Okay, here it comes...
A long time ago, I promised to tell an alternate MOWOG story as soon as I
found out who told it to me and called them and asked them for additional
details. I did manage to find out who told the story in the first place,
but calling them hasn't gotten to the top of the "to do" list yet. Now
that the story has been shot down by the discovery of MOWOG on pre-war
parts (assuming pre-war cars still have their original parts), I think
I'll forgo getting details and just spill what I've heard.
The story goes that MOWOG stands for "Ministry Of War, Oxford Group."
During WWII, manufacturing space and equipment were needed for the war
effort so manufacturing of items not related to the war could only be
carried on with the permission of the Ministry of War. Hence, all large,
cast items that weren't destined for airplanes or tanks and had this
permission carried the word MOWOG.
I've always liked this story because it makes MOWOG an actual acronym. If
_I_ had to carve letters in a casting form, I'd carve as few as possible by
only using the first letter of each word. This would have made it MWG.
Notice that I said MWG and not MWM. If the last word were "MG," why would
they use the "G" and not the "M?" Of course, now that I know that TVR is
from TreVor wilkeRson, I realize that it's pointless to try to apply logic
to British car acronyms.
Denise Thorpe, who still thinks MG is a doodle
thorpe@kegs.saic.com
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