Monday, 22 November 2004 | Levent OZLER
The Avenue of Design
Routemaster bus 1954
Numbered RM1, the Palace bus, was the first of the 2,876 hop-on, hop-off eight-tonners that rolled off the production line to serve London's commuters. If it is a design classic, then it has been treated with the usual disdain. Ken Livingstone, London's mayor, has just decided to replace the last of them with continental bendy buses that have an alarming habit of catching fire. Redundant Routemasters can be bought for as little as £2,000.
Mini Cooper S
Designed by an Anglo-Greek (Alec Issignos) and now saved/manufactured by Germans, BMW. Issignos enjoyed Martinis so he reputedly designed the door pockets to hold bottles of Gordon's gin. Though it was the first British-manufactured car to sell five million, by the 1990s it was selling only in Japan.
K6 telephone box
Designed in 1935 to commemorate the silver jubilee of George V, it proved to be the most popular successor to Sir James Gilbert Scott's original 1924 K2 model. Ill-treated as an "icon" with thousands ripped out and replaced with draughty, noisy open-air models over past 10 years. Now used as shower cubicles or bars by collectors.
Penny-farthing
Bicycle invented in 1871 by British engineer James Stanley in the Midlands. Called the High or Original Bicycle, its claims to be a "classic" are questionable. Riders suffered so many accidents that it virtually vanished by 1900 to be replaced by the Safety Bicycle, similar to today's designs, with wheels of equal size. Despite being uncomfortable it has fans and is still made by Hawk factory Cycle Stores.
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