Minimalism

Minimalism (pronounced min-uh-muh-liz-uhm)

(1) In music, a reductive style or school of modern music utilizing only simple sonorities, rhythms, and patterns, with minimal embellishment or complexity, and characterized by protracted repetition of figurations, obsessive structural rigor, and often a pulsing, hypnotic effect.

(2) In art or architecture, a style which features spare, austere lines and avoids elaboration or embellishment.  Traditional design elements may be retained but in simplified form.

(3) In engineering and design, a non-aesthetic ethos which tends towards lightness and simplicity.

1965-1967: The construct was minimal + -ism.  Minimal is from the Latin minimum, neuter form of minimus (least, smallest), suppletive superlative of parvus, comparative minor from the primitive Indo-European smey (small, little) from which Latin also gained minuō; related to the Gothic minniza (smaller). Related also was īnfimus (lowest), but etymologists are divided on the history.  It was related also to the Ancient Greek μῑκρός (mīkrós) (little, small) and, ultimately, the English smicker.  The –ism suffix was from either the Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós), a suffix that forms abstract nouns of action, state, condition, doctrine; from stem of verbs in -ίζειν (-ízein) (from which English gained-ize), or from the related Ancient Greek suffix -ισμα (-isma) which more specifically expressed a finished act or thing done.  Aspects of the style(s) in modern art, literature, design etc long predate the emergence of the word in the 1960s.  The noun minimalist dates from 1907 in the sense of “one who advocates moderate reforms or policies" and was originally an adapted borrowing of Menshevik; as understood as "a practitioner of minimal art" it dates from 1967, the term “minimal art” being noted first in 1965.  It was an adjective from 1917 in the Russian political sense and since 1969 in reference to art.

Eye of the beholder

Much of what is described as minimalist art is, technically, representational but the concept is best understood as the abstract notion of a thing existing in and defined by its own reality with no dependencies beyond.  Literally that’s not possible but minimalist art works best if the viewer behaves as if it is.  An artist making no attempt to represent or respond to an external reality depends on the audience responding only to the object; that from which it’s created and the form it assumes.

Although strands of minimalism have been identifiable in music, painting, engineering and architecture for millennia, as a defined commodity in the art market it emerged in New York in the late 1950s and has usually been regarded as a reaction to the gestural art of earlier generations.  Minimalism ran in parallel with the forks of the conceptual art movement and produced some original work but was also burdened by some contradictions and the inherent limitation that having pursued a motif to its conclusion, all that could lie beyond were variations on the theme.  Indeed, there were critics for whom minimalism was just another phase of the abstract expressionist movement with roots in the nineteenth century.

Installation view of the exhibition Primary Structures (Younger American & British Sculptors), 27 April-12 June 1966, The Jewish Museum, New York City.

A landmark moment for the movement was the group exhibition Primary Structures, at the Jewish Museum in New York in 1966 which combined, for the first time, big spaces and pure aestheticism.  The curators didn’t use the term “minimalism” in their catalogues and it was only later the word came to be adopted to refer to an increasing number of fields, as diverse as software user interfaces and landscape architecture.  Inevitability, associated with the reductive aspects of modernism and thought something of a reaction to the exuberance of surrealism and abstract expressionism, minimalism begat the post-minimal which, being post-modernist, eschews the theories and leaves the audience to make of it what they will.

Minimalism in Engineering, the fiftieth anniversary (AC) Shelby Cobra 427: Carroll Shelby (1923-2012) defined a sports car as “a vehicle with nothing on it not designed to make it go faster”.

In 2014 Shelby announced a run of fifty Cobras to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the release of the 427 cubic inch (7.0 litre) version in January 1965.  Offered with either fiberglass (US$120,000) or aluminum (US$180,000) bodywork and the choice of a variety of naturally aspirated big block engines with between 400 (US$50,000) and 700 horsepower (US$70,000), the greatest attraction of the Shelby-built cars was perhaps that each, despite not being “original” was eligible to be documented in the official “World Registry”, the stud book of the 365 small block (260 & 289) and 343 big block (427 & 428) Cobras built by Shelby American between 1962-1967.  As a concept, it was similar (at the engineering if not the legal level) to Jaguar “resuming production” of the XK-SS and lightweight E-Types which, for various reasons, had never been sold.  Both Jaguar and Shelby based the "resumed" production on chassis numbers allocated decades earlier but which had never reached the market (the cars either never built or destroyed prior while still in the factory).  In Jaguar's case, that was exactly what happened; Shelby had in the past been rather more inventive.

Minimalism in underwear: Lindsay Lohan in LBD (little black dress) at the General Motors Annual ten Celebrity Fashion Show, 1540 Vine Street, Hollywood, California, February 2006.

The originality issue and the cachet of having a “genuine” Shelby built car instead of a “replica” (however exact or even substantially improved on what was done in the 1960s) was well understood but Shelby himself in 1993 created a bit of a grey area by, in effect, creating “counterfeit” copies of his own cars.  What he’d done was use a loophole in the regulations of the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) by sending an undocumented request for 43 “duplicate” titles for vehicles on the basis of a list of chassis numbers dating from 1965.  In fact, although the chassis numbers had in 1965 been allocated, they had never been constructed and all the titles Shelby was obtaining were for frames fabricated in 1991-1992 by a contractor.  Unfazed, Mr Shelby, despite having apparently extended his philosophy of minimalism to include legal documents, denied any of this was misleading and said he was the victim of a smear campaign by a competitor.

