A tribute to Harris Mann: 1938-2023
Harris Mann was a much-loved figure in the classic car world thanks to his work on several everyday models and for his easy-going, insightful manner. For someone who unfairly shouldered a lot of the flack fired at the British car industry of the 1970s, it’s a measure of his calm demeanour that he simply shrugged it off and focused on new projects and helping design students to realise their potential.
Born in London in 1938, Mann went on to study engineering at Westminster before he started an apprenticeship for bus and coach firm Duple. He worked there as a body engineer but fancied his chances as a car designer in the US. This led him to a spell working for the revered Raymond Loewy in New York, though by his own modest admission Mann spent most of his six-month time there designing tyre sidewalls and tread patterns.
Fed up and with work drying up in the US, Mann headed back home only to find himself called up for National Service. He spent the following two and a half years serving in the Army in Germany, but he didn’t waste any time getting back into the automotive world upon being demobbed. Another stint at Duple should have marked a welcome return for the blossoming designer but he was still treated as an apprentice, to his frustration.
From Duple, Mann went to Commer and had a nine-month long job there as a draughtsman and design engineer working on vans and trucks. When he spotted an advert for a feasibility engineer at Ford, it wasn’t long before Mann upped sticks again and headed to Ford’s studio in 1962. Once there, he enjoyed the go-ahead environment that was forging a new look for Ford’s cars of the decade. Keen to be part of this, Mann showed his work to the Head of Styling, and this was enough to have him moved to the styling studios at Aveley and Dunton. It was here he worked on the Ford Capri and Escort designs, with Mann contributing a good deal to the Capri coupe that was overseen by Philip K Dick.
In 1967, Mann’s boss at Ford was Roy Haynes, who was recruited by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) to head up its design department. Haynes asked Mann to go with him, which he did, and it was to prove a pivotal moment for the young designer. After just 16 months, Haynes quit BMC due to internal wrangles and this left Mann to take over responsibility for the new cars that would take BMC, which was soon to become British Leyland (BL), into the 1970s.
Influenced by the designs coming out of Italy at the time, Mann was a proponent of the wedge style. The first major new car that Mann worked on, though, was the Marina. This was a car with design led by Roy Haynes and left to Mann to complete as a rival to the Ford Escort. However, the next car was very much Mann’s own project, even if it did succumb to the cost slashing that marred so many of BL’s cars in the 1970s. It was none other than the Allegro, which was a far more radical car than anything that had been launched by the British company since the Mini in 1959.
Even if the production car was not how Mann had envisioned it, the Allegro was still a clean break from what had gone before. At its launch, the Allegro was praised for its styling and cabin space, yet as time wore on its designer became the target of criticism that was nothing to do with him. Unreliability and poor build quality were down to cost-cutting, bad management, and the persistent industrial strife that plagued BL throughout the 1970s.
Meanwhile, Mann was busy finishing off another of his landmark designs in the shape of the Austin 18-22 of 1975, which was swiftly renamed the Princess after a mere nine months. When sat beside the likes of the Ford Cortina or Vauxhall Cavalier, their traditional three-box styling was made all too apparent and samey by Mann’s bold two-box wedge shape for the Princess. It was just a shame that BL’s management was too cautious to sign off on the car’s hatchback rear and instead they stuck with a stubby boot lid. It took until 1982 and the refreshed Ambassador model for the hatch to be instated as per Mann’s original idea.
Ever industrious, Mann was also working on a new sports car design while the 18-22 was in development. Codenamed Diablo, this was launched as the Triumph TR7 also in 1975, which arrived as a coupe-only that undermined sales with Triumph’s devoted buyers who were used to TRs as roadsters. That was only remedied in 1979 when the convertible TR7 arrived but by then sales were floundering. Again, it was easy to point the finger at Harris Mann even when his instincts were right, and his plan had been to offer the TR7 with a targa roof that would have covered both bases with one car.
After 15 years at BL, latterly helping with the Maestro and Montego shapes, Harris Mann left to become a freelance designer. It led to a much freer and happier working period where he contributed to BMW motorcycles, ERF trucks, MG, and Subaru among others. He also taught on the car design course at Coventry University where his unerring eye helped many students to refine their projects. He was very happy to spend time discussing his career and the automotive industry with car clubs and enthusiasts, who appreciated his work far more for its clever design than many did when the cars were new.
It's hard to overstate the impact Harris Mann had on car design, even if he did have to wait for his designs to become classics before they were fully appreciated.
Harris Mann
1938-2023
