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terriphill

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Yes, although I thought they were only sold in Europe.
I think it is spelt Wankel though and that name refers to the rotary type engine that Mazda still uses today on some models.
As I remember the early Wankel engines were prone to rotor tip wear/failure, an expensive repair.
 
They did sell the NSU Wankel Spider here in the US.

There was a dealer near my childhood home in New Egypt, NJ (near McGuire AFB), in the late '60s. The dealership was basically just a gas station with quite of few of these cars parked in the lot. Eventually, that dealer went out of business and a good number of these cars just sat there for years. At the time (I was in college) I was sort of interested in them, but had no time or money. One of my brothers knew the owner's kids and used to play in those little cars.

The "regular" NSU was the Prinz sedan and they also made a Sport Prinz which was a sporty little Coupe'. The regular Prinz sedan had a "beltline" like the early Corvairs. All these cars had 4 cylinder engines in the rear.
Soon after the Sport Prinz, they came out with the Wankel Spider (below) which was a convertible version of the Sport Prinz but with the roundy-round motor.
Later, NSU made the RO-80 which was a larger, nice-looking front-drive 4 door with a bigger wankel engine. All these early NSU wankels had tip seal problems (like having bad rings in a piston car)...it took Mazda to really fix that problem.
You hardly ever see a Sport Prinz or a Wankel Spider anymore, but the regular NSU Prinz sedans are still seen in vintage racing, which is odd since they were the least sporty.

Wankel Spider
sport2.jpg


NSU Prinz sedan (piston engine)
prinz2.jpg
 
A wrench puller we knew in the Pittsburgh area had two NSU Prinz sedans. Ran like tops, funky li'l all-weather transporters.
 
As a matter of fact, NSU were the ones who developed the Wankel (rotary) engine and sold the rights to Mazda as I recall! They were the first mass production cars to go ZOOM-ZOOM! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif
 
Yep, saw an almost complete one in a salvage yard right off US 82 in Starkville, MS several years ago - guy wouldn't sell it...last time I was through there, the salvage yard was no longer there....
 
My understanding is that in Europe (where sedan racing has always been more popular, compared to here) the NSU 1000 TT is apparently a fast little car for it's size and ideal for racing.

Not sure why they never used the Sport Prinz for racing??

I did spot this Sport Prinz here in Calgary a couple of years ago, it's gone somewhere else now but I don't where... And note how small the car is
5837983_bf8adf202a.jpg


Also regarding the wankel-engined NSU's... I thought I read somewhere that the Wankel Spider was essentially a test bed for the rotary engine (even though it was sold as a production car) before they came out with the Ro80... And that (much like with some other classic cars) enthusiasts have ironed out the issues with the NSU rotary engine and made them more reliable these days.
 
Regarding the NSU Prinz race cars... As production cars they effectively dropped the badge "Prinz" and were referred to as the 1000TT, although not that well known here in North America, I've been told that in terms of small-displacement racing performance they compare quite favourably to the Mini Cooper.

Certainly a far cry from the small engine of the bog standard Prinz
 
The story of the Wankel rotory engine is twisty. In short, Felix Wankel granted NSU rights as the "parent" company that could sell licencing to other companies to build the rotory motor. NSU has Dismal results with the rotory, and it was joked that every new Spyder came with a second engine. The life expectancy was literally around 3000 miles if the customer did any high speed driving.
Then NSU built the RO80 sedan. But with the same seal problems at high speed, low power output and dismal fuel milage (about 10 MPG)
Stats were around 50% needing engine replacements before 20,000 miles.
Toyo Kogyo (We now call them Mazda) bought a licance from NSU to build the rotory motors, and promptly sunk TONS of mony into making the engine reliable. They had far more resources than the struggling NSU, and more intrest than Daimler Benz (who also had a licence from NSU) so they took it to what it is today.
Info from "Wankel" by Nicholas Faith.
Facinating story.
 
I also recall how many concept cars in the early 1970's (from several different car companies) were designed around the rotary engine... As I recall, the odd-shaped AMC Pacer looks a little odd partially because the body shape was designed for the rotary engine, instead of the regular engine it eventually used.
 
My buddy had a sport prinz back in about'64, sweet little car except the shift linkage was cable and used to stretch.


Sherlock said:
My understanding is that in Europe (where sedan racing has always been more popular, compared to here) the NSU 1000 TT is apparently a fast little car for it's size and ideal for racing.

Not sure why they never used the Sport Prinz for racing??

I did spot this Sport Prinz here in Calgary a couple of years ago, it's gone somewhere else now but I don't where... And note how small the car is
5837983_bf8adf202a.jpg


Also regarding the wankel-engined NSU's... I thought I read somewhere that the Wankel Spider was essentially a test bed for the rotary engine (even though it was sold as a production car) before they came out with the Ro80... And that (much like with some other classic cars) enthusiasts have ironed out the issues with the NSU rotary engine and made them more reliable these days.
Click to expand...
 
Not to pick a nit or anything, but I think that Norton, of motorcycle fame, actually solved the tip seal problem and licensed the technology to Mazda. They made air cooled as well as watercooled rotary engined bikes, but the engine was developed for a target drone. RULE BRITANNIA!!!!!
 
/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/lol.gif

Target drones...

.I LIKE it. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
 
But Norton creeps into another good idea.....
 
Jesse, I just took another scan through my book. Not saying it's the "end-all" of rotory knowlage, but it is an exhaustingly thourough account of the development of the Wankel rotory (including notes from shareholders meetings, and stock trading info)from WWII till 1975 when the book was written. I searched for Norton. No mention. NSU made Motorcycles. Maybe you are thinking of them. They were the first, along with Curtiss-Wright to really overcome the apex seals issue, and build a rotory engine that would run for more than a few seconds. The only British firm to really get involved (and they did experiment with aircraft power) was Rolls Royce.
Felix Wankel was German, and willingly worked for the Nazis during WWII. he was always a patriotic man, and was also very defensive of his ideas. He made sure to have some control over his inventions for a long time, and made sure it was kept in Germany to be developed. Thus the German NSU company got linked with Wankle after William Keppler (Yup that Keppler), who was helping Wankel develop his ideas, shared a hospital room with an NSU exec and got Wankel a job at NSU originally building a Piston engine with rotary valves for thier motorcycles.
Other notable firms that got involved at some point were: VW, Daimler Benz, OMC (Otboard Motor Company),GM,Citroen and a few others....
All had a hand in improving the Rotory, but NSU and Curtiss-Wright first made it work, and Toyo Kogyo (Mazda) first made it profitably reliable.
 
Jesse,

I think that you're referring to the Hurcules/DKW -
W2000 motorcycle,built in the mid '70's.

- Doug
 
Sherlock said:
As I recall, the odd-shaped AMC Pacer looks a little odd partially because the body shape was designed for the rotary engine, instead of the regular engine it eventually used.
Click to expand...

AMC was going to get their Wankel engines from GM, but the General bailed on the engine due to gas mileage problems, and AMC was stuck trying to use a different power supply than planned. It was just written up in AutoWeek a few issues back as they are summarizing each of their 50 years one week at a time.

(AutoWeek is considering putting the whole library of issues on CDs when they are done. That would make an interesting library .)
 
Would indeed!

I've got a literal TON of old newsprint AW in the attic. From the late '60's thru the '90's... Make a REAL nifty bonfire!

...not in th' attic... back yard.
 
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