The internal combustion engine, for all its mechanical sophistication, still runs on a 19th-century mechanical idea: pistons rising and falling, a crankshaft spinning, a steam-age architecture ...

Rotary engines tend to conjure images of a few famous sports cars, yet a surprising number of coupes, sedans, concepts, and even workhorses quietly packed spinning triangles under their hoods. By ...

Just on the cusp of the 19 th century, the first ever rotary engine appeared from the budding automobile manufacturer, the Adams Company. The Adams-Farwell engine was both inspiringly inventive and a ...

Rotary engines, known for their unique design and compact size, have been predominantly associated with Mazda. However, engineers and automotive enthusiasts have experimented with incorporating these ...

The rotary engine has been a Mazda staple since 1967. It powered one of the most famous and eccentric Japanese sports car line-ups, the RX-series, until 2012 when Mazda discontinued pure ...

Over-the-top rotary builds are an enthusiast tradition. Because so few rotary cars have been made, the limits of the engine type haven't been fully exploited by automakers. It's been tuners who have ...

In theory, Wankel-style rotary internal combustion engines have many advantages: they ditch the cumbersome crankcase and piston design, replacing it with a simple, single-chamber design and a thick, ...

For a time, the Wankel rotary engine seemed like the future. In 1963, German automaker NSU—later absorbed into Audi—debuted the Wankel Spider, the first internal-combustion production car not powered ...