take a seat

this is the cockpit of sir alec issigonis' "lightweight special"

this car was hand made by issigonis (the guy who designed the mini and the morris 1000) in a garage, entirely by hand. at the time it featured some revolutionary ideas such as indipendant suspension in all corners.

the steering wheel was cut and filed by hand from a piece of vickers vibrax spring steel, which believe me is very difficult to do anything with.

in the cockpit you are sat stradling the transmision, with the steering wheel right up against you, it really must be terrifying to drive.

the truly remarkable thing about this car is the history that is oozing from every rivet, nut, washer and dent. as you look around it you can see every little hammer mark on the aluminium body as it was shaped. you can see the areas on the controls that are worn by fingers and thumbs. it really is an amazing machine, and issigonis was a truly amazing, remarkable man.