Discussion
I owned one of these in the 1970's - what a fantastic car. At the time it seemed ultra modern and stood out as being so superior to anything else I had driven.
My nearly new 2.0 litre Capri seemed like it was from a previous century compared to the NSU.
They were killed of by the engine unrelaibility, but I was wondering if anyone else remembers them and whether they have a following now ?
My nearly new 2.0 litre Capri seemed like it was from a previous century compared to the NSU.
They were killed of by the engine unrelaibility, but I was wondering if anyone else remembers them and whether they have a following now ?
Sorry, but V4 conversions suck and blow in equal measure; it replaces one of the smoothest vibration-free engines ever made with something that vibrates like the washer on a spin cycle. 
Mazda conversions or re-con the original is the way forward. Rotechniks used to do good conversions, although their website doesn't say much.
Mazda conversions or re-con the original is the way forward. Rotechniks used to do good conversions, although their website doesn't say much.Listed on eBay recently. Think it was in Ireland, was running and maybe one owner. Looked pretty good for all its years. Ok maybe an exaggeration, let's say looked original then. Classified ad dealer p/x asking £1500. Can't have been more than a fortnight ago. maybe they still have it.
Humm, how cheap do you think you can buy the engine from a written-off Mazda RX8...?An acquaintance of mine had one in a - sadly now long-cleared - yard which had an Essex engine with a conversion kit that employed a forward-facing sidedraught Weber and the distributor driven off the front of the cam.
Weren;t the pneumatics for the clutch just as ureliable as the motor?
Weren;t the pneumatics for the clutch just as ureliable as the motor?
IroningMan said:
Weren;t the pneumatics for the clutch just as ureliable as the motor?
Was not aware of a problem with that; I think there was a related problem with clutches getting lunched by people leaving their hands on the gearstick(IIRC downward pressure on the gearknob actuated the clutch) or something on those lines.I have owned 3 of them, my family have owned 14 over the years so am well placed to comment here. First was a 1974 Turkis Green with original NSU engine, electric sunroof, racaro seats etc. Great car, very unreliable and stupidly thirsty.
I also bought a spares car with a Ford V-4. Hideous engine and just had the manifolds, no other exhaust. Used to drive it around my field and it sounded like an aircraft! Stripped it for spares.
Final one was a Targa Orange 1970 car with quad headlights. Ended up getting Rotecniks to drop a 12A Mazda into it and sports suspension. Sadly it wasn't fantasticly reliable either and not much quicker or frugal to run.
If they have sunroofs, they tend to rot out sills very quickly.
I still have a special place in my heart for them and would perhaps have another. The 18 gallon tank would cost £100+ to fill nowadays and you would get circa 16-18mpg...
For that you get only 115bhp (the Mazda was 130). I think to myself, I would rather have the 5ltr V8 that I own and get the benefit of a car that is ultimately far more fun.
I remember people would never know what it was (this was the 90's) with guesses often being Jag, Lancia, Audi.
I also bought a spares car with a Ford V-4. Hideous engine and just had the manifolds, no other exhaust. Used to drive it around my field and it sounded like an aircraft! Stripped it for spares.
Final one was a Targa Orange 1970 car with quad headlights. Ended up getting Rotecniks to drop a 12A Mazda into it and sports suspension. Sadly it wasn't fantasticly reliable either and not much quicker or frugal to run.
If they have sunroofs, they tend to rot out sills very quickly.
I still have a special place in my heart for them and would perhaps have another. The 18 gallon tank would cost £100+ to fill nowadays and you would get circa 16-18mpg...
For that you get only 115bhp (the Mazda was 130). I think to myself, I would rather have the 5ltr V8 that I own and get the benefit of a car that is ultimately far more fun.I remember people would never know what it was (this was the 90's) with guesses often being Jag, Lancia, Audi.
hidetheelephants said:
Was not aware of a problem with that; I think there was a related problem with clutches getting lunched by people leaving their hands on the gearstick(IIRC downward pressure on the gearknob actuated the clutch) or something on those lines.
As I recall the car had a three speed torque converter but you changed gear using a "normal" gear lever moving through a gate. There was no auto mode so it was very similar to driving a normal manual car, the only difference being there was no clutch pedal, instead once you touched the gear knob it operated a micro switch and activated the clutch. Worked fine on mine.
It's hard to imagine just how futuristic this car was in the late 1960's and really the body shape is reminiscent of cars that came twenty years later. I also remember it had fantastic headlights and was ultra comfortable on the motorway, very refined and quiet for the period.
Just remembered something else - it used special spark plugs that were very expensive around £5.00 each in the early 70's if my memory is correct !
mph said:
It's hard to imagine just how futuristic this car was in the late 1960's and really the body shape is reminiscent of cars that came twenty years later.
I remember seeing in Classic and Sportscar an Ro80 article which compared pictures of the Ro80 and pictures of the 3rd gen Audi 100, the similarities are marked despite the Audi being 15 years younger.Ukzz4iroc, I remember your orange car. The reg number escapes me now but I seem to remember it was 3 letters, 1 number and a suffix! I have never really found them to be unreliable, other than when I bought my first one aged 16, it had a tired engine and was a pain in the arse to start. These days I own around 15, half of which are nice ones and the other half have the potential to be. If you start off with a good engine it's easy to keep it that way with the use of modern oils, an additive (Protek R) in the fuel and allowing them to fully warm up before use. An owner I knew covered 140000 on one engine, not huge by today's standards but cars of that era weren't expected to cover 2-300000 miles like modern vehicles. The only time one let me down was taking my brother and his mate to the airport when the throttle cable snapped! While they were sat in the car panicking, I wedged the throttle open to give me about 3000 rpm, and because of the transmission, I was able to put it into third and carry on the journey! This June we will be making our third trip down to Italy in my 69 green one. Needless to say I love them and there's not many cars of that era that will effortlessly cruise at 110 mph on the autobahn all day. Can't wait 
I worked for a NSU dealer for around 6 months in 1970, there was an orange Ro80 in the showroom, lovely looking car that got loads of interest but was still in the showroom when I left.
The rest of the NSU range was quite interesting too, overhead cam twins and fours with concentric driven camshafts.
The rest of the NSU range was quite interesting too, overhead cam twins and fours with concentric driven camshafts.
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