If you restore 1940s–1950s iron—or you just need honest free length, wire diameter, and rate numbers for a custom coil—the Rowland Coil Springs catalog (1957) is the vintage spring reference we keep under Catalogs. It is a period parts book for roughly 1940–1957 cars: original spring part numbers, dimensions, and cross-reference style sheets shops used when these cars were still daily drivers.
This page is a guide to that vintage source book—what it is good for, how to use the dimension tables for spring-rate math, and how it differs from a modern Moog coil catalog. It is not a “buy this SKU on Amazon today” catalog in the Moog / KYB / Gabriel sense. For browse-by-vehicle chassis pages, use Mechanics’ Files. For the library of parts books, stay here under Catalogs.
Just Suspension is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. Links to Amazon may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
What this book is (and is not)
It is: a mid-century reference for coil-spring identification on 1940–1957 passenger cars—OEM-style part numbers, free length, wire size, inside/outside diameter, and related spring details. The Catalogs hub calls it out for calculating spring rate and ride height from those spec sheets. That is exactly how we still use it: restore, compare, and engineer—not click-to-cart a 1957 Rowland boxed SKU.
It is not: a current aftermarket buy-today catalog like Moog Coil Springs 2019, and it will not list late-model trucks or MagneRide corners. If you need modern OE-replacement coils for a 2000s Silverado or Civic, use later sources (and our Moog Chassis Master year pages for the rest of the suspension). Keep Rowland on the shelf for vintage and for math.
What’s on a typical Rowland sheet
Expect the kind of data spring guys actually write on a napkin:
- Application — make / model / year range for that era’s cars
- OEM / catalog part number — the period spring ID you cross to a modern winder or NOS stash
- Free length — uncompressed height; critical for ride-height planning
- Wire diameter — the bar size that drives rate more than most people admit
- ID / OD — inside and outside diameter so the spring fits the perch and clears the shock body
- Active / total coils — when listed; needed for rate estimates
- Cross references — period interchange notes between makers / OE numbers
Treat every number as a starting point. Seventy years of spring set, aftermarket “lowering” coils, and cut springs mean the coil on the car may not match the 1957 sheet—even when the car is “stock.” Measure what you have, then compare to Rowland.
Spring-rate math (why this book still earns its keep)
Restorations and custom setups live or die on rate, not on a marketing name. With free length, wire diameter, mean diameter (from ID/OD), and active coils, you can estimate rate with the classic coil-spring relationship:
Rate ≈ (G × d⁴) / (8 × D³ × N)
where d is wire diameter, D is mean coil diameter, N is active coils, and G is the shear modulus for spring steel (commonly ~11.5 × 10⁶ psi for a first-pass estimate). You do not need a lab— you need the Rowland dimensions, a caliper on the spring in hand, and honesty about active vs dead coils.
Shop uses that actually matter:
- Matching a NOS or reproduction spring — confirm free length and wire before you pay for “correct for 1955 ___”
- Custom wind — give a spring shop rate target + free length + ID/OD instead of “make it handle”
- Ride-height planning — free length vs installed height vs load; cutting coils without rate math is how you get a slam that bottoms every driveway
- Comparing HD vs stock — thicker wire or fewer active coils raise rate; Rowland’s stock numbers are the baseline
For modern OE-replacement coil lookups (drop, lift, HD options on late-model vehicles), the Moog coil PDF on the Catalogs hub is the better buy-today companion. Rowland stays the vintage / math reference.
How to use the book without fooling yourself
- Identify the car first — year, make, model, and front vs rear. 1949–1954 bodies often share sheet metal vibes and still use different coils.
- Measure the spring you removed — free length, wire, OD, and count active coils. Compare to Rowland; note set (permanent free-length loss).
- Do not order “by vibe” — a spring that “looks like a Chevy coil” is not a fitment. ID must clear the perch; OD must clear the shock and pocket.
- Rate before height brags — dropping free length without knowing rate is how restorations get crashy or wallowy.
- Chassis still matters — ball joints, bushings, and tie rods for these eras live in our Moog Chassis Master 1990 and older guide and Mechanics’ Files year pages, not in Rowland.
What we have (and have NOT) built yet
Honest status: we have not built Rowland-specific HTML year pages. There is no 1949–1957 coil-spring year grid under Mechanics’ Files for this book. This Catalogs guide plus the PDF is the product today.
What you can do right now:
- Download the Rowland PDF below and pull free length / wire / ID-OD for your application
- Use Mechanics’ Files for chassis year pages we did build (especially older Moog coverage)
- For a soft buy-today path, search coil springs by vehicle on Amazon (link below)—knowing Rowland gave you the dimensions, not a modern SKU promise
Related catalogs
- Moog Chassis Master 1990 and older — chassis parts for vintage iron
- Moog Chassis Master 1991–2006
- Moog Chassis Master 2007–2018
- Gabriel Shocks and Struts Catalog
- KYB Shocks and Struts Catalog
- Wagner Brake Master 1995–2019
Find coil springs (soft Amazon CTA)
Rowland is primarily a reference. When you need a modern coil to buy, search by vehicle or dimensions—not by pretending this 1957 book is a live SKU feed:
Prefer year/make/model? Use the selector on the Catalogs hub, or start from a vehicle page in Mechanics’ Files when we have one for your chassis.
PDF archive (full book)
Need the raw Rowland PDF for offline use, printing a sheet, or taking dimensions to a spring shop? Download the full Rowland Coil Springs 1957 archive here:
Download Rowland-Coil-Springs-1957-catalog.pdf (~2.5 MB)
We keep the PDF at the bottom on purpose. The guide above is how to use a vintage spring book; the PDF is the archive when you already know which sheet you need.
#HAPPYMOTORING