How Alec Issigonis was inspired by a Frenchman for the Mini
At this year's Rétromobile , you could also see a strange chassis with engine in the "60 years of Min" special show. This dates back to 1947, when it was exhibited by Charles Dechaux.
The Automobil Revue reported on it on October 29, 1947 on the occasion of its report on the Paris Motor Show:
"This strange construction with a rectangular tubular frame is intended as a small delivery car. All four wheels are suspended by trailing arms with a quarter-spring cantilever underneath; the trailing arms are mounted in the cross tubes with T-pieces. The engine is mounted transversely at the front. The steering and other units are missing on the exhibit.
Picturesque is probably not an inaccurate word for the chassis of the Dechaux, a front-wheel drive vehicle with characteristics somewhere between a passenger car and a small delivery platform truck. The tubular rectangle frame, the trailing arms for wheel guidance and the transverse, air-cooled four-cylinder engine with racing motorcycle-style exhaust pipes are clearly recognizable."
"The original design of the chassis includes a transverse, air-cooled four-cylinder engine. Carter A houses the three-speed gearbox with hydraulic actuation, the differential and the drive shafts. The oil flows through the bumpers B from the rocker arm housing C back into the carter. The finned cylinders D are grouped in pairs, two cylinders are removed in the drawing. The exhaust silencer is in front of the block ."
Charles Dechaux is said to have received a visit from Alec Issigonis, who was very interested in the innovative chassis design. And it is probably no coincidence that some of the design principles were ultimately also used in the Mini (Austin Seven, Morris Mini Minor), which was first presented in 1959.
