This hasn't dropped up for quite a while.
Some say 'MoWoG' is the name of a god that has to be appeased with many
offerings of fluids and expensive new parts, otherwise 'he' (or more
probably 'she') will cause breakdowns at most inopportune moments.
Others say it was a joke by a foreman in the casting shop many years ago,
knowing that it would plague owners for years to come.
The truth is a little more prosaic - it probably represents the merger of MG
and Wolseley into Morris Motors and the use of common parts from that point.
Most agree that the 'Mo' stands for 'Morris' and the 'Wo' for 'Wolseley'.
But that still leaves plenty of room for argument as to what the 'G' stands
for.
Clausager, in his essential bible on the MGB - Original MGB - mentions in
passing that it stands for 'MG'. A spokesman for BMIHT in the first issue of
their magazine answered the specific question by categorically stating that
it stood for 'Group'. However he then went on to say 'But why would anyone
want to know?' which in my opinion casts immediate doubt on his credentials,
and even his right to be part of BMIHT!
For my part, I am now firmly in the 'MG' camp. Not because of a loyal desire
for it to be so, but through a study of the evidence. The source of the
greater part of this evidence is David Knowles incredibly detailed book - MG
The Untold Story. David relates how Wolseley and MG were owned personally by
Lord Nuffield until he was convinced to merge it with Morris Motors in 1935.
He also states that, once part of Morris Motors and all design was being
carried out at Cowley, the chassis and engine number prefixes and suffixes
for Wolseley variants were 'W' and for MG were 'G'. It doesn't take much of
a leap of faith to assume that 'M' was already being used by Morris (hence
the 'G' for MG, since there wasn't much choice for anything else). I would
also say it would be extremely unlikely for someone to go to the bother of
devising a 'logo' to mark the merger of Wolseley and Morris, but to ignore
MG which was merged at the same time. Finally, there never was a 'Morris
Wolseley Group' as an organisation, just 'Morris Motors Ltd'.
PaulH.
http://freespace.virgin.net/paul.hunt1/
(or if that URL doesn't work try )
(http://194.168.54.52/paul.hunt1)
-----Original Message-----
From: Marisa Emanuel <maemanuel@yahoo.com>
To: mgs@autox.team.net <mgs@autox.team.net>
Date: 28 October 1999 01:25
Subject: MOWOG?!?!
>Hey, y'all!! Who knows the story behind MOWOG?? What
>it means, etc...it's been driving me nuts!!!! I need
>to know!!
>
>Marisa
>76 MGB
>
>
>=====
>
>
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