Design of the Morris Minor

Some of Issigonis sketches

The 1943 Mosquito prototype

A 1945 body shell mock-up

In 1934 Issigonis is working for the Rootes Company on an independent front suspension system. He was largely impressed by the Citroen Traction Avant with its torsion bars and wishbone i.f.s.

In 1936 Issi is offered a job in the Morris Design and Engineering Division. Here also he is working on the development of suspension. Jack Daniels, then a member of the M.G. design team, is seconded to Issigonis.
After working on the suspension of the Series M Morris Ten and on a number of war-time projects Issigonis gets the job to design a brand new saloon car which should be launched as soon as possible after World War II.

Very soon it is decided that the car should have an integral chassis-body design and independent suspension. Chief engineer Vic Oak gave Issigonis a completely free hand to work onthe design of the car. Issigonis was assisted by 2 draughtsmen, Jack Daniels and Reg Job.

In 1942 the new car styling was ready in model scale and in early 1943 the first prototype was ready and was given the name 'Mosquito'.
It was the first car with small wheels (14"") and Dunlop produced the new wheels and tires. Better road-holding, less space and lowering the cars centre of gravity were the advantages.

Furthermore the car had soft independent front suspension with long torsion bars to divide the stresses over the unitary body-chassis. The steering was rack and pinion. After some experiments with rear independent suspension it was decided that a normal spring-leafed system would be used.
Unfortunately, in 1947, Issigonis was forced to use the old Morris Eight engine for the Morris Minor. Development of a new engine would take too much time. Between 1943 and 1948 a number of changes were made to the Mosquito. A few examples are : The grill, The wing-line in the door, No louvres in the Bonnet. And the interior of th car was designed.

In 1947 the car went into the pre-production fase and passed the 10.000 miles test. But Alec Issigonis wasn't happy with the final version of the Morris Minor and one evening he went to the workshop and had the car cut in halves. He put the two halves 4 inches apart and decided it was all right now.
So, the Minor got the raised section in the bonnet and the first Morris Minors had split bumper blades (because the smaller bumper blades were already in production).

In 1948, when the car was presented to the public, it was a great succes.