![]() ![]() It’s as British as a Victoria sponge, a village fete and moaning about the weather, but the Morris Minor was designed by the Smyrna-born son of Greek and German parents, with styling that was more transatlantic than what we’d expect from a project planned in Cowley. In the meantime, the Morris had a decade to perform a Minor miracle. #HeadHurts #Kelsall /ytrGYkeaXgīut for all of the Jaguar’s pace and style, the Morris Minor touched the lives of more British people – and set Alec Issigonis on the path towards designing another automotive icon: the Mini. ![]() That embarrassing moment you come dressed as a Morris Minor. The first car ever to exceed 100mph for seven days and seven nights, the first car ever to win an Alpine Gold Cup, the fastest production sports car in the world – with headlines like these, the Jaguar ad man probably spent more time on the golf course than he did in front of a typewriter. The XK120’s legend would be built on glamour, speed and passion. The Morris Minor and Jaguar XK120, both of which were unveiled at the 1948 British Motor Show, may have been polar opposites on the car industry spectrum, but they were like a double dose of adrenaline, consumed at precisely the right time. Still living on rations and recovering from the war, the British motor industry was like an addict in search of a hit, desperate for someone or something to inject a little spice. If ever a country was in need of some positivity, it was Britain in 1948. But the Morris Minor story begins much earlier, in the aftermath of the Second World War. Fifty years ago, production of a British institution quietly came to an end. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |