little bit dry and unconnected, although it is very interesting. There are lengthy asides to impart more details, leaving me wondering if a different structure could have been better suited. Of course a harder to read book does have its rewards, and this has them. If you strugle with connecting events, people and cars together then it may leave you confused.

It's good to have the photographs and diagrams, but I wish there were more. I'm too young to remember the time he was at his peak, and the politics surrounding things, which makes it harder to understand some parts.

Overall I did get a good understanding of where Issigonis came from, why he did what he did, why the British motor industry recognised him in the way they did, and why his later developments never saw production. Before the book I thought of him as a genius for inventing the Mini, but this book showed me he was a tallented, clever, fortunate individual who was able to change history because of his circumstances.

Should you buy it though? If you want to understand the man and his career then yes. If you want to know about the Mini, Minor or his other cars then I'd suggest looking elsewhere, although they not be as factually correct as this book.