Poached egg

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Blaketon
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Poached egg

Post by Blaketon »

Does anyone know whether Lord Nuffield ever retracted on this and if so, was it because he felt he had been wrong or was it just down to sales figures?
ianmack
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Re: Poached egg

Post by ianmack »

Ive never heard of him retracting it. Elderly industrialists tend to become set in their ways.
ianmack
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Re: Poached egg

Post by ianmack »

Plus he kept his Wolseley eight for the rest of his life which suggests he didn't much fancy a Minor.
moggiethouable
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Re: Poached egg

Post by moggiethouable »

From the excellent book "issigonis" by Gillian Bardsley
isbn 1 84046 687 1
When asked about Lord Nuffields view of the car, Issigonis wryly commented.
"Lord Nuffield hated the Morris Minor as soon as he saw it and so did all the sales people. It was humble pie when we made a million of them, he had the decency to speak to me once after that. He described it as a poached egg. He was furious when he saw it."
Nuffield is quoted as also saying "that foreign chap" or when referring to his car-"the poached egg"
and when referring again to Issigonis, "issy-wassi-whats his bloody name!"
Morris wasn't a bad man, just a product of Empire, he mellowed over years, but this is what was partly wrong with British Industry at that time, we placed too much reliance on individual characters, this meant however exciting individualism in terms of design, in my opinion not enough risks are taken today, we are stagnating in the development room because too much is at stake.
To answer your question, he would never retract his statement.
Last edited by moggiethouable on Tue Apr 04, 2017 7:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Blaketon
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Re: Poached egg

Post by Blaketon »

I am reading Ray Newell's book, Morris Minor, The Complete Story" again (Read it last in 2003, just before I bought my Traveller) and have just gone past the part dealing with the Minor Million. It seems Lord Nuffield spoke to Alec Issigonis, on the occasion of this milestone and thanked him for his efforts in developing the car. This suggests that the Minor's success did stifle Lord Nuffield's initial misgivings.

Oddly enough, my father has said that when the Mini came out, lots of people derided it (Especially before it's remarkable road holding became well known). I don't think this was true of the Minor.
kennatt
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Re: Poached egg

Post by kennatt »

I remember seeing my first mini cooper,whilst a passenger in my dads Alvis TA 14, I informed him that I had read it would do a ton,he just about had a seizure ,saying they wouldn'd be about very long cause they would all be into hedges or up trees if driven above 40, how wrong he was :D :P
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