That's how the Mini was born - conceived by car design genius
Issigonis as his answer to the austerity and fuel crisis caused by the Suez conflict in the late fifties.
Doug, whose career at the world-famous Birmingham car factory lasted for nearly 50 years, worked alongside the inventor of Longbridge's bestknown car, Sir Alec
Issigonis, on the Mini.
Fans also had the chance to learn more about Sir Alec
Issigonis, designer of the Mini, or enjoy fun family activities.
ANSWERS QUIZ CHALLENGE: 1 A closed shop; 2 Sir Alec
Issigonis; 3 Stephen Fry; 4 Couscous; 5 Wasps and bees.
1948 - The first Morris Minor, designed by Alec
Issigonis, was produced at Cowley in Oxfordshire1984 - Five people died in an IRA bomb attack on the Grand Hotel in Brighton, where the Conservative Party Conference was being held1986 - Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch t o visit China
He will now be remembered alongside other industry legends such as Henry Ford, Karl Benz, Etorre Bugatti, Alec
Issigonis, and Armand Peugeot.
Other highlights include a 1995 McLaren F1 road car and the original classic Mini, first sketched on a restaurant tablecloth by Sir Alec
Issigonis in 1958.
Designed by Alec
Issigonis, it utilised a transversely mounted four-cylinder engine, small wheels and relatively large door- pans.
Critics dismissed Sir Alec
Issigonis's design as a novelty but it captured public imagination like no other car has done before or since.
Designer Alex
Issigonis conceived a box measuring 10ft by 4ft by 4ft, with 80 per cent space for passengers and luggage, leaving only two feet for the engine.
The Mini Cooper (eighth) was a collaboration between the original Mini designer Sir Alec
Issigonis and his friend John Cooper, which first appeared in 1961.
Or that Alec
Issigonis designed the Longbridge-built Mini.