TECHNIK TOO FAR

Not everyone appreciates an NSU, apparently. Owner Mark Crompton says that when he turns up among a group of classic car enthusiasts with his Ro 80, he’s as likely to be greeted with sorrowful shakes of the head and comments like, “Why would you?” and “Oh dear!” as often as smiles of recognition.

It seems that the Ro 80’s reputation for being brilliant but flawed — and likely to disgrace itself in the engine department — remains as robust, and unfair, as ever.

True, NSU’s revolutionary rotary engine was less developed than Mazda’s later efforts, and its first iteration was prone to failure before 100,000km (60,000 miles). If the cars weren’t operated properly, the tips on the Wankel engine’s twin rotors would wear out fast, but that fault was fixed in the second year of production. Cars from 1969 onwards had titanium tips, which completely solved the mechanical problem, if not the reputational one.

Mark says the only actual ‘problem’ with his 1972 Ro 80 is that it really needs a couple of minutes to warm up. And that’s it.

“The engine’s never been apart. It’s done 75,000 miles [120,000km], and it’s going well,” he says.

Ahead of its time

In many ways, Ro 80s make great classics. Purely from a design point of view, the shape is