Jack Daniels 1912-2004 Inspirational Engineer

It is with regret that the death of Austin and Morris engineer W.J. "Jack" Daniels is announced. Jack was 92 and had been battling cancer for the last two years, but died peacefully in his sleep on November 27th, 2004, at his home near Bournemouth.

Jack was affectionately known as the man who was ’90 per cent perspiration behind Alec Issigonis’s 10 per cent inspiration’ in designing the Morris Minor and the original BMC Mini. Jack was also the first MG apprentice.

Speaking about Jack, product development director, Rob Oldaker, said: "Jack was a talented development engineer, who will be remembered for his pragmatic input to many cars, the most famous of which were the new era of front-wheel drive cars, starting with his work with Sir Alec Issigonis and Alex Moulton on the Mini.

"His characteristic pipe caused a few communication difficulties for the young and uninitiated, but he guided many towards successful careers in the industry."

Jack’s funeral has yet to be finalised, but is likely to be at St. Marks, Highcliffe, sometime in the next two weeks.

The books of the Morris Minor and the Mini, and the many videos of that era, usually refer to Jack as Issigonis’s 'Right Hand Man'. There is a lot of truth in that. He often said: "Issigonis’s was the inspiration - mine was the perspiration!"

Jack retired in 1977 after 50 years of continuous service. Many at this point would have called it a day, but Jack never lost his car enthusiasm. He still turned up at historic Austin, Morris and Mini related events such as car rallies, Mini-Cooper days, and even the Las Vegas Car of the Century Awards (as we said earlier - The Mini was Car of Europe and 2nd in the World, and the Minor was in the listings too). And he still had frequent visitors from the trade and trade press.

He was truly one of the last icons of the motor industry’s pre-computer era.