Hi Neil,
Had another look at Gerald Palmer's book over the weekend.
He does credit Eddie Maher of Morris Engines for detail design and
production engineering as you said.
Yes, he is very correct about such things - he was rather critical of
Issigonis for not crediting any of the people who assisted him.
Palmer had an unusual breadth of view of the motor industry of his time. You
can see italian influences in the styling of the Pathfinder and the
Magnette, and he believed BMC had to become as large as Fiat to survive.
He actually originally designed the twin cam to fit in the Magnette, and it
had fuel injection. This would have been a Lotus Cortina ten years earlier,
or, more significantly, could have turned into a small Jaguar or 3-series
BMW. Instead, the Magnette was axed and "replaced" by the A60 Farina.
It is a great tragedy that he was sacked by Leonard Lord and spent the rest
of his working life doing insignificant jobs for Vauxhall (though he did
help Rover bring in the V8).
Paul.
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