The story behind the car - observations at Retro Classics
Beautiful cars are one thing, the story around them is something else. If the cars are less beautiful, then the story becomes even more important. There are always special cars to discover at trade fairs, and this year's Retro Classics in Stuttgart is no exception.
As we walked through the halls, we noticed the NSU Wankel Spider, which was in a rather sad state. There had to be a reason why this particular Spider had been placed on the stand. And indeed, a look behind the windshield explained the choice. "Auto Motor und Sport test car" was written there. Almost exactly 50 years ago, the German automobile magazine had subjected an early NSU Wankel Spider to a 50,000 km long-distance test.
And this revealed a lot, for example an oil consumption of 5 liters per 1000 km, i.e. 0.5 liters per 100 km. Even two-stroke engines needed less oil. After all, NSU was able to reduce the rather massive thirst for oil of the Wankel engine to 1.5 liters per 1000 km with technical modifications, from which the test car also benefited. This was all in the test published at the time (issue 7/1966), which could be read alongside the car at Retro Classics. Great story!
The only question is whether the fact that the press people tortured the Wankel Spider for over 50,000 km now makes an expensive restoration seem sensible, or whether the car should not be preserved exactly as it is now.
In any case, it's these stories that stick in your memory after a visit to the show, when you've long since forgotten the rows and rows of Porsche sports cars on display ...
