Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi All
I guess this has been raised before?but what does mowog stand for,and why did BMC use it?
I thought I would post a photo of my TT,transitional Traveller,phase 1 I think?
regards
Trevor

here is one explanation ,i'm sure there is more

Here is the explanation according to David Doiron.

"MOWOG pre-dates the BMC merger. The Morris Garages in Oxford was the birthplace of the "Morris Garages Special".

The name of the shop later became Morris-Wolseley Garages. The name"Morris-Wolseley Garages Special" was too awkward of a handle, so was the version "MOWOG Special", so just the initials MG were kept and the word "Special" was dropped.

ALL parts boxes (as well as foundry marks) kept the MOWOG designation since parts went to far more cars than just MGs.

The foundry mark for Austins was the "flying A".

When the BMC merger took place, there was an effort to use the BMC rosette as the new "marque". It succesfully replaced MOWOG on printed materials such as parts boxes, but it never really took hold as a foundry mark, and MOWOG remained the most common foundry mark on parts used for the Sprite series."

David Doiron...ex BMC mechanic

and this ...........
'MoWoG' was moulded in to many castings used in MG, Austin and Morris engines over many years. And speculation, not to say argument, is rife amongst MG aficionados as to what it means.

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'.

I rest my case, M'Lud.

Many thanks for that,I wonder if anyone can confirm it,or give another answer?
My photo did not seem to upload,will try again
regards
Trevor

MO rris WO lseley G roup = MOWOG

I'm more inclined to come down on the side of
MOrris WOlseley & Garages = MOWOG for the reasons labrettalad highlights.

If it tallies with chassis prefixes then I see no reason not to reference MG in the acronym. But I don't think it need necessarily conform to a strict referencing system. There are similar arguments raging in the Jaguar and Rover worlds as to what the 'S' suffix stands for on certain models - "straight-port" and even "synchromesh" are genuinely considered viable suggestions by some enthusiasts, when the simple fact of the matter is that these monikers never officially stood for any one particular thing. They are simply differentiators to give a model its identity, and above all, they sound pretty good!
I think a similar thing is true of MOWOG. With a greater standardisation of componentry after the merger of Wolseley & MG into the Morris Motor Co, it strikes me that it made sense to develop a common moniker that was not obviously tied to any one marque. After all, who's going to want to lift the bonnet on his 4/50 Wolseley and see a Morris name? In that sense, I think of it as a suitably ambiguous corporate logo and draw the comparison with "Standpart". In some instances, the logo is even highly stylised in a very period elongated diamond formation, which further suggests to me that its principle function was as an identifier rather than a referencing system.

What interests me is how (or rather why) the 1098 block ended up with MOWOG on it? Surely the earlier A-series would have had an Austin name, or BMC Rosette at best. So why did this later block revert to getting an earlier name?

Michael

Hi All
And thanks for the replies,its something I thought I should know,and could not remember.
It may be the case,that we may never know for certain,but it might turn up in some records one day?
I wonder when they stopped using it?ie metro marina etc.
oh dear hear I go again!!!!
regards
Trevor

So where did "BEANS" come into this? Beans was the mowog foundry in Tipton??? Yes..?

My 1994 mini has a rubber dust cover over the upper and lower ball joints with...... MOWOG pressed into the rubber.


edit*... Sorry my wifes 1994 Mini.

good point,how old were those rubbers when fitted to your car?bet they last longer than the rubbers these days!!!
I seem to remember mowog on steering rack gaiters as well?much better fit than the universal ones I tried to fit.
I would not mind,but the rack was only two years old,on the car,and now having to change again for mot.
Now if someone no longer has to have a MOT,How long before they do get replaced?
Anyhow,I am drifting away from the mowog question
Interesting
Trevor