Mooney Model Names

[Davidv]

Ok, so this may be very obvious to some people already, but I've been thinking about the origination of Mooney's modern naming convention.  Most companies put a lot of thought and strategy into developing naming conventions for their products.  However, my hypothesis (again, correct me if this is already obvious or know to others), is that the late model names came from a convenient coincidence.  When the TIO-540 AF1A became the TIO-540 AF1B, it went from the "alpha" to the "bravo" version of the engine which informally named the TLS as "Bravo" (a little easier than "Turbo Lycoming Sabre).  When Mooney was developing the the next model and thinking of an appropriate name, I could see someone in marketing say "Well we already have the Bravo, why don't we call this one the Ovation?".  Thereafter we saw the Encore, Allegro, Acclaim.

If, for example, the engine was a TIO-540-AF1D and it become a TIO-540-AF1E, I'm pretty certain we wouldn't be flying around in Mooney Echos.

Was a coincidental phonetic alphabet engine designation responsible for future Mooney names? 

[Stan]

Good luck in cracking the Mooney code, in a former life I'd ask agencies with three letters to try to decipher it.

On the plus side if you do crack it maybe it can be used in the search for the Holy Grail.

My plane has MSE all over it, however when looking at the evolution charts, etc., it/they were not built in 1989.

This will be interesting topic to follow, hopefully it is a simple answer, best of luck.

[carusoam]

the naming snafu was a wall paper job of a new regime....

Sure the TLS needed the Bravo to cover a little tech issue that the TLS had...

Add some wet heads and... Bravo! The B model was rolled out.... the plane has been near perfect ever since...

Now if Lycoming came out with curvy intake pipes to balance the airflow some... Charlie would have been next...

 

The musical genre was the wall paper job... the new CEO and marketing group went on a tear...each of the planes that were in production got a musical name...

• J
• K
• M
• R

The S came later she got the Eagle name...

The TN got the oddity of  TN... not just the T.  And the name Acclaim...

MSE... Mooney Special Edition...

If they documented it in all the books... it wouldn’t be so special..?  

To really know the options codes... there are a few that trigger the MSE name...

My MSE got nearly everything, but... FD, FIKI, O2, AC...

The list of every nav device available was pretty expensive at the time...

Best regards,

-a-

[Davidv]

5 hours ago, carusoam said:

the naming snafu was a wall paper job of a new regime....

Sure the TLS needed the Bravo to cover a little tech issue that the TLS had...

Add some wet heads and... Bravo! The B model was rolled out.... the plane has been near perfect ever since...

Now if Lycoming came out with curvy intake pipes to balance the airflow some... Charlie would have been next...

 

The musical genre was the wall paper job... the new CEO and marketing group went on a tear...each of the planes that were in production got a musical name...

• J
• K
• M
• R

The S came later she got the Eagle name...

The TN got the oddity of  TN... not just the T.  And the name Acclaim...

MSE... Mooney Special Edition...

If they documented it in all the books... it wouldn’t be so special..?  

To really know the options codes... there are a few that trigger the MSE name...

My MSE got nearly everything, but... FD, FIKI, O2, AC...

The list of every nav device available was pretty expensive at the time...

Best regards,

-a-

Thanks @carusoam, good info.  My main hypothesis was that musical names were derived only because the next letter on the engine after the wet head conversion happened to be a B.  If it was a different letter (such as a Lycoming I0-360-A3B6D becoming an "E"), maybe the names of our planes would have followed some other theme...

Not something that has any implications, just interesting to think about...

[LANCECASPER]

21 hours ago, Davidv said:

Ok, so this may be very obvious to some people already, but I've been thinking about the origination of Mooney's modern naming convention.  Most companies put a lot of thought and strategy into developing naming conventions for their products.  However, my hypothesis (again, correct me if this is already obvious or know to others), is that the late model names came from a convenient coincidence.  When the TIO-540 AF1A became the TIO-540 AF1B, it went from the "alpha" to the "bravo" version of the engine which informally named the TLS as "Bravo" (a little easier than "Turbo Lycoming Sabre).  When Mooney was developing the the next model and thinking of an appropriate name, I could see someone in marketing say "Well we already have the Bravo, why don't we call this one the Ovation?".  Thereafter we saw the Encore, Allegro, Acclaim.

If, for example, the engine was a TIO-540-AF1D and it become a TIO-540-AF1E, I'm pretty certain we wouldn't be flying around in Mooney Echos.

Was a coincidental phonetic alphabet engine designation responsible for future Mooney names? 

The Ovation came out in 1994 before the TLS got the -B (Bravo) engine update in 1996. So your naming theory is correct, but it went Ovation, Bravo, Encore (1997), Allegro (1998), Acclaim (2006).

[Davidv]

Yes, that’s true, but the Bravo mod came out well before Mooney formally called it the Bravo.  As you know, they referred to it as the bravo mod for several years before Mooney started incorporating it into the stock aircraft.  It looks like it was a factory option to buy the plane with an AF1B as early as 1994...

[DXB]

The modern Bravo, Ovation, Acclaim nomenclature is more elegant than someone deciding to call the E model a Chaparral (?!), which I think means broad-leafed evergreen shrubbery?!  Someone please explain that one  

[Davidv]

Haha I know, I was looking at the same thing and scratching my head as well.

maybe if they continued with the “Turbo Lycoming Sabre” nomenclature we would be flying cleavers and scalpels :).