Minimalism in fashion.  Rita Ora, MTV Video Music Awards, August 2014 (left) & Bella Hadid, Cannes Film Festival, May 2016 (right).  The LRD (little red dress) was a pleasing design, best suited to warmer climates and thus far, the dress of the twenty-first century and therefore the third millennium.  Both wore it well and an individual partiality to one look or the other will depend on how one likes fabric to fall. 

Understate

Understate (pronounced uhn-der-steyt)

(1) In speech or writing, a statement ostensibly less in strength than the author actually intends to convey.

(2) In design (architecture, fashion etc), a kind of shorthand for stark minimalism, the pared down look with which elegance is most easily attained.

1799: The construct was under + state.  The related “understated” used to discuss matter of style, appears not to have been used before 1957.  Under is pre-900 Middle English, from the Old English.  It was cognate with the Dutch onder, the German unter, the Sanskrit अधर (ádhara), the Old Norse undir & the Latin inferus.  The sense of under in the Latin inferus is fun.  It’s from the Proto-Italic enðeros, from the primitive Indo-European hindher and meant (1) in the masculine plural “the souls of the dead” and (2) in the neuter plural “the netherworld; the underworld; Hell”.  Its other linkage is to the modern “inferior”, another sense of “under”.  Under was productive as a prefix in Old English, as were the similar forms in German and Scandinavian, sued often to form words modeled on Latin.  The notion of "inferior in rank, position etc" existed as well as the spatial in Old English, reference to standards (less than this, that and the other) dates from the late fourteenth century.  State as the verb referring to speech dates from the 1590s in the sense of "to set in a position" and is derived from the earlier noun use.  The idea of "declaring in words" was first attested in the 1640s, from the notion of "placing" something on the record.

Emperor Hirohito of Japan, 1933.

The English upper classes have a long tradition of understatement; it was never unexpected to hear some grandee refer to his forty-room country house as “the cottage” but for sheer scale, few can match Emperor Hirohito (1901-1989; Emperor (昭和天皇 (Shōwa-tennō) of Japan 1926-1989).   Having endured hearing a long succession of bad news about the state of Japanese military affairs, he learned of the defeat of his axis partner, Nazi Germany and then, the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  Unlike some of the generals, admirals and politicians advising him, the emperor accepted the inevitable and on 14 August 1945, delivered a speech effectively accepting the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, the Allies' demand of unconditional surrender.  It had taken two A-Bombs to summon the most memorable understatement of World War II:  “…the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage...”

Lindsay Lohan at The White Party, Linz, Austria, July 2014, the Grecian inspired gown with spaghetti straps by Calvin Klein, the shoes, Christian Louboutin Aurora Boreale platforms.  This was the best angle for the photographer to choose; viewed from a more oblique angle, the sense of restraint faded.  

In fashion, to achieve a look of understated elegance, the most obvious path to follow is one of stark minimalism.  As in architecture it’s not impossible to achieve the look with decorative flourishes but it’s harder.  Designers suggest neutral colors such as beige, grey, khaki, camel, oatmeal, tan, sand, biscuit, cream, ivory, ecru and mushroom with simple cuts, tailored to avoid anything too close-fitting, paired with either few accessories or, if it’s big, just one; less is more.

Reduction

Reduction (pronounced ri-duhk-shuhn)

(1) The act of reducing or the state of being reduced.

(2) The amount by which something is reduced or diminished.

(3) The form (result) produced by reducing a copy on a smaller scale (including smaller scale copies).

(4) In cell biology, as meiosis, especially the first meiotic cell division in which the chromosome number is reduced by half.

(5) In chemistry, the process or result of reducing (a reaction in which electrons are gained and valence is reduced; often by the removal of oxygen or the addition of hydrogen).

(6) In film production when using physical film stock (celluloid and such), the process of making a print of a narrower gauge from a print of a wider gauge (historically from 35 to 16 mm).

(7) In music, a simplified form, typically an arrangement for a smaller number of parties  such as an orchestral score arranged for a solo instrument.

(8) In computability theory, a transformation of one problem into another problem, such as mapping reduction or polynomial reduction.

(9) In philosophy (notably in phenomenology), a process intended to reveal the objects of consciousness as pure phenomena.

(10) In metalworking, the ratio of a material's change in thickness compared to its thickness prior to forging and/or rolling.

(11) In engineering, (usually as “reduction gear”), a means of energy transmission in which the original speed is reduced to whatever is suitable for the intended application.

(12) In surgery, a procedure to restore a fracture or dislocation to the correct alignment, usually with a closed approach but sometimes with an open approach.

(13) In mathematics, the process of converting a fraction into its decimal form or the rewriting of an expression into a simpler form.

(14) In cooking, the process of rapidly boiling a sauce to concentrate it.

(15) During the colonial period, a village or settlement of Indians in South America established and governed by Spanish Jesuit missionaries.

1475–1485: From the Middle English reduccion, from the earlier reduccion, from the Middle French reduction, from the Latin reductiōnem & reductiōn- (stem of reductiō (a “bringing back”)) the construct being reduct(us) (past participle of redūcere (to lead back) + -iōn- (the noun suffix).  The construct in English was thus reduc(e), -ion.  Reduce was from the Middle English reducen, from the Old French reduire, from the Latin redūcō (reduce), the construct being re- (back) + dūcō (lead).  The –ion suffix was from the Middle English -ioun, from the Old French -ion, from the Latin -iō (genitive -iōnis).  It was appended to a perfect passive participle to form a noun of action or process, or the result of an action or process.  Reduction, reductivism, reductionistic & reductionism are nouns, reductionist is a noun & adjective, reductional & reductive are adjectives; the noun plural is reductions.  Forms like anti-reduction, non-reduction, over-reduction, pre-reduction, post-reduction, pro-reduction, self-reduction have been created as required.

