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He mentions in his Rostyle ads that the '67 cars used bigger wheel studs than the later cars. I haven't heard of this. Anyone else know what he means?
 
Hi there

I'm not 100% sure on this but I don't think Rostyles were ever offered as an option in the US.

Federal cars were fitted with wheels called "Magnum 500" which were very similar to Rostyles but do not fit standard Rover P6 wheel hubs. I was told by a US Rover guru that these wheels were fitted by the US Rover Dealer network and not at the factory. I was warned off by him in buying a set of US wheels that I thought were Rostyles because he said I would definitely need the hubs to go with the wheels or they wouldn't fit.

I have a scan somewhere of the 2 options available to North American customers and they are described as:

"Magnum 500 road wheel (option) and MagStar sports wheel (option)".

As I mentioned, I'm not 100% sure on this but perhaps this is what the seller means in his auction regarding the wheel studs? Anyone else shed more light on this?

Best regards

Stephen Smith.
 
The Magstars are obviously US market only, but Rostyles were also offered on the 4 cylinder cars. I've never heard of any difference in the studs for Magstars and Keynsham1 has fitted them without changing studs to my knowledge. Maybe he means non standard nuts? Rostyles are definitely on standard studs with special nuts.

According to my US catalogues Rostyles were standard and Magstars optional on early cars - but they do describe the Rostyles as "Magnum 500". On later cars standard steel wheels and trims are standard with Rostyles as the option - now described as "Mag-Style Sports Wheels".

The first catalogue is, I think, '66 or early '67 and has Girling single circuit brakes. The second catalogue has Girling twin circuit brakes.

Chris
 
Early US market cars had Magnum 500 wheels available as an option. We are talking 1965-'66 here. I presume that no Rostyles were in production at this time. Rover could not sell the P6 to Americans without some sort of sporty wheels so I gather it was left to the US dealers to source some options. The smallest Magnum 500s available at the time did not come in the 5 x 5" stud pattern so early NADA 4 cylinders with Magnum 500s had special hubs to cater for the unique stud pattern. I'm not sure what that stud pattern was but it would have been either GM 4.75" or Ford 4.5".
The Magstars became available shortly after (mid '66) but as they have a cast centre, it would have been no trouble for the manufacturers (Kelsey-Hayes) to simply drill them to the right stud pattern. Thus, Magstars will fit on regular hubs. (as long as you use their unique wheel nuts)
Proper Rostyles would have been entering production by about 1967 so these superceded the Magnum 500s as they were virtually identical, barring the stud pattern. Magstars were dropped soon after. All US cars from then on had the normal hubs. However, I have not heard the suggestion that Rover ever used thicker studs at any point.
 
I've attached a couple of scans of the two catalogues I have for the Federal TC. The first one shows the very early version with the Cambridge Blue backgraound to the TC badges and Cambridge Blue 1/4 panel in black and white on the front cover. The spec lists single circuit Girling brakes. The second has the same shots inside the catalogue, as shown, but has an April Yellow car in colour on the front cover and list dual circuit Girling brakes in the spec. I strongly suspect that the first one is '66 or very early '67 and the second between '67 and '69 - probably '68. Unfortunately they don't carry publication dates.





Both quite clearly show Rostyle wheels listed as "Magnum 500" and "Mag-Type road wheel (option)" respectively. The standard road wheel for the later catalogue is shown as the standard steel road wheel with standard stainless steel trim.

Chris
 

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Those are Magnum 500s pictured in both catalogues. You can clearly see that the stud pattern is smaller compared to the Magstar. I think that later catalogue uses the same picture. Rover did do quite a bit of recycling shots. I've seen a couple of brochures where the cars have several different specs pictured. I don't think they were too concerned about the details.
 
Personally, looking at the originals, I can't see the difference in the stud pattern, Al. Nor can I see any difference to a 14" Rostyle. Is the 14" Rostyle in the UK better described as a Magnum 500 then?

Confused

Chris
 
Hi there

The info I got regarding the differences between Magnum 500 and Rostyles came from James Dean who sells on ebay under the username "Jaguru".

I think what KiwiRover posts is correct and it ties in exactly with what I think I remember I was told back when I was searching for alloy wheels for my P6 in 2006. Magnum 500 wheels were offered in the US when P6s were originally imported to North America because Rostyles were unavailable. Magnum 500s were not available in the standard bolt pattern and so special hubs were fitted to those cars. Magnum 500s are not Rostyles, they have a slightly different construction (welded or cast I think) and were made by different manufacturers. If you buy a set of US Magnum 500s, then you would also need the special hubs that were fitted to those early imported P6s by the Rover Dealer network.

Chris is correct that MagStars will bolt straight on to standard P6 hubs although my MagStars had special length bolts that were slightly shorter than the chrome bolts normally fitted for bolt through 3500S wheel trims.

Best regards

Stephen Smith.
 
Personally, looking at the originals, I can't see the difference in the stud pattern, Al. Nor can I see any difference to a 14" Rostyle. Is the 14" Rostyle in the UK better described as a Magnum 500 then?
Click to expand...

There is no obvious difference in styling between Magnum 500s and Rostyles. Chris, take a close look at the first brochure and you'll see how close the wheel nuts are to the Rover badge on the Magnums. You could barely get a finger between the nut and the centre, whereas the Magstars have more like two finger widths.
Based on the pictures I would suspect that the stud pattern was 4.5" and lifted straight from the Ford supplies.
 
Hi, I am no expert in this but from what I can gather Ford and GM use PCDs
of 4.5 and 4.75. However all American manufacturers use a PCD of 5" on
there heavy duty models. Which is why sowen managed to get a set of Ford
rims and a set of Chevy rims that went straight on his car, and 2000 year on
Jeep grand cherokee wheels fit. So perhaps that is why they had to have hubs
that were different and nowadays you can get wheels that go straight on.

Colin
 
Basically, the 5 x 5" stud pattern was only used in the States on full size models. What this meant was that no 14" wheels would have been available with that pattern. Alll the big stuff used 15"s. In order to find a wheel small enough (by American standards) Rover would have had to compromise on the stud pattern.
 
OK, realisation is dawning. So what construction are the Magnum 500's? Same as Rostyle with a separate steel rim rivetted to a steel centre and then chromed? Were Rostyles made under licence as a Magnum copy?

Chris
 
Well he responded fast enough in my case. Also with UPS I was quoted $160 to ship those ETs :shock:
 
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