[LANCECASPER]

3 hours ago, Davidv said:

Yes, that’s true, but the Bravo mod came out well before Mooney formally called it the Bravo.  As you know, they referred to it as the bravo mod for several years before Mooney started incorporating it into the stock aircraft.  It looks like it was a factory option to buy the plane with an AF1B as early as 1994...

That is absolutely not correct.

There are a lot of things I know nothing about, so I keep quiet. But on this subject, i do know a couple of things. I bought the first M20M that had been converted to a Bravo (serial #209) in September 1996. It had been converted by the  factory in early 1996 and the Service Letter showing how to convert an AF1A to an AF1B came out on January 31, 1996. They sold a few later serial numbers before I bought 209, which was a factory demonstrator that Bing Lantis the President of Mooney was using to go back and forth between Kerrville and California.

Flying magazine in September 1996 put the Bravo on the cover announcing the upgrade to the engine with a nice article by Richard Collins

 

 

Model Chronology (1).pdf

[kpaul]

2 hours ago, DXB said:

The modern Bravo, Ovation, Acclaim nomenclature is more elegant than someone deciding to call the E model a Chaparral (?!), which I think means broad-leafed evergreen shrubbery?!  Someone please explain that one  

There is the Chaparral Biome in California, it is home to many plants and animals to include numerous birds.

When I was in New Mexico, the Chaparral was the mascot of my daughter's Elementary school, they used the Greater Roadrunner.

I have absolutely no idea how any of this applies to Mooney's naming convention. 

[Davidv]

10 minutes ago, LANCECASPER said:

That is absolutely not correct.

There are a lot of things I know nothing about, so I keep quiet. But on this subject, i do know a couple of things. I bought the first M20M that had been converted to a Bravo (serial #209) in September 1996. It had been converted by the  factory in early 1996 and the Service Letter showing how to convert an AF1A to an AF1B came out on January 31, 1996. They sold a few later serial numbers before I bought 209, which was a factory demonstrator that Bing Lantis the President of Mooney was using to go back and forth between Kerrville and California.

Flying magazine in September 1996 put the Bravo on the cover announcing the upgrade to the engine with a nice article by Richard Collins

 

 

Model Chronology (1).pdf 1.1 MB · 1 download

Thanks Lance, you could be right but I was also looking at that chronology when I saw the option in 1994 to order a TLS as a Bravo. I believe prior to 1994 you could have had it converted to a bravo with the mod that was offered by Lycoming.  I believe that I have a hard copy of the letter from lycoming at home in my Mooney briefcase offering the bravo mod.  I’ll take a look at it later.

[LANCECASPER]

3 hours ago, Davidv said:

Thanks Lance, you could be right but I was also looking at that chronology when I saw the option in 1994 to order a TLS as a Bravo. I believe prior to 1994 you could have had it converted to a bravo with the mod that was offered by Lycoming.  I believe that I have a hard copy of the letter from lycoming at home in my Mooney briefcase offering the bravo mod.  I’ll take a look at it later.

You can believe whatever you would like, but I lived about 40 miles from the factory back in those years (20 miles from it now) and was completely aware of what was and was not available. Had you owned an M20M back then you would know that you could not do anything regarding an AF1B before January 31, 1996 when the service letter came out. This engine was modified for one model airplane on the planet, an M20M. The reasons are explained in the article below.

The Chronology pdf, which was written by Mooney Mod Squad in Sarasota FL, which is no longer in business, shows an optional AF1B on 1994 an on models, but plain and simply it is wrong. It may list  it that way because those owners had theirs converted to a Bravo from '96 on. You can believe whatever you'd like, but on my life I swear it was not available then.

Serial number 209 was the first one converted in early 1996. From that point on all new production had the AF1B engine. Since the price to convert was relatively cheap ($5500 including parts and 6 new cylinders and Lycoming covered 42 hours of labor) almost all TLS owners went back and converted their TLS to a Bravo. 

 

[MIm20c]

Your knowledge of model variances always amazes me...  however, having lived less than 40 miles away all these years practically makes you an employee. 

[Davidv]

Lance, thanks I know you know way more than the Bravo than I do, I was simply looking at the model chronology and as you pointed out, it could be incorrect.

[MooneyMitch]

Once again, don’t forget the H model that never came to production!

 

 

[Mooney in Oz]

On 10/15/2019 at 10:26 AM, MooneyMitch said:

Once again, don’t forget the H model that never came to production!

Please tell us about that one? I've never heard of it.

[MooneyMitch]

Below information is from a previous thread.

 

”There was an H model being developed in the Mooney R&D area, at the same time the Mustang was being created and developed.

 

The H was the F/G fuselage with a 6 cylinder normally aspirated hung on the front.  It never flew and the project died when Mooney went bankrupt.

 

I gleaned/filmed this information from Ken Harmon during my visit to his Albuquerque home a few years ago.

 

Ken is the son of Ralph Harmon, who was the creator of the Beechcraft Bonanza, and the person responsible for converting the Mooney M20 from wood to metal.

 

Ken was the very young person in charge of the R&D department, working under his father during those very, very exciting times at the Kerrville factory!

 

Many times, all were working 7 days per week, 16 or more hours per day, as they passionately and enthusiastically created new Mooney things!

 

Mooney.....a great American story”

[Igor_U]

8 hours ago, MooneyMitch said:

The H was the F/G fuselage with a 6 cylinder normally aspirated hung on the front.  It never flew and the project died when Mooney went bankrupt.

So this is what Rocket Engineering later called "The Missile".

 

[MooneyMitch]

1 hour ago, Igor_U said:

So this is what Rocket Engineering later called "The Missile".

 

Seems so .