Rostyle wheels are a design of automobile wheels of American origin but made under licence by the British firm of Rubery Owenhence RO-StyleThe Rostyle wheel was especially popular during the 1960s and 1970s. The wheels had a characteristic pressed

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

form with raised 'spokes', and were painted aluminium-grey on the spokes and rim and black between the spokes to imitate the open space of true

magnesium alloy wheel In the automotive industry, alloy wheels are wheels that are made from an alloy of aluminium or magnesium. Alloys are mixtures of a metal and other elements. They generally provide greater strength over pure metals, which are usually much soft ...

s. They were designed for use without the need of

hubcap A hubcap or hub cap is a decorative disk on an automobile wheel that covers at minimum the central portion of the wheel, called the hub. An automobile hubcap is used to cover the wheel hub and the wheel fasteners to reduce the accumulation of ...

s or wheel covers, but usually had a centre cap carrying the emblem of the car manufacturer. In the United States, the wheel style was manufactured in

Lansing Lansing () is the capital city of the U.S. state of Michigan. The most populous city in Ingham County, parts of the city extend into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. It is the sixth-most populous city in Michigan with a popul ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, by the Motor Wheel Corporation, and found fame in the 1960s and 1970s on

Muscle car A muscle car is an American-made two-door sports coupe with a powerful engine, marketed for its performance. In 1949, General Motors introduced its 88 with the company's OHV Rocket V8 engine, which was previously available only in its lux ...

s like the

Pontiac GTO The Pontiac GTO is a front-engine, rear-drive, two-door, and four-passenger automobile manufactured and marketed by the Pontiac (automobile), Pontiac division of General Motors over four generations from 1963 until 1974 in the United States &m ...

Ford Torino The Ford Torino is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company, Ford for the North American market between 1968 and 1976. It was a competitor in the mid-size car, intermediate market segment and essentially a twin to the Mercury Monte ...

Shelby Mustang The Shelby Mustang is a high-performance variant of the Ford Mustang built by Shelby American from 1965 to 1967 and by the Ford Motor Company from 1968 to 1970. In 2005, Ford revived the Shelby nameplate for a high-performance model of the Fo ...

Plymouth Barracuda The Plymouth Barracuda is a two-door pony car that was manufactured by Chrysler Corporation from 1964 through 1974 model years. The first-generation Barracuda was based on the Chrysler A platform, Chrysler A-body and was offered from 1964 unti ...

and

AMC Javelin The AMC Javelin is an American front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, two-door hardtop automobile manufactured by American Motors Corporation (AMC) across two generations, 1968 through 1970 and 1971 through 1974 model years. The car was positioned an ...

. In an American context, the wheel style was known as the "Magnum 500". Hence, the first British cars with "Rostyle" wheels were referred to in early road tests as having "Magnum style" wheels. The first appearance of Rostyle wheels on the

Rover P5 The Rover P5 is a series of large sedan (car), saloon and coupé cars that were produced by Rover (car), Rover from 1958 until 1973. The models were marketed under the names Rover 3 Litre, Rover 3.5 Litre and Rover 3½ Litre. The P5 was a lar ...

B met with descriptions of them by some testers as "raffish" and "gaudy", and ill-befitting a luxury saloon. At that time, some Rover road testers also referred to the wheels as "Ro-style", suggesting that the name, if not the style, may have first been developed specifically for wheels fitted to Rovers. Although this surfaces as "fact" on forums, it is not correct. The name "Rostyle" is a portmanteau word deriving from "R-ubery O-wen" (the manufacturer of the wheels) and "Style": "ROstyle": "Rostyle". The firm's MG and

Rover Rover may refer to: People Name * Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian * Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer * Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist Stage name * Rover (musician), French singer-songw ...

, amongst other

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

sporty cars in the 1960s, often specified Rostyle wheels as original equipment instead of ones made of light

alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which in most cases at least one is a metal, metallic element, although it is also sometimes used for mixtures of elements; herein only metallic alloys are described. Metallic alloys often have prop ...

or wire spoked wheels. Chromium-plated Rostyle wheels were made for Jensen,

and, famously, the

Ford Cortina The Ford Cortina is a medium-sized family car manufactured in various body styles from 1962 to 1982. It was the United Kingdom's best-selling car of the 1970s. The Cortina was produced in five generations (Mark I through to Mark V, although of ...

1600E, originally designed for Ford Chairman Len Crossland's wife. Rostyle wheels were the only wheel option on the

Range Rover The Land Rover Range Rover, generally shortened to Range Rover, is a Sport utility vehicle, 4x4 Luxury car, luxury SUV produced by Land Rover, a marque and sub-brand of Jaguar Land Rover, owned by Tata Motors. The Range Rover line was launched ...

for many years following its introduction. These 16-inch Rostyles were used on the Range Rover until 1986, when they were replaced by alloy wheels. The Rostyles then became optional fitment to the short wheelbase Land Rover (the wheels were not strong enough for use on the long wheelbase models). The Land Rover maintained its optional Rostyle wheels until 1995, becoming the last vehicle to offer them from new. As well as in Britain, similar wheels were made under license in Germany, Argentina and Australia. Special masks must be made to paint the wheels of restored cars to resemble the originals. Max Sinclair, the sales manager for Rubery Owen in the 1960 to 1980 period, has stated that "We changed the face of motoring, and Mag wheels followed us as their reliability improved."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rostyle Wheel Automobile wheels