Honeymoon

Honeymoon (pronounced huhn-ee-moon)

(1) A trip taken by a newly married couple.

(2) A period of a month or so immediately after a marriage.

(3) By extension, any period of blissful harmony.

(4) Any new relationship characterized by an initial period of harmony and goodwill.

(5) In politics, as honeymoon period, a period of heightened popularity enjoyed by a new leader or government.

(6) To spend one's honeymoon (usually followed by in or at); to take a honeymoon.

(7) As second (and presumably third and beyond) honeymoon, a holiday which is intended to capture something of the feeling of the first. 

1540–1450: A compound word, the construct being honey + moon, from the earlier hony moone (though most etymologists suspect that in the oral tradition it was much older).  Honeymoon may be compared with the Middle Low German suckermânt (honeymoon (literally “sugar-month”) and the German Low & German Hönnigweken (honeymoon (literally “honey-weeks”). The German Honigmond, the French lune de miel and the Turkish balaki are all calques of the English term and one intriguing German variation is the plural flitterwochen, the construct being flitter (tinsel) + wochen (week), presumably an allusion to the insubstantial and fleeting nature of a couple’s early affections.  Babymoon and family moon were constructions in line with the original cynical sense of honeymoon the idea that the joy brought by a new-born soon fades as the demands of parenthood become apparent.  Honeymoon is a noun, verb & adjective, honeymooner a noun, honeymooning a noun, verb & adjective and the (simple past tense and past participle) honeymooned is usually a verb but can be applied adjectivally; the noun plural is honeymoon.  As a modifier it’s associated with forms such as honeymoon suite, honeymoon cottage etc.

The pre-900 honey (a viscous, sweet fluid produced from plant nectar by bees and often used to sweeten tea or to spread on baked goods and (by extension) used often to describe anything literally sweet, smooth or in some way desirable (animal, vegetable or mineral)) was from the Middle English hony &  honi, from the Old English hueng & huniġ, from the Proto-West Germanic hunag, from the Proto-Germanic hunagą (related to the Old Norse hunang, the Old Saxon hanig, the West Frisian hunich and the German Honig), from the earlier hunangą (related to the Swedish honung), from the primitive Indo-European kn̥honk-o-s, from kn̥hónks. It was cognate with the Middle Welsh canecon (gold), the Latin canicae (bran), the Tocharian B kronkśe (bee), the Albanian qengjë (beehive), the Ancient Greek κνῆκος (knêkos) (safflower; yellowish), the Northern Kurdish şan (beehive), the Sanskrit kánaka- (gold) and the Northern Luri گونج‎ (gonj) (Bee).  Honey has been productive in English phraseology and word creation including honeybee, honeybun, honeycreeper, honeydew, honeyeater, honeypot & honeysucker.  The alternative spelling was hunny.

The pre-900 moon (with an initial capital the Earth's only permanent natural satellite and without, the technical term to describe other such bodies in the universe) was from the Middle English mone, from the Old English mōna (moon), from the Proto-West Germanic mānō, from the Proto-Germanic mēnô (moon), from the Gothic mena, from the primitive Indo-European mḗhn̥s (moon, month), probably from meh- (to measure).  It was akin to the Old Frisian mōna, the German Mond (moon), the Latin mēnsis (month), the Ancient Greek mḗnē (moon) and the Sanskrit māsa (moon, month).  Poetically, it refers to a month, particularly a lunar month, a measure of time used by pre-modern cultures, surviving in modern use as “many moons” (a long time).  In cartomancy, the moon is the thirty-second Lenormand card and since the emergence of crypto-currencies has been used to describe a rapid increase in value of a coin or token.  Moon has been productive in English phraseology and word creation including ask for the moon, blood moon, blue moon, moonbounce, moonbow, moonless, moonlet, moonstruck, moonwake, moonwalk & moonsick.

Lindsay Lohan on honeymoon at the Bodrum EDITION on the Turkish Riviera, July 2022.  The choice of orange and blue swimwear may not have been in memory of the Gulf livery in which Ford GT40s (left) & Porsche 917s (right) raced during the 1960s & 1970s but both were good choices.

