What's up everybody? Welcome back to Pass Gas this week. We're talking about the mini.

That's right, the little baby British car, one of the all-time icons of British motoring.

If you're American like us, you might know it as the Mini Cooper.

We're going to talk about how that came to be, and also the man who designed it, Alec Kisigonas.

He fleed from Turkey during some turmoil down there in the early 1900s came to Britain and ended up

revolutionizing the British motorways with his cars.

Enough of me talking.

Let's get into more of me talking.

It's the mid-1950s, and Britain is still recovering from World War II.

Wartime rationing is a recent memory, and as the country seems to be poised to leave it in the

past, the crisis erupts in the Suez Canal in Egypt.

Fuel rationing is implemented yet again, but Britain's top automaker is determined to

keep its countrymen on the road.

They need a new car that's fuel efficient and affordable, and their top engineer, Alec Isigones, was just the guy to make it happen.

But Alec wanted the car to be more than just affordable.

He wanted it to be inventive, sporty, and most of all, fun.

The resulting car was deceptively innovated, despite its simple, cutesy appearance,

and would manage to be just as at home on the racetrack as it was

in a driveway or on a movie screen. In the end, it would become a symbol of Britain itself

with a car icon status that eclipsed even Aston Martin, Jaguar, or Bentley. Who was the legendary

designer behind this car? Why was it so innovative? And how did it become a cultural icon?

Today on Pass Gas, it's the story of Alec Isigonas and the Mini. We'll be right back after these messages.

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