Page 161 - Wayne Carini's Guide to Affordable Classics

THE BACKSTORY
Mazda RX-7
and RX-2 rotary coupes and sedans. The problems were made worse by questionable quality control and, like NSU’s Ro80, almost all of Mazda’s rotary engines had to be replaced. By 1978, the company’s thrifty little GLC hatchback (and its conventional four-cylinder engine) was keeping the brand afloat amidst the financial drain that its rotary-powered siblings had caused.
SA Generation 1979-85
Thankfully for enthusiasts, Mazda’s President, Kenichi Yamamoto, was a fan of the rotary engine and he proposed a sports car to promote the innovative powerplant. Project X605 was a sleek coupe that was first launched as the Savannah in Japan in 1978, and was introduced the following year in the US as the RX-7. The handsome sports car with brisk performance became an instant hit and 474,565 first generation examples were sold between 1979 and 1985 – 377,878 in America alone.
The RX-7 SA featured a 100-horsepower 12A engine derived from
1979-95 Mazda RX-7
Felix Wankel’s rotary engine is almost as significant in the annals of iconic powerplants as Nicolaus Otto’s first four-stroke unit and Rudolf Diesel’s compression-ignition engines. By spinning three- sided rotors around a single shaft, Wankel was able to reduce the number of engine parts by 98 percent, while cutting overall weight in half when compared to traditional engine designs.
Wankel’s eventual path to success took 40 years and was strewn with disasters and almost-disasters that bankrupted some companies, like NSU; scared away others such as BMW, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, General Motors and Porsche; and propelled Citröen and Mazda to the brink of financial ruin. Although Wankel’s compact powerplant could rev to almost double the limit of most piston engines, it turned out to have an insatiable thirst for gasoline, while the vital rotor tips that formed the apex seals required to maintain compression started to fail with disturbing frequency.
The first rotary-powered car to reach production was the little NSU Spider in 1964, but buyers were suspicious of the new technology and only 2,375 units were sold through 1967. When a rotary engine was fitted into the innovative NSU Ro80 sedan in 1967, apex seal problems soon followed. Though 37,398 Ro80s were sold in ten years, most had their engines replaced under warranty. The aftermath bankrupted the company, which was taken over by Volkswagen.
The same sealing issues occurred at Mazda, which had pioneered its rotary engine development with the low-volume 1963 Cosmo coupe before entering into series production in 1970 with R100
TOP: With their hard plastic surfaces and a choice of vinyl- or plaid-covered seats, the first generation RX-7s were simple and functional. ABOVE: Thanks to the small size of the rotary engine, its low hoodline gave the RX-7 a unique proportion amongst its competitors.
Wayne Carini  Affordable Classics  159