Actor Ariel Winter (b 1998), before (left) and after (right) breast reduction (reduction mammaplasty).  Never has satisfactorily it been explained why this procedure is lawful in most jurisdictions.

In philosophy & science, reductionism is an approach used to explain complex phenomena by reducing them to their simpler, more fundamental components.  It posits that understanding the parts of a system and their interactions can provide a complete explanation of the system as a whole an approach which is functional and valuable is some cases and to varying degrees inadequate in others.  The three generally recognized classes of reductionism are (1) Ontological Reductionism, the idea that reality is composed of a small number of basic entities or substances, best illustrated in biology where life processes are explained by reducing things to the molecular level.  (2) Methodological Reductionism, an approach which advocates studying systems by breaking into their constituent parts, much used in psychology where it might involve studying human behavior by examining neurological processes.  (3) Theory Reductionism which involves explaining a theory or phenomenon in one field by the principles of another, more fundamental field as when chemistry is reduced to the physics or chemical properties explained by the operation of quantum mechanics.  Reduction has been an invaluable component in many of the advances in achieved in science in the last two-hundred-odd years and some of the process and mechanics of reductionism have actually been made possible by some of those advances.  The criticism of an over-reliance on reductionism in certain fields in that its very utility can lead to the importance of higher-level structures and interactions being overlooked; there is much which can’t fully be explained by the individual parts or even their interaction.  The diametric opposite of reductionism is holism which emphasizes the importance of whole systems and their properties that emerge from the interactions between parts.  In philosophy, reductionism is the position which holds a system of any level of complexity is nothing but the sum of its parts and an account of it can thus be reduced to accounts of individual constituents.  It’s very much a theoretical model to be used as appropriate rather than an absolutist doctrine but it does hold that phenomena can be explained completely in terms of relations between other more fundamental phenomena: epiphenomena.  A reductionist is either (1) an advocate of reductionism or (2) one who practices reductionism.

Reductionism: Lindsay Lohan during "thin phase".

The adjective reductive has a special meaning in Scots law pertaining to reduction of a decree or other legal device (ie something rescissory in its effect); dating from the sixteenth century, it’s now rarely invoked.  In the sense of “causing the physical reduction or diminution of something” it’s been in use since the seventeenth century in fields including chemistry, metallurgy, biology & economics, always to convey the idea of reduces a substance, object or some abstract quantum to a lesser, simplified or less elaborated form.  At that time, it came to be used also to mean “that can be derived from, or referred back to; something else” and although archaic by the early 1800s, it existence in historic texts can be misleading.  It wasn’t until after World War II (1939-1945) that reductive emerged as a derogatory term, used to suggest an argument, issue or explanation has been “reduced” to a level of such simplicity that so much has been lost as to rob things of meaning.  The phrase “reductio ad absurdum” (reduction to the absurd) is an un-adapted borrowing from the Latin reductiō ad absurdum, and began in mathematics, logic (where it was a useful tool in deriving proofs in fields like).  In wider use, it has come to be used of a method of disproving a statement by assuming the statement is true and, with that assumption, arriving at a blatant contradiction; the synonyms are apagoge & “proof by contradiction”.

Single-family houses (D-Zug) built in 1922 on the principle of architectural reductionism by Heinrich Tessenow in collaboration with Austrian architect Franz Schuster (1892–1972), Moritzburger Weg 19-39 (the former Pillnitzer Weg), Gartenstadt Hellerau, Dresden, Germany.

As a noun, a reductivist is one who advocates or adheres to the principles of reductionism or reductivism.  In art & architecture (and some aspects of engineering) this can be synonymous with the label “a minimalist” (one who practices minimalism).  As an adjective, reductivist (the comparative “more reductivist”, the superlative “most reductivist”) means (1) tending to reduce to a minimum or to simplify in an extreme way and (2) belonging to the reductivism movement in art or music.  The notion of “extreme simplification” (a reduction to a minimum; the use of the fewest essentials) has always appealed some and appalled others attracted to intricacy and complexity.  The German architect Professor Heinrich Tessenow (1876-1950) summed it up in the phrase for which he’s remembered more than his buildings: “The simplest form is not always the best, but the best is always simple.”, one of those epigrams which may not reveal a universal truth but is probably a useful thing to remind students of this and that lest they be seduced by the process and lose sight of the goal.  Tessenow was expanding on the principle of Occam's Razor (the reductionist philosophic position attributed to English Franciscan friar & theologian William of Ockham (circa 1288–1347) written usually as Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem (literally "Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity" which translates best as “the simplest solution is usually the best”.

Reductio in extrema

1960 Lotus Elite Series 1 (left) and at the Le Mans 24 Hour endurance classic, June 1959 (left) Lotus Elite #41 leads Ferrari 250TR #14. The Ferrari (DNF) retired after overheating, the Elite finishing eighth overall, winning the 1.5 litre GT class.

Weighing a mere 500-odd kg (1100 lb), the early versions of the exquisite Lotus Elite (1957-1963) enchanted most who drove it but the extent of the reductionism compromised the structural integrity and things sometimes broke when used under everyday conditions which of course includes potholed roads.  Introduced late in 1961 the Series 2 Elite greatly improved this but some residual fragility was inherent to the design.  On the smooth surfaces of racing circuits however, it enjoyed an illustrious career, notable especially for success in long-distance events at the Nürburgring and Le Mans.  The combination of light weight and advanced aerodynamics meant the surprisingly powerful engine (a robust unit which began life power the water pumps of fire engines!) delivered outstanding performance, frugal fuel consumption and low tyre wear.  As well as claiming five class trophies in the Le Mans 24 hour race, the Elite twice won the mysterious Indice de performance (an index of thermal efficiency), a curious piece of mathematics actually designed to ensure, regardless of other results, a French car would always win something.

