Mini enthusiasts came together to pay tribute to the last member of the iconic car’s design team, who has died aged 93.

John Sheppard was part of the Longbridge-based group which created the popular vehicle – and always said they had no idea it would go on to be such a success.

Enthusiasts gathered for Mr Sheppard’s funeral in Stourbridge last week in the only way they knew how – a parade featuring his most famous designs.

Described as “The man who loved to draw”, Mr Sheppard began his career in the drawing office of engineering giant BSA, in Birmingham, at the age of 16.

From there he moved on to draw aircraft parts, and eventually cars, joining Alvis in 1945.

In 1952, Sir Alec Issigonis also joined Alvis and Mr Sheppard was recruited into his design team.

When Sir Alec left Alvis for BMC in December 1955 he lost no time in recruiting Mr Sheppard to join him as draughtsman.

A special parade of Mini and Mini related vehicles joined together on the streets of Stourbridge for the funeral of designer John Sheppard

And it was Mr Sheppard who designed the actual curves of the Mini, interpreting the scribbled drawings Sir Alec made on scraps of paper.

He continued to work with Sir Alec on and off for the rest of his working years, and the pair were close friends until Sir Alec’s death.

Mr Sheppard retired in 1982 but continued to take an active interest in the Mini, taking part in many milestone events in its history.

In an interview for the 50th anniversary of the Mini in 2009, Mr Sheppard, who lived in Hagley, said: “I don’t think any of us, even Issi himself, would have believed it would have gone so far.

“For many years, we didn’t make a profit.”

Below: Gallery of the recent Pride of Longbridge event, featuring many cars Mr Sheppard designed

The Mini went on to become the best selling British car in history, with more than five million vehicles produced.

Speaking of Sir Alec, Mr Sheppard said: “He was a wonderful man to sketch.

“He could sketch anything. Of course, we had to take those sketches and make them drawings.”

Mr Sheppard said Sir Alec would sketch with chalk on the floor and “fag packets were quite common”.

He said: “Issi was drawing something on a tablecloth once and a waiter came out and played hell. He told him ‘don’t worry, I’ll buy it’.”

Mr Sheppard worked on a life-sized drawing board which was 16ft long and 5ft wide. He said: “When you see a Mini out there today, everything you see was what I drew.”

He also recalled how the car came about: “The chairman, Sir Leonard Lord, was fed up with seeing bubble cars everywhere and told us to make a small car.

“We had to replace the A30 anyway and an entirely new department was set up to produce the Mini.”

Their brief was to come up with a small car, at a price people could afford, able to seat four and carry a reasonable amount of luggage.

He was still proud of his design and explained: “The fact that the old and new Mini can stand side by side and are still loved is a testament to the original design and its practicality.”

A special parade of Mini and Mini related vehicles joined together on the streets of Stourbridge for the funeral of designer John Sheppard

Kay Drury, of MiniWorld Magazine, said. “John was a true gentleman and a lovely man, I am proud to have had the opportunity to get to know him and call him a friend. I know he would have loved seeing all the cars today, and to have known that Gaydon loaned us the 9X to park on his drive! RIP John.”

Mr Sheppard’s death closely followed that of Doug Adams, who also worked on the Mini, and passed away last month at the age of 95.

Mr Adams worked at Longbridge for almost 50 years and, as well as the Mini, helped build the first Allegro in the 1970s and later worked on the team producing the Austin Maestro before retiring aged 64 in 1984.

Recalling the Mini’s design, he once said: “They were very exciting times. Alec Issigonis knew he had designed something different and he proved himself right. I can’t think of a more interesting or important car.”