In English, although honeymoon always denoted the period of time following a wedding, the idea now is honey in the sense of sweetness, the first fine careless rapture of love, the happy time in a marriage before reality bites.  However, the original reference was a more cynical reference to that first affection waning like the moon.  Fortunately, the later (attested since 1546), more romantic interpretation prevailed and the meaning is now (1) the first month after marriage", which tends to be the sweetest or (2) dating from circa 1800, the holiday the couple take immediately after the ceremony which, for some, will also be the consummation.  The timing of that consummation could be significant, some claiming (though the evidence is slight) that the honeymoon is a relic both of (1) the old tradition of elopement and (2) marriage by capture, both practices during which the couple (happy and not) went into hiding to avoid reprisals from relatives, the plan being that by the end of the month, the woman would be with child, thus rendering the marriage immune from annulment by the Church.  Whatever the origin, the tradition of a honeymoon crossed the English Channel, known from the 1820s in France as the voyage à la façon anglaise (English-style voyage).  Whether by coincidence or as a product of opportunistic commerce, the adoption on the continent became part of the new industry of (relatively) low-cost mass tourism and honeymoon tours (sometimes in groups) were among the first examples of packaged tourism where transportation, accommodation and sight-seeing were bundled and sold at a fixed price.  

A most attractive tale from ancient Babylonia, though not one all historians accept is that upon marriage, a bride’s father would supply all the “honey kash” (a type of beer to which honey and sweet herbs were added) the groom could drink for one month after the wedding and, because the calendar was lunar based, this month was referred to as the “honey moon”.  Many anthropologists too doubt the story but Persian does have the similar ماه عسل (Māh-e Asal) ("month of honey" or "moon of honey").

Just as the Medieval period was a source of many Greek “myths” reputedly from antiquity, in the nineteenth century, encouraged by the popularity the works of Richard Wagner (1813-1883) had lent to the Norse legends, new “legends” were created, one borrowing from Ancient Babylonia and claiming the source of honeymoon was the “custom of the higher order of the Teutones to drink Mead (or Metheglin, a beverage brewed with honey and, in genuine Norse mythology, the nectar the Valkyries serve in Valhalla to the fallen warriors), for thirty days after every wedding.  Long discredited by historians, the fanciful tale still occasionally is quoted.

The high priest of Haitian voodoo, Max Beauvoir (1936-2015) and a relief painting depicting a voodoo ceremony, Port au Prince, Haiti, February 2010.  Mr Beauvoir was a biochemist before succeeding his grandfather as a Voodoo priest, attaining eventually the title of Supreme Servitur (supreme servant), one of the high titles in the Voudou priesthood.

In December 1975, Bill and Hillary Clinton spent part of their honeymoon in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.  The honeymoon seems to have been a success although in his autobiography, Mr Clinton did note the “…most interesting day of the trip…” was when they both witnessed a voodoo ceremony conducted by voodoo-priest Max Beauvoir, the highlight apparently when a woman bit the head off a live chicken.  Helpfully, Mr Beauvoir also gave the honeymooners what Mr Clinton described as a "…brief course in voodoo theology" (and since that day, crooked Hillary Clinton has never denied practicing voodoo).  Mr Clinton described the rituals:

"After several minutes of rhythmic dancing to pounding drums, the spirits arrived, seizing a woman and a man.  The man proceeded to rub a burning torch all over his body and walk on hot coals without being burned.  The woman, in a frenzy, screamed repeatedly, then grabbed a live chicken and bit its head off.  Then the spirits left and those who had been possessed fell to the ground."

He added that the experience had profoundly transformed his understanding of God and human nature, the way “…different cultures try to make sense of life, nature, and the virtually universal belief that there is a nonphysical spirit force at work in the world."  "The Lord works in mysterious ways" he added.

Video

Video (pronounced vid-ee-oh)

(1) A visual product (usually moving images), with or without audio, saved on some form of playable media.

(2) The visual element (film, television etc), as in a program or script, pertaining to the transmission or reception of the image (as distinct from audio).

(3) The visual component of any transmission.

(4) Of or relating to the electronic apparatus for producing the television pictures; of or relating to television, especially the visual elements.

(5) A clipping of video cassette or video cassette recorder (VCR).