Colin Chapman (1928–1982), who in 1952 founded Lotus Cars, applied reductionism even to the Tessenow mantra in his design philosophy: “Simplify, then add lightness.”  Whether at the drawing board, on the factory floor or on the racetrack, Chapman seldom deviated from his rule and while it lent his cars sparking performance and delightful characteristics, more than one of the early models displayed an infamous fragility.  Chapman died of a heart attack which was a good career move, given the likely legal consequences of his involvement with John DeLorean (1925–2005) and the curious financial arrangements made with OPM (other people's money) during the strange episode which was the tale of the DMC DeLorean gullwing coupé.

1929 Mercedes-Benz SSKL blueprint (recreation, left) and the SSKL “streamliner”, AVUS, Berlin, May 1932 (right).

The Mercedes-Benz SSKL was one of the last of the road cars which could win top-line grand prix races.  An evolution of the earlier S, SS and SSK, the SSKL (Super Sports Kurz (short) Leicht (light)) was notable for the extensive drilling of its chassis frame to the point where it was compared to Swiss cheese; reducing weight with no loss of strength.  The SSK had enjoyed success in competition but even in its heyday was in some ways antiquated and although powerful, was very heavy, thus the expedient of the chassis-drilling intended to make it competitive for another season.  Lighter (which didn't solve but at least to a degree ameliorated the high tyre wear) and easier to handle than the SSK (although the higher speed brought its own problems, notably in braking), the SSKL enjoyed a long Indian summer and even on tighter circuits where its bulk meant it could be out-manoeuvred, sometimes it still prevailed by virtue of sheer power.  By 1932 however the engine’s potential had been reached and there was no more metal which could be removed without dangerously compromising safety.  The solution was an early exercise in aerodynamics (“streamlining” the then fashionable term), an aluminium skin prepared for the 1932 race held on Berlin’s AVUS (Automobil-Versuchs und Übungsstraße (automobile traffic and practice road)).  The reduction in air-resistance permitted the thing to touch 255 km/h (158 mph), some 20 km/h (12 mph) more than a standard SSLK, an increase the engineers calculated would otherwise have demanded another 120 horsepower.  The extra speed was most useful at the unique AVUS which comprised two straights (each almost six miles (ten kilometres) in length) linked by two hairpin curves, one a dramatic banked turn.  The SSKL was the last of the breed, the factory’s subsequent Grand Prix machines all specialized racing cars.

Reduction gears: Known casually as "speed reducers", reduction gears are widely used in just about every type of motor and many other mechanical devices.  What they do is allow the energy of a rotating shaft to be transferred to another shaft running at a reduced speed (achieved usually by the use of gears (cogs) of different diameters.

In chemistry, a reduction is the process or result of reducing (a reaction in which electrons are gained and valence is reduced; often by the removal of oxygen or the addition of hydrogen) and as an example, if an iron atom (valence +3) gains an electron, the valence decreases to +2.  Linguistically, it’s obviously counterintuitive to imagine a “reduced atom” is one which gains rather than loses electrons but the term in this context dates from the early days of modern chemistry, where reduction (and its counterpart: “oxidation”) were created to describe reactions in which one substance lost an oxygen atom and the other substance gained it.   In a reaction such as that between two molecules of hydrogen (2H₂)and one of oxygen (O₂) combining to produce two molecules of water (2H₂O), the hydrogen atoms have gained oxygen atoms and were said to have become “oxidized,” while the oxygen atoms have “lost them” by attaching themselves to the hydrogens, and were thus “reduced”.  Chemically however, in the process of gaining an oxygen atom, the hydrogen atoms have had to give up their electrons and share them with the oxygen atoms, while the oxygen atoms have gained electrons, thus the seeming paradox that the “reduced” oxygen has in fact gained something, namely electrons.

Mini

Mini (pronounce min-ee)

(1) A skirt or dress with a hemline well above the knee, popular since the 1960s.

(2) A small car, build by Austin, Morris, associated companies and successor corporations between 1959-2000.  Later reprised by BMW in a retro-interpretation.

(3) As minicomputer, a generalized (historic) descriptor for a multi-node computer system smaller than a mainframe; the colloquial term mini was rendered meaningless by technological change (Briefly, personal computers (PC) were known as micros).

(4) A term for anything of a small, reduced, or miniature size.

Early 1900s: A shorted form of miniature, ultimately from the Latin minium (red lead; vermilion), a development influenced by the similarity to minimum and minus.  In English, miniature was borrowed from the late sixteenth century Italian miniatura (manuscript illumination), from miniare (rubricate; to illuminate), from the Latin miniō (to color red), from minium (red lead).  Although uncertain, the source of minium is thought to be Iberian; the vivid shade of vermilion was used to mark particular words in manuscripts.  Despite the almost universal consensus mini is a creation of twentieth-century, there is a suggested link in the 1890s connected with Yiddish and Hebrew.

As a prefix, mini- is a word-forming element meaning "miniature, minor", again abstracted from miniature, with the sense presumed to have been influenced by minimum.  The vogue for mini- as a prefix in English word creation dates from the early 1960s, the prime influences thought to be (1) the small British car, (2) the dresses & skirts with high-hemlines and (3) developments in the hardware of electronic components which permitted smaller versions of products to be created as low-cost consumer products although there had been earlier use, a minicam (a miniature camera) advertised as early as 1937.  The mini-skirt (skirt with a hem-line well above the knee) dates from 1965 and the first use of mini-series (television series of short duration and on a single theme) was labelled such in 1971 and since then, mini- has been prefixed to just about everything possible.  To Bridget Jones (from Bridget Jones's Diary (1996) a novel by Helen Fielding (b 1958)), a mini-break was a very short holiday; in previous use in lawn tennis it referred to a tiebreak, a point won against the server when ahead.

