Yes, today's dream is the NSU Ro80, a car so packed with innovations it was just too advanced for its own good and pushed the small company that made it over the brink into extinction just a decade after its launch. The Ro80 is celebrating its 50th birthday this year, something you'd find hard to believe looking at its fresh modern styling and the technology underneath, and I have long been among its admirers as it's just so radical and different from what anyone else was making at the time.
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| Would you believe this is a 50-year old car? (By Spurzem - Lothar Spurzem - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8042301) |
NSU had pioneered the use of the rotary engine designed by Dr Felix Wankel in the 1964 Spider, a small rear-engined convertible based on the Prinz, which achieved some limited success but was a very niche product. The Ro80 was completely different and much more ambitious though, a big luxury saloon to take on Mercedes, BMW and Audi and beat them at their own game. Featuring not only this revolutionary new type of engine but also all-round disc brakes, fully independent suspension and standard power steering it was cutting edge stuff for 1967, and that's before you get to the looks.
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| Interior is minimalist but effective. Note manual gearstick but only two pedals. (Image: drive-my.com) |
Styled by Claus Luthe, who would go on to become head of design at BMW, the Ro80's appearance is still beautiful by anyone's standards, being hailed as a masterpiece of industrial design and the greatest revolution since the Citroen DS, and foreshadowed 1980s trends with its smooth lines and large glass area. It did more than just look good though as the shape was very aerodynamically efficient with a drag figure that can still rival some modern saloons contributing to a top speed of 112mph and effortless cruising. Even when looking at an Ro80 today it certainly doesn't appear to be a product of the sixties and could hold its own with cars built two decades later, yet it was designed more than half a century ago and compared with its boxy contemporaries looks like something from a future generation.
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| This must have been so futuristic in 1967 (Image; motoringresearch.com) |
The Ro80 has so much more than just a pretty face though as the innovation continues under the skin. The engine is a twin-rotor unit of just 995cc but developing an impressive 113bhp, driving the front wheels (itself unusual for a prestige car, which were almost all RWD). It is coupled to a gearbox that combines the best features of automatic and manual, essentially a normal three-speed manual with a vacuum-operated clutch triggered automatically by a microswitch in the gearknob so shifts can be made simply by moving the lever with no need for a third pedal. The Wankel motor is turbine-smooth and quiet with a very linear power delivery completely unlike a piston engine, and at the time was seen as the future with many other car companies keenly buying licences from NSU to use this new technology, something that unfortunately turned out not to be a good investment.
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| Wankel. A very different type of engine that sounds a bit rude. (Image; motoringresearch.com) |
All that makes the Ro80 sound like a world-beater, so why wasn't it? Sadly it had one fatal flaw as the original design of rotor tips just couldn't handle the stresses of sustained high revs and wore out prematurely, sometimes after less than 15,000 miles. To their credit NSU willingly agreed to replace these damaged engines under warranty, but bankrupted themselves within just two years trying to honour the sheer number of claims and ended up in the hands of Volkswagen. A change of material in 1970 actually all but cured the rotor tip wear problem but by then it was too late, the damage had been done and the car's poor reputation never went away. There would be no more new NSUs and the intended sister model, the K70, was launched as a Volkswagen instead. Audi was repositioned to take NSU's place as the group's prestige brand and the rest is history.
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| What an elegant car. Such a shame the early ones were so unreliable. (Image; motoringresearch.com) |
The other big problem with the Wankel engine, which has never really been solved even now, is its inherent thirst for both fuel and oil. While the Ro80's petrol consumption wasn't too bad when cruising the autobahns, around town it increased alarmingly and just wasn't good enough in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis. There was nothing anyone could do about this and sales plummeted, many customers opting for the conventional piston-engined Audi 100 instead. Somehow the Ro80 managed to soldier on until 1977 before the plug was pulled, with just 37,000 built during its decade-long life. It wasn't replaced and with it the NSU name and use of rotary engines unceremoniously died, leaving Mazda as the last manufacturer to persevere with Dr Wankel's design in production cars.
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| Looks great in metallic green with alloys. This is one of very few in the USA. (Image: Auctions America) |
As the Wankels inevitably began to die from neglect and Ro80 owners found themselves stuck with worthless non-runners, a British firm developed a conversion kit to put the Ford V4 in their place. This was the only readily-available engine that would easily fit under the NSU's small bonnet without major bodywork modifications, but was the very antithesis of the smooth rotary. It was noisy, unrefined and not even that much more economical but at least had the benefit of reliability, and although now considered sacrilege it managed to keep some of these cars on the road when they would otherwise have been consigned to the scrapyard.
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| The Ford V4, not really a fitting replacement for a Wankel. Adding insult to injury this one has had its front end hacked about to make it fit. (Image: eBay) |
So why do I want an Ro80 then? For all of these reasons really: the great looks, elegant detailing, typically Germanic over-engineering, advanced technology and its exclusivity are a very alluring combination that earns the NSU Ro80 a permanent parking space in my dream garage. Surviving cars are rare though, especially those that still have their Wankel engines, and I have only seen one in recent years, a tired example that was part of the Stondon museum collection. There is a very loyal and knowledgeable enthusiast community and the engines are now much better understood so running an Ro80 may not be such a painful experience these days, if you can find one that hasn't been messed about with.
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| The only Ro80 I've seen recently. I wouldn't want this one after years on static display. |
Yes, the Wankel is thirsty and temperamental but it's what gives the car its unique character so I'd never want to rip out the Ro80's very heart and soul for a rattly old boat anchor of a Ford piston engine, a fate suffered by too many of these fine cars. My perfect Ro80 would be a post-1970 model with the tougher rotor tips, fitted with the stylish optional alloy wheels and finished in one of those metallic shades that suit the shape so well. I doubt I'll ever actually own such a thing but it's definitely high on my list of dream cars - who else feels the same?
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