Mono Monday 404 :: MM404 :: C20th Inventions

The Mosquito was a secret invention developed during WW2 by some of the engineers of the Nutffield Organisation (Morris Motors) with the aim of being ready after the war. All the companies efforts had been handed over the the war effort and production of normal cars forbidden. Even Lord Nutffield was kept from the work which may have influenced his dislike of the car.

The team used many of the radical design features by a young engineer call Alex Issigonis who became known as the father of the Morris Minor and later the Mini.

Due to tooling costs and other factors the first Morris Minor (the name Mosquito was dropped, another thing Nuffield disliked) had its Car Show debut on the 27th October 1948 without some of Issigonis' designs. He did manage to have the body widen during the early stages of production by 4" which is why the first cars had 4" filler plates on their bumpers and all have the raised design in their bonnet. 

It was the first British car to sell a million (December 1960) and went on to sell over 1.6 million before production stopped in the UK in 1971 a year after Matilda was built. That makes her the baby of the bunch... ;o)

Many times over the last weekend away in her I saw people smiling at her or taking photos/video as we drove past. To design a car that still brings joy to so many after so long makes it a special invention in my eyes.