Jean Shrimpton and the mini-skirt

Jean Shrimpton, Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, 1965.

The Victorian Racing Club (VRC) had in 1962 added Fashions on the Field to the Melbourne’s Spring Racing Carnival at Flemington and for three years, women showed up with the usual hats and accessories, including gloves and stockings, then de rigueur for ladies of the Melbourne establishment.  Then on the VRC’s Derby Day in 1965, English model Jean Shrimpton (b 1942) wore a white mini, its hem a daring four inches (100 mm) above the knee.  It caused stir.

The moment has since been described as the pivotal moment for the introduction of the mini to an international audience which is probably overstating things but for Melbourne it was certainly quite a moment.  Anthropologists have documented evidence of the mini in a variety of cultures over the last 4000 odd years so, except perhaps in Melbourne, circa 1965, it was nothing new but that didn’t stop the fashion industry having a squabble about who “invented” the mini.  French designer André Courrèges (1923-2016) explicitly claimed the honor, accusing his London rival to the claim, Mary Quant (b 1930) of merely “commercializing it”.  Courrèges had shown minis at shows in both 1964 and 1965 and his sketches date from 1961.  Quant’s designs are even earlier but given the anthropologists’ findings, it seems a sterile argument.

Minimalism: Lindsay Lohan and the possibilities of the mini.

The Mini

1962 Riley Elf.

The British Motor Corporation (BMC) first released their Mini in 1959, the Morris version called the Mini Minor (a link to the larger Minor, a model then in production) while the companion Austin was the Seven, a re-use of the name of a tiny car of the inter-war years.  The Mini name however caught on and the Seven was re-named Mini early in 1962 although the up-market (and, with modifications to the body, slightly more than merely badge-engineered) versions by Riley and Wolseley were never called Mini, instead adopting names either from or hinting at their more independent past: the Elf and Hornet respectively.  The Mini name was in 1969 separated from Austin and Morris, marketed as stand-alone marque until 1980 when the Austin name was again appended, an arrangement which lasted until 1988 when finally it reverted to Mini although some were badged as Rovers for export markets.  The Mini remained in production until 2000, long before then antiquated but still out-lasting the Metro, its intended successor.

1969 Austin Maxi 1500.

The allure of the Mini name obviously impressed BMC.  By 1969, BMC had, along with a few others, been absorbed into the Leyland conglomerate and the first release of the merged entity was in the same linguistic tradition: The Maxi.  A harbinger of what was to come, the Maxi encapsulated all that would go wrong within Leyland during the 1970s; a good idea, full of advanced features, poorly developed, badly built, unattractive and with an inadequate service network.  The design was so clever that to this day the space utilization has rarely been matched and had it been a Renault or a Citroën, the ungainly appearance and underpowered engine might have been forgiven because of the functionality but the poor quality control, lack of refinement and clunky aspects of some of the drivetrain meant success was only ever modest.  Like much of what Leyland did, the Maxi should have been a great success but even car thieves avoided the thing; for much of its life it was reported as the UK's least stolen vehicle.          

1979 Vanden Plas Mini (a possibly "outlaw" project by Leyland's outpost in South Africa).

Curiously, given the fondness of BMC (and subsequently Leyland) for badge-engineering, there was never an MG version of the Mini (although a couple of interpretations were privately built), the competition potential explored by a joint-venture with the Formula One constructors, Cooper, the name still used for some versions of the current BMW Mini.  Nor was there a luxury version finished by coachbuilders Vanden Plas which, with the addition of much timber veneer and leather to vehicles mundane, provided the parent corporations with highly profitable status-symbols with which to delight the middle-class.  There was however a separate development by Leyland's South African operation (Leykor), their Vanden Plas Mini sold briefly between 1978-1979 although the photographic evidence suggests it didn’t match the finish or appointment level of the English-built cars which may account for the short life-span and it's unclear whether the head office approved or even knew of this South African novelty prior to its few months of life.   In the home market, third-party suppliers of veneer and leather such as Radford found a market among those who appreciated the Mini's compact practicality but found its stark functionalism just too austere. 

The Twini

Mini Coopers (1275 S) through the cutting, Mount Panorama, Bathurst, Australia, 1966.

In that year's Gallaher 500, Mini Coopers finished first to ninth.  It was the last occasion on which anything with a naturally-aspirated four-cylinder engine would win the annual endurance classic, an event which has since be won on all but a handful of occasions by V8-powered cars (memorably a V12 Jaguar XJS triumphed in 1985 when Conrod Straight was still at it full length), a statistic distorted somewhat by the rule change in 1995 which stipulated only V8s were allowed to run.    

Although it seemed improbable when the Mini was released in 1959 as a small, utilitarian economy car, the performance potential proved extraordinary; in rallies and on race tracks it was a first-rate competitor for over a decade, remaining popular in many forms of competition to this day.  The joint venture with the Formula One constructor Cooper provided the basis for most of the success but by far the most intriguing possibility for more speed was the model which was never developed beyond the prototype stage: the twin-engined Twini.

Prototype twin-engined Moke while undergoing snow testing, 1962.