1935: From the Latin video (I see), first person singular present indicative of vidēre (to see), on the model of “Audio”, thus the appended –o.  The adjective came into use in 1935 (as the visual equivalent of audio) while the noun in the sense of “that which is displayed on a television screen” dates from the early British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) transmissions in 1937; the early form used by the technical staff was “video transmission” echoing “audio transmission” in radio.  The first known instance of “videogame” in print dates from 1973 although by then consumer products have been available for some eighteen months and it’s possible that among developers or users, the term had earlier been in use.  Whereas all audio (tapes, clips, grabs etc) contain exclusively sound, a quirk of video media is that most contain both visual and audio content; in practice, this cause no confusion because the conventions are well-understood.  Other conventions have also evolved.  Movie obviously has some overlap with video a some long-form commercial product (such as the typical feature film) would always be described as a “movie” or a “film” rather than a video bit if the same thing exists on tape or optical media, it will often be called a “video”, especially if on tape (videotape the generic term).  In an optical disc it’s more likely to be called a DVD, a product which in 1995 actually began life as the “Digital Video Disc” but was soon renamed “Digital Versatile Disc” because the eight-fold increase in capacity compared to the CD (Compact Disc) meant they were a convenient low-cost storage option in computing.  Even discs in the more recent Blu-Ray optical format appear often to be called “DVDs” at the consumer level, an indication Blu-Ray came too late to gain critical mass as the industry switched to streaming and weightless distribution to static libraries.  The videocassette (more often used as video + cassette) seems first to have been mentioned in patent application documents in 1970, the Videocassette recorder (VCR) first available at the consumer level in 1971.

Many of the futurists who predicted something like the internet got much right but few predicted the upload aspect of sites like YouTube and TikTok, the conjunction of a high percentage of the population enjoying both the possession of a video camera and access to bandwidth meaning that within years there were billions of content providors, many of whom found an audience.  Such videos are rarely called “movies” and are described variously with terms like “videos”, “clips”, “vids” or “shorts”.  Modifiers have been applied to “video” to created whatever meaning is needed including direct-to-video, full-motion video, home video, martyrdom video, video arcade, video camera, video clip, video conference, video game, video journalism, video nasty, videographer, video-jockey, videotape and videogram.  Video is a noun, verb & adjective, videoing & videoed are verbs; the noun plural is videos or videmus.  The plural videmus (the first-person plural form of the Latin verb) is rare and used usually for humorous effect.

Video meliora, proboque, deteriora sequor

The Latin phrase video meliora, proboque, deteriora sequor is from the Roman Poet Ovid’s (Publius Ovidius Naso; 43 BC–17 AD) Metamorphoses, appearing in a passage in which Medea acknowledges her obligations towards her father and her homeland but decides anyway to desert her people and run off with Jason.  Poets and others have since used the words to refer to those who know right from wrong and choose to do wrong, the purpose to illustrate either human weakness or immorality.  In English, the best known of the authors who cited the phrase are the worthy John Locke (1632–1704) and deliciously wicked Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) and earlier, Saint Augustine of Hippo (354–430) couldn’t resist, noting “he sees what the rectitude of actions requires and he wants it and is unable to do it”, something on which he may have reflected when writing in Confessiones (Confessions (397-400)) of his prayer to God: “Oh, Master, make me chaste and celibate - but not yet!”

Lindsay Lohan and her lawyer in court, Los Angeles, December 2011.

Video meliora, proboque, deteriora sequor appears in The Wise Virgins, the second novel published by Leonard Woolf (1880–1969) and a work which until re-published a decade after his death was neglected and tended to be assessed only as the catalyst for what proved the worst of the breakdowns suffered by his wife, the novelist Virginia Woolf (née Stephen; 1882–1941).  The book was released two years after their marriage and the first drafts had been begun during the honeymoon in Spain; something which over the year has drawn the odd wry comment.  The autobiographical elements were undisguised, the subjects the two newly-wed protagonists and a supporting cast drawn from the Bloomsbury set and although for decades dismissed, it’s regarded now as an engaging satire of the last days of the pre-1914 world of English society.  For the modern reader, it’s a compelling tragedy, a tale of someone who attempts to escape society’s conventions but through his own weakness of character finds himself trapped in that very world.

Leonard and Virginia Woolf, a photographic postcard, Dalingridge Place, West Hoathly, Sussex, 23 July 1912.

