Glynn Helgeson joins 'fashion industry' in designing wheels for survival of Adelaide components firm ROH
Glynn Helgeson and award-winning Mantis wheel alloy designs for the ROH company that previously supplied wheels to all Australian cars, including the Holden EFIJY, among vintae vehicles displayed the national motor museum in Birdwood, South Australia.
Main image courtesy National Motor Museum, Birdwood.
Industrial designer Glynn Helgeson helped keep the wheels turning for part of the Australian automotive industry in its 21st Century switch from making complete cars to components. Helgeson started designing alloy wheels for Adelaide-based company ROH at the start of that century.
ROH, a British-pedigreed engineering company, began making wheels in its Woodville North plant in Adelaide’s western suburbs in 1946. At times in its long history, ROH supplied original-equipment steel and alloy wheels to all Australia’s carmakers, while also selling many aftermarket styles.
ROH faced the challenge of Ford and Holden sourcing wheels from China even before they shut down their Australian car-making plants. ROH was kept alive by a supply contract by the last Australian car maker Toyota but it also made the change to become part of the car fashion industry through designs.
Helgeson studied industrial design for four years in South Australia before joining ROH in 2001: “I always had an eye for cars and architecture, even before I knew what an industrial designer was.”
As the product designer, Helgeson’s first job became to scour the car market and identify new stylistic opportunities. Then the design process began.
Helgeson typically developed half a dozen designs at any given time: “We’re trying to change the face of the business, because it’s a fashion industry, so you have to turn over your styles quite quickly.” He steered his designs, from sketch to computer-aided design and drafting, through the usually conflicting interests of marketing, sales, engineering and manufacturing.
Helgeson was flattered by comparisons between his award-winning ROH Mantis design and the original-equipment wheel on the Lexus LFA supercars that were similar to the ROH Mantis, Fury and Vapour. Arrowcrest became the parent company of ROH Wheels, along with John Shearer, Unicast, Tristar, NonFerral, Kockums Industries and Brownbuilt.