issigonis the designer - 11 august

ISSIGONIS THE DESIGNER
- Gillian Bardsley

Sir Alec Issigonis lived his life in parallel with the rise and decline of the British motor industry, becoming one of its few celebrities. His fame came from the design of two of the most important and best-selling British cars of the 20th century, first the Morris Minor, and then the Mini which went on to become a national icon. The goal which Issigonis set himself during his distinguished life as a designer was to produce the ultimate small car. Ironically, though it became one of the most popular cars of the age, he was not satisfied with the Mini and no-one worked more tirelessly than he to come up with a  replacement which would be even better. Arguably no-one, even Issigonis, ever did.

Come and hear Gillian Bardsley, Archivist for the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust since 1990 and biographer of Alec Issigonis, talk about his lifelong pursuit of this dream. Her illustrated talk, starting at 2pm, will put the Mini design in the context of his whole life, drawing on original documents from the Issigonis Archive and personal reminiscences from friends, family and the man himself.

Please note: No filming or photography is permitted during the talk.

1959 MINI REGISTER
The 1959 Mini Register was established 2 years ago by Trevor Ripley and Bill Bell. We will be displaying some 1959 Minis and be on hand to talk about these quite unique early cars and the interest and passion we hold for them. www.1959miniregister.com

The aim of the 1959 Mini Register is to help preserve as many of these unique British Motoring icons as possible. We hope the Register will be an invaluable tool in identifying cars, raise the profile of them, and preserve them for future generations to enjoy and to record the many early production changes that were made. We are available to give any help and advice on restoring a car to as near to the original specification as possible.

We promote and display cars at the various Mini and Classic car shows throughout the year and actively encourage all 59 owners to join us with their cars

We also have a For Sale / Wanted section on our web site for both cars and spares that we hope goes some way to helping our members find some of those elusive missing parts.

2009 is a very special year in the history of the Mini and we shall be having a display of cars at most of the major shows this year and invite anyone with a 1959 built car to join us at these events.

We are grateful to the following organisations for their help and support......British Mini Club, Heritage Motor Centre, British Mini Club, MiniMagazine, MiniWorld.