Commercially, The Wise Virgins was a failure and Leonard Woolf took the opportunity to blame the unfortunate timing of publication: “The war killed it dead” he recorded in his autobiography, not bothering to list the work in the index.  There’s long been the idea he wasn’t unhappy to see it buried; Virginia Woolf read The Wise Virgins three months after publication and although with the bloodless austerity of a don she noted in her diary that the work was “very good in some ways and very bad in others”, within a fortnight she descended into what would prove the worst of her many breakdowns and the only one, feminist critics like to mention, during which she rejected her husband, refusing for some two months to see him.  Virginia Woolf's own works, including her two fictional portraits based on him are more sympathetic to his memory, his character in The Wise Virgins perhaps a portrait of what he imagined he might have been had he not repressed his worse impulses and certainly, Leonard Woolf’s reputation has not suffered like that of Ted Hughes (1930–1998; Poet Laureate 1984-2008) after the suicide of his wife Sylvia Path (1932-1963).  As with many a roman-à-clef, one must always be conscious that much is fiction but it’s a tale of the fate of another flawed man and the quote from Ovid is not misplaced.

Wankel

Wankel (pronounced wahng-kuh)

A type of rotary internal combustion engine, first produced 1961, named after its inventor, German engineer, Felix (aka Fritz) Wankel (1902-1988).

The Wankel engine is a type of internal combustion rotary engine, one of many based on the a rotary principle, the Wankel using an eccentric drive to convert pressure into rotating motion.  The design was conceived by German engineer Felix Wankel, an eccentric, though clearly gifted, self-taught engineer who was an early convert to National-Socialism (linked with a right-wing political movement in 1921) who joined the NSDAP (the National Socialist German Workers Party which would become the Nazi Party) the following year.  It’s important not to make too much of that, the party in its early days an aggregation of factions which were, literally more nationalist and socialist in character than anything like the racist and ultimately genocidal thing into which the Nazis evolved under Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; Führer (leader) and German head of government 1933-1945 & head of state 1934-1945). 

But an enthusiastic Nazi Wankel certainly was although that didn’t protect him from falling victim to the internecine squabbles which would beset the party to the very end, expelled from the party in 1932 after feuding with his Gauleiter (the regional party boss) who, after Hitler came to power in 1933, succeeded in having Wankel jailed although, under less unpleasant conditions that those tossed into concentration camps.  Indeed, while in prison, he was able to continue working on his rotary engine, a patent for which had been granted to him in 1929.

Felix Wankel admires a shaft.

Wankel though had friends in the party, one of whom approached the Führer, stressing the importance of the amateur engineer’s contribution to German industry and that proved enough to secure his release.  He worked on a variety of projects during the 1930s, some on contract for BMW but mostly for the military including on seals, something which years later would absorb much of his energy at that of many others.  Despite his efforts for the Reich, his attempts to rejoin the party were rebuffed but his friends did gain him the honorary rank of Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel) in the Schutzstaffel (The SS (Security Squad or Section), originally Hitler's personal security detail which evolved into a vast party security apparatus and later a parallel army almost a million strong) although his career in the "black mist" wasn't long, Wankel expelled within two years.  The records were lost in the confusion of war so the reasons aren’t known but while it’s tempting to wonder just how ghastly one has to be to be thought too evil for the SS, given the lack of any subsequent punitive action against him, it’s likely he just lost out in another of the squabbles that were so common in the Nazi system, the structures of which actually encouraged internal conflict.

It didn’t stop the Nazi state funding his research including what he was then calling his “rotary motion engine” although progress was slow and slow for a reason, the fundamental flaw in the design not resolved until the 1950s when another engineer, less visionary but more practical, rectified the fault.  Wankel's rotating cul-de-sac was far from unique in wartime Germany, the interest of the regime in technical innovation and the gullibility of party officials drew cranks, con-men and inventors inspired and otherwise.  Among the projects which received interest and sometimes cash from the state was a “non-combustible” material called durofol (which would catch fire), a scheme to create liquid fuel from the roots of fir trees (which consumed three times as much energy as it produced), the production of alcohol from bakery fumes (apparently that one was quickly rejected), a “death ray” championed by notorious drunkard Reichsleiter Robert Ley (1890–1945; head of the German Labour Front 1933-1945), which turned out to be impossible to build or even test, a plan to turn the atmosphere into a conductive element using ionization (which at least has a theoretical basis even if impossible) and the mysterious “Gerloff miracle pistol”, the records for which were lost.  Compared to some of these, Wankel’s engine (which didn’t work) probably appeared quite promising.