It wasn’t actually a novel approach.  BMC, inspired apparently by English racing driver Paul Emery (1916–1993) who in 1961 had built a twin-engined Mini, used the Mini’s underpinnings to create an all-purpose cross-country vehicle, the Moke, equipped with a second engine and coupled controls which, officially, was an “an engineering exercise” but had actually been built to interest the Ministry of Defence in the idea of a cheap, all-wheel drive utility vehicle, so light and compact it could be carried by small transport aircraft and serviced anywhere in the world.  The army did test the Moke and were impressed by its capabilities and the flexibility the design offered but ultimately rejected the concept because the lack of ground-clearance limited the terrain to which it could be deployed.  Based on the low-slung Mini, that was one thing which couldn’t easily be rectified.  Instead, using just a single engine in a front-wheel-drive (FWD) configuration, the Moke was re-purposed as a civilian model, staying in production between 1964-1989 and offered in various markets.  Such is the interest in the design that several companies have resumed production, including in electric form and it remains available today.

Cutaway drawing of Cooper’s Twini.

John Cooper (1923-2000), aware of previous twin-engined racing cars,  had tested the prototype military Moke and immediately understood the potential the layout offered for the Mini (ground clearance not a matter of concern on race tracks) and within six weeks the Cooper factory had constructed a prototype.  To provide the desired characteristics, the rear engine was larger and more powerful, the combination, in a car weighing less than 1600 lb (725 kg), delivering a power-to-weight ratio similar to a contemporary Ferrari Berlinetta and to complete the drive-train, two separate gearboxes with matched ratios were fitted.  Typically Cooper, it was a well thought-out design.  The lines for the brake and clutch hydraulics and those of the main electrical feed to the battery were run along the right-hand reinforcing member below the right-hand door while on the left side were the oil and water leads, the fuel supply line to both engines fed from a central tank.  The electrical harness was ducted through the roof section and there was a central throttle link, control of the rear carburetors being taken from the accelerator, via the front engine linkage, back through the centre of the car.  It sounded intricate but the distances were short and everything worked.

Twini replica.

John Cooper immediately began testing the Twini, evaluating its potential for competition and as was done with race cars in those happy days, that testing was on public roads where it proved to be fast, surprisingly easy to handle and well-balanced.  Unfortunately, de-bugging wasn't complete and during one night session, the rear engine seized which resulting in a rollover, Cooper seriously injured and the car destroyed.  Both BMC and Cooper abandoned the project because the standard Mini-Coopers were proving highly successful and to qualify for any sanctioned competition, at least one hundred Twinis would have to have been built and neither organization could devote the necessary resources for development or production, especially because no research had been done to work out whether a market existed for such a thing, were it sold at a price which guaranteed at least it would break even.

Twini built by Downton Engineering.  Driven by Sir John Whitmore (1937– 2017) &  Paul Frère (1917–2008) in the 1963 Targa Florio, it finished 27th and 5th in class.

The concept however did intrigue others interested in entering events which accepted one-offs with no homologation rules stipulating minimum production volumes.  Downton Engineering built one and contested the 1963 Targa Florio where it proved fast but fragile, plagued by an overheating rear-engine and the bugbear of previous twin-engined racing cars: excessive tire wear.  It finished 27^th (and last) but it did finish, unlike some of the more illustrious thoroughbreds which fell by the wayside.  Interestingly, the Downton engineers choose to use a pair of the 998 cm³ (61 cubic inch) versions of the BMC A-Series engine which was a regular production iteration and thus in the under-square (long stroke) configuration typical of almost all the A-Series.  The long stroke tradition in British engines was a hangover from the time when the road-taxation system was based on the cylinder bore, a method which had simplicity and ease of administration to commend it but little else, generations of British engines distinguished by their dreary, slow-revving characteristics.  The long stroke design did however provide good torque over a wide engine-speed range and on road-course like the Targa Florio, run over a mountainous Sicilian circuit, the ample torque spread would have appealed more to drivers than ultimate top-end power.  For that reason, although examples of the oversquare 1071 cm³ (65 cubic inch) versions were available, it was newly developed and a still uncertain quantity and never considered for installation.  The 1071 was used in the Mini Cooper S only during 1963-1964 (with a companion 970 cm³ (61 cubic inch) version created for use in events with a 1000 cm³ capacity limit) and the pair are a footnote in A-Series history as the only over-square versions released for sale

Twin-engined BMW Mini (Binni?).

In the era, it’s thought around six Twinis were built (and there have been a few since) but the concept proved irresistible and twin-engined versions of the "new" Mini (built since 2000 by BMW) have been made.  It was fitting that idea was replicated because what was striking in 2000 when BMW first displayed their Mini was that its lines were actually closer to some of the original conceptual sketches from the 1950s than was the BMC Mini on its debut.  BMW, like others, of course now routinely add electric motors to fossil-fuel powered cars so in that sense twin (indeed, sometimes multi-) engined cars are now common but to use more than one piston engine remains rare.  Except for the very specialized place which is the drag-strip, the only successful examples have been off-road or commercial vehicles and as John Cooper and a host of others came to understand, while the advantages were there to be had, there were easier, more practical ways in which they could be gained.  Unfortunately, so inherent were the drawbacks that the problems proved insoluble.

Narthex

Narthex (pronounced nahr-theks)

(1) In church architecture, a portico (enclosed passage) at the west end of a basilica or church, usually at right angles to the nave and located between the main entrance and the nave.

(2) In botany, a taxonomic genus within the family Apiaceae (umbelliferous plants), now included in Ferula, Narthex asafoetida and thus obsolete.

1665-1675: From the Medieval Latin narthex, from the Medieval Greek narthex (enclosed porch, enclosure (the earlier meaning was “box”), from the Ancient Greek νάρθηξ (narthēx) (giant fennel, scourge (and later “casket” (the Modern Greek νάρθηκας (nárthikas)), and, on the basis of the suffix, probably a pre-Greek word.  The connection between the giant fennel plant and boxes is that the fibre from the stems of the plant was used to make boxes.  In Greek, the word was linked also to νάρδος (nárdos) (nard plant, spikenard, nardin, muskroot).  The Modern Greek νάρθηκας (narthekas) long ago relinquished the early senses and now means either the feature in church architecture or the brace of a sprained wrist or sling of a broken arm.  The plant was well known in Greek mythology.  In the Θεογονία (circa 730–700 BC) (Theogonía (the genealogy or birth of the gods)), known in the West as The Theogony, an epic poem of a thousand-odd lines by the (8^th-7^th century BC) poet Hesod, it was in hollow fennel stalks that Prometheus conveyed fire from Heaven to Earth.  In Armenia the name for a narthex is gavit.  The adjectival form was narthecal and the plural either narthexes or narthices, the English form preferable for most purposes.

Narthexs were part of many early Christian and Byzantine basilicas and churches, located traditionally to the west of the nave and functioned (1) as a lobby area and (2) as the place where penitents were required to remain.  Although the archaeological record suggests there may have been some early churches with annexes or even small separate structures located nearby which fulfilled the latter function, narthexes seem quickly to have been integrated.  That means that structurally and architecturally, a narthex was part of the building but theologically was not, its purpose being to permit those not entitled to admission as part of the congregation (mostly catechumens and penitents) nevertheless to hear the service and (hopefully) be encouraged to pursue communion.

For ceremonies other than services, the narthex was otherwise a functional space, the church’s baptismal font often mounted there and in some traditions (both Eastern & Western) worshipers would sometimes anoint themselves and their children with a daub of holy water before stepping foot in the nave and some branches of the Orthodox Church use the narthex for funeral ceremonies.  There were also architectural variations in the early churches which persisted in larger building and cathedrals, the narthex divided in two, (1) an esonarthex (inner narthex) between the west wall and the body of the church proper, separated from the nave and aisles by a wall, trellis or some other means and (2) an external closed space, the exonarthex (outer narthex), a court in front of the church façade with a perimeter defined by on all sides by colonnades.

In the Western Church, reforms removed the requirement to exclude from services those who were not full members of the congregation which of course meant the narthex was rendered technically redundant.  However, the shape churches had assumed with a narthex included had become part of the tradition of the Church so architects continued to include the space, both as part of the nave structure and something semi-separated.  They attracted a number of names, borrowed mostly from secular buildings including vestibule, porch, foyer, hallway, antechamber, anteroom, entrance, entry, entryway, gateway, hall, lobby, portal & portico, the choice dictated sometimes by local tradition, sometimes by the nature of construction and sometimes, it seems to have been entirely arbitrary.  In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the esonarthex and exonarthex retained distinct liturgical functions, some rituals terminating in the exonarthex while services still exclusively penitential services are usually chanted in the esonarthex.  In dialectal northern English, the casual term for the penitents forced to remain in the narthex was “the narts”.

The NART Ferrari spiders

1966 Ferrari 275 GTS

Although Ferrari produced the 275 GTB (berlinetta (coupé)) (1964-1968) and 275 GTS (spider (roadster)) (1964-1966) in unison with substantially the same mechanical specification, the two had completely different coachwork, sharing not one external panel.  Styled by Pininfarina, the 275 GTS, elegant and well-proportioned, recalled the earlier 250 Cabriolets and buyers appreciated the sophistication of the improved specification but Luigi Chinetti (1901-1994), Ferrari's North American distributer, remembering the sensuous lines of the 250 California Spider (1957-1960), asked the factory for a run of spiders (roadsters) based on the 275 GTB.

1960 Ferrari 250 California Spider

Ferrari commissioned its traditional coachbuilder, Carrozzeria Scaglietti, to produce the series and in 1967, the first tranche of ten of a planned twenty-five was completed and delivered to the United States.  The spiders were based on the newly-released 275 GTB/4 which included a number of refinements to the original series, most notably the twin-cam heads, the factory rating the 3.3 Litre (201 cubic inch) V12 at 300 horsepower, a lift of 20 over the earlier single-cam engines.  Because Chinetti’s competition department was called the North American Racing Team (NART), the ten roadsters have always been referred to as the “NART Spiders” and although the factory never adopted the designation, Chinetti added to the tail of each a small cloisonné badge with the team's logo.  Interestingly, the factory also continued to list the cars as 275 GTB/4s, even though the usual naming convention would have been to designate them as 275 GTS/4s, a hint perhaps from Ferrari that it really wasn’t their idea.

1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4

The addition of the badge, an unusual addition to anything from Scaglietti workshops, was not unreasonable given the spiders were very much a co-production, Chinetti receiving technical assistance and the precious benefit of official status from the factory but it was made clear that financial responsibility for the project lay exclusively with the US operation which would be required to pay for each prior to delivery.  On that basis things proceeded but, modified from production 275 GTB/4’s with (then typically Italian) labour-intensive coach-building techniques, the spiders were expensive and sales were slow, American buyers more seduced by Ferrari's new and more luxuriously trimmed and cheaper 330 GTS; even then air-conditioning was a persuasive inducement and the more spartan NARTs languished for some months in Chinetti’s showroom waiting for someone with a longing for the ways things used to be done.  As a consequence, it was only that first run of ten which was built but they’ve since become highly prized by collectors, NART #10709 in August 2013 selling at auction for US$27.5 million (including commission) at RM Sotheby's in Monterey, California.

1969 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 NART Spider

Daytona 24 Hours, 1967: First-Ferrari 330 P3/4 (#23; Chris Amon & Lorenzo Bandini), Second-Ferrari 330 P4 (#24; Mike Parkes & Ludovico Scarfiotti and Third-Ferrari 412 P (#26; Pedro Rodriguez & Jean Guichet.

However, despite the modest demand for the NART spiders, Ferrari must have been convinced the concept was viable with full factory backing and when, in 1968, the 275 GTB/4 was replaced with the 365 GTB/4 (1968-1973), a companion spider was listed as an official model, again built by Carrozzeria Scaglietti.  This model came to be known as the Daytona in recognition of Ferrari’s 1-2-3 finish in the 1967 24 Hours of Daytona even though the cars which contested the race were different models, the connection being some photographs from the race which were used in promotional material when the 365 GTB/4 was released.  It was the first new model since the 1-2-3 finish and the name stuck, an attachment about which Ferrari seemed never much enthused although views seem to have softened over the years and "Daytona" appears now even on the corporate website.  The V12 was now 4.4 litres (268 cubic inches) and generating some 340-355 horsepower (depending on market) although the figure on which many fixated was the claimed top speed of 174 mph (280 km/h), the need to out-pace the mark of 171 mph (275 km/h) set by the Lamborghini Miura P400 in 1966 said to be one of the design objectives.  Quite a few verified Ferrari’s claim; few attempted it in the somewhat trickier to handle Miura although contemporary reports confirmed the factory's number.  The Ferrari might actually have gone faster, given enough road.  Luigi Chinetti (1901–1994), who drove the competition version of the Daytona in the 1971 Le Mans 24 hour classic (the last year before the 3.7 mile (6 km) Mulsanne straight was spoiled by the chicanes the FIA imposed) reported than on Mulsanne it never actually stopped accelerating.  Remarkably, the Daytona finished fifth, even winning the mysterious Index of Thermal Efficiency.  Whatever it was, Ferrari must have been content with the thing's terminal velocity but Lamborghini wanted bragging rights and the more powerful Miura P400 S debuted in 1969 with a claim of 180 mph (290 km/h) which Autosport magazine in 1970 almost matched, clocking 288.6 km/h (179.3 mph).  That turned out to be the decade's high-water mark, the succeeding P400 SV more powerful still but a little slower because the aerodynamics were slightly compromised by the need to add a little width to accommodate some needed improvements and the use of fatter tyres which absorbed a surprising amount of energy.  It would be many years before a production car went faster than the P400 S.    

1972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 (Daytona)

What was however learned from 275 NART experience was that the customers had become sybarites who wanted cars which looked like the austere roadsters of old but fitted with the accruements of modernity, air conditioning, power steering and electric windows.  On that basis the Daytona entered production and in what was by then a much more competitive market, the approach was vindicated, the Daytona close to doubling the sales of its predecessor, including 122 spiders.  Intriguingly, within a few years of the end of Daytona production ending, the realization hit that there wouldn’t again be something like the 365 GTS/4, the days of the big, front-engined V12s thought over and even if one returned, the feeling in the 1970s was that government regulations would be there would be no more roadsters and interest in Daytona spiders began to spike.  With only 122 produced, the math of the supply-demand curve was predictable and prices of spiders soared above the berlinetta, the factory having made more than ten times as many of them.

1971 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 (Daytona)

Thus stimulated was the roofectomy business which had long been part of the coach-building trade but few conversions were potentially as lucrative as a Daytona.  Done properly, the results could be satisfactory but, beyond the roof, there were a number of differences between the two and not all were done properly.  However it’s done, a genuine Scaglietti spider is going to be worth some multiple of a conversion in similar condition, which may now attract little premium over a berlinetta, originality now more of a fetish than it was in the 1970s and 1980s.  In 2013, the New York Times reported Ferrari, unhappy about what they regarded as fakes being traded, were going to try to pressure the high-end auction houses not to host such sales but the industry persists and there are a number of replica 275 NARTs although, not all were based on a twin-cam original, industry sources suggesting a premium above a berlinetta of 20% at most.  Other popular candidates for conversion include the Mercedes-Benz 280SE 3.5 Coupés (1968-1971; on which an exact conversion is also very challenging), Maserati Ghiblis (1967-1973) and the early Jaguar E-Types, technically a simpler job especially in years gone by when suitable cars and quality kits were more numerous.

1976 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 NART by Michelotti 

In a footnote to the Daytona’s history, either not discouraged by his experience with the 275 NART or impressed by the prices the ten were commanding, Luigi Chinetti commissioned the construction of five 365 GTB/4 Daytona NART Spiders, the design turned over to Giovanni Michelotti (1921–1980).  In the spirit of 1950s minimalism, Michelotti’s first design, shown at the 1974 Turin Motor Show featured cut-down doors and a removable targa top but the second, built for the 1975 24 Hours of Le Mans, was more a conventional race-car, its lines attuned to aerodynamic enhancement although it never made the event because of a dispute with the notoriously difficult stewards.  Still interested in the concept however, in 1976 Chinetti ordered three more NART Daytonas from Michelotti, configured this time as road-cars with air conditioning and electric windows, the target market the US.  Unlike the 275 NARTs, the three NART Daytonas really were used cars, production of the originals having ceased in 1973.  One of them has been a fixture on the show and auction scene for a while, Michelotti using it as a display piece and it spent two years as an exhibit at the Le Mans Museum before bouncing around the premium auction circuit where it’s exchanged between collectors at increasingly higher prices.  The wedge shape certainly marks the design as a product of the age but so did the detailing: instead of a delicate cloisonné on the tail, NART was printed in big, bold, upper-case letters.