Found this interesting story:
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In 1970 a Swiss Industrialist named Dr. A. Gerber contracted Franco Sbarro (a Swiss Car-Designer/Builder) to build him a Wankel (Rotary) powered 914.
Sbarro acquired a 914/6 and a 2-Disk Wankel Engine out of a NSU RO 80 ...
The Engine was bolted to a NSU Half-Automatic Transmission, special Axles and Shift-Rod were fabricated.
The Engine was cooled by a front-mounted Radiator with dual Fans out of a Renault R16.
The Water Hoses for the cooling system were routed through the center tunnel.
Technical Details:
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HP - 115
mpg - 21
top speed - 190 km/h
Dr. Gerber used the car as a daily driver and replaced the Motor after about 70000 km with a newer model Wankel Engine.
To this date, the car remains in the possession of the Gerber Family.
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and this is a Photo of Prof. Felix Wankel himself in front of the Car !!! (notice the NSU in the background)
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I want the NSU Prinz in the background!!! I almost bought a Ro80 (used ) in the 70's. Way cool car.
Geoff
About that time I was into racing outboards. OMC came out with 4 rotor Wankel outboards. Well over 300hp.
They nearly killed a couple of the factory drivers cause the hulls kept blowing over backwards with the extra top speed. I only got to see the run once in person. Absolutely killed the Mercs.
Dave
I think it was suzuki who made a rotary for arctic cat snowmobiles a while back. That thing flew like a bat out of hell.
Andy, that is a very interesting picture and story, where do you find all this stuff?
Very cool article!
That photo is just way too cool!!! Prof. Felix Wankel himself posing in front of a rotary 914!!! How cool is that?!?
Thanks for sharing!
It was in the glovebox of #4!
there's a german magazine named "hobby"
in #6 from 1972 (released at March 15) there's a 4 side story about the Wankel 914
unfortunately I didn't own this magazin, but as far as I know a friend in germany has got one
maybe I can get a scan, then I'll post it here
So long,
Gustl
Hmmm... and to think, I have a turbo rotary sitting in the garage waiting for me to find something to stuff it into. I WAS thinking Lotus 7 replica (Locost) but this is also intriguing.
now here is the story about the Wankel-914 out of the german magazine:
Does the radiator vent out the wheel wells? Looks clean. . .
i bet out the bottom
is the second car in the pic, a six with gas burners??????
So how does it compare to the six?
And those early Ro80 apex seals lasted until 50k when you had to replace them.
Geoff
There was also a rotory motorcylce back in the day. I saw one at the Barber Museum in Alabama. Very clean design.
Paul
Suzuki had a production rotary powered motorcycle. There is one here in Santa Maria. As for the Lotus 7 style conversion, they were produced and sold (and may still be) under the name "Rotus 7". The Cap'n
They're working on a Rotus 7 at a shop about a mile from the house . . . it's pretty cool!
Am I a bad person for thinking Rotus 7 could be a mispronunciation by more...asiatic people?
If anyone has a copy of road and track from June 1974 Rod Simpson did a rotary swap into a 914 and was planning on doing a production of them 10 at a time, the price was pretty steep at $9400 but the 10a mazda engine didn't seem to give to much of a gain. He was actually putting the radiator in the rear. I have the article but I have no way to scan it.
Oh yea Suzuki made the rotary motorcyle RE5 in 74 and 75, I have a buddy that picked one up on ebay a couple of years ago for $700 and it still runs today.
Looking at that first picture, there are steel wheels on the car - did they ever make those wheels for a 5-lug pattern? I thought they were only on the 914/4.
Dr Wankels personal Ro80. Look at the extra badge on the front
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