It has been said that we Americans are separated from the British by a common language. There
seems to be some truth in that. In this web page, we are talking about cars, some of them are
British. When dealing with one of my British cars, I have tried to use British terms where
they may differ from their corresponding American counterpart. It seems there are quite a few
such discrepancies. The following is a partial list of the differences in the languages as they
refer to automotive subjects along with a few general use terms that I found interesting. It
certainly is not all-inclusive but I have tried to include all the distinct terms I am aware of
and add new ones as they are encountered. Also, keep in mind that these are all "as I
understand it".
| Other Terms Recognized by British Car Owners |
| LBC |
Little British Car, Large British Car, etc |
| PO |
The previous owner of your car |
| DPO |
Dreaded previous owner of your car (because of the hacks they seem to have always
done to the car)
|
| Prince of Darkness |
Lucas, Lucas Electrics, etc |
| BPSL |
British (Phlegm Sucking) Leyland - A term of endearment for the things they did
to destroy the British car industry
|
| BFL |
British "Frigging" Leyland - See BPSL |
| BFH |
Big "Frigging" Hammer, aka bashing tool |
| BRSOR |
Big rock side of the road - Substitute for BFH |
| OSOTP |
Other side of the pond (across the ocean) |
| SWORK |
Swearing while working, a common practice |
| VIQ |
Vehicle in question |
| Wanker |
One who hacks at their car, usually clueless |
| Common Automotive Abbreviations |
| AC (i.e. AC Cobra) |
Auto Carrier |
| ARG |
Austin-Rover Group |
| BL |
British Leyland |
| BLMC |
British Leyland Motor Corporation |
| BMC |
British Motor Corporation |
| BSF |
British Standard Fine (thread system) |
| BSW |
British Standard Whitworth (thread system) |
| CD |
Constant depression (carburetor type) |
| DB |
David Brown (Astin-Martin motors) |
| MG |
Derived from Morris Garage |
| NOS |
New, old stock parts (as opposed to recent copy) |
| PI |
Petrol Injection |
| SS |
Swallow Sidecars - Predecessor to Jaguar Cars |
| SU |
Skinners Union (carburetors and fuel pumps) |
| TVR |
TreVoR (Wilkinson), founder of TVR Cars |
| ZS |
Zenith-Stromberg (carburetors) |