Gleitkufenboot (skid boat).

Wankel had other projects too, one of which he would, like his engine, later revisit.  This was the Zischboot (Hiss boat), intended as a small, high-speed torpedo-boat for the navy, a kind of hydrofoil that used clusters of skis.  In the 1970s, Wankel would display a prototype (now called the Gleitkufenboot (skid boat)), powered by an impressively powerful Mercedes-Benz four rotor Wankel engine.  Wankel claimed not only was it impossible to capsize the boat but that it was unsinkable, a notable feature said to be borrowed from certain sea creatures, air-intake "nostrils" with flaps controlled by sensors to ensure no water could penetrate when driving through waves.

Wankel survived the war and suffered not greatly in the denazification process the allied occupation authorities ran to weed out the worst of the worst, his work as an engineer suggesting someone unpolitical and being expelled both from the party and the SS probably helpful in mitigation.  In that he was lucky; had the investigators dug deeper they would have discovered Nazi-era Wankel held some fairly unsavory views and had expressed them more than once.  In the new Germany, those opinions he either no longer held or kept to himself, in 1951 obtaining a position with NSU as a technical consultant.  NSU were interested in his rotary motion engine.      

1957 NSU Prinz (the front of the car is to the left).

NSU (the name an abbreviation of "Neckarsulm", the city in which the factory was located) began in 1873 as a knitting machine manufacturer which in 1886 branched out into the production of bicycles and so successful did this prove that by 1892, the knitting machines were abandoned, the factory converted wholly to the building of bicycles.  The first NSU motorcycles appeared in 1901 and were both popular and profitable, encouraging the company in 1905 to enter the potentially even more lucrative market for cars.  Between then and the end of World War II (1939-1945), there were ups and downs but NSU survived and, in December 1946, resumed building bicycles and motorcycles, commercial vehicle production starting in 1949.  These efforts proved successful and the company, by now a significant beneficiary of Wirtschaftswunder (the post-war German "economic miracle"), was by the mid-1950s the world’s largest maker of motorcycles and profitable enough for car production to resume in 1957.  Wholly unrelated to knitting machines, motor-cycles & cars, NSU (non-specific urethritis) was the old term for NGU (non-gonococcal urethritis), an inflammation of the urethra not caused by gonorrheal infection.  In post-war Germany, it's used also as the initialism of Nationalsozialistischer Untergrund (National Socialist Underground), a general term for neo-Nazism and other fascist organizantions & movements.     

1958 NSU Prinz Sport.

The car was modest enough, tiny and powered by a 600 cm³ (37 cubic inch) air-cooled twin cylinder powerplant which was essentially two motorcycle engines joined by a common crankcase.  As was fashionable in small European cars of the era, the engine was at the rear, something which would prove a cul-de-sac, most manufacturers outside the Warsaw Pact soon convinced to abandon the idea.  That disenchantment actually extended to Porsche which had the 911’s replacement in production by the mid-1970s, only to find out just about every soul left on the planet who still thought rear-engined cars a fine idea were Porsche 911 buyers who insisted nothing else would do.  The customer being always right, the 911 survives to this day and that a rear-engined machine can be as well-behaved as 911s now are will be no surprise to those familiar with modern electronics but Porsche, remarkably, had engineered a high degree of predictability into its behavior even before computers were robust and fast enough to do the job.  In 1958, NSU didn’t face the same issues of high-speed handling, the new Prinz (Prince) having but 20 bhp (15 kW).  It was wholly utilitarian but suited to the times and sold well, national success (and growing incomes) meaning within a year, the idea of a more profitable up-market version became attractive.  Although little more than an Italian-styled body atop the existing underpinnings and never a huge seller, the Prinz Sport remained in production for a decade and its lightweight and slippery shape made possible an impressive top speed of 75 mph (120 km/h).  By 1968 over twenty-thousand had been built and it was the Prinz Sport NSU used as the basis for the world’s first Wankel-engined car.

The rotary engine, light, powerful and with few moving parts had interested NSU which saw the potential for motorcycles but they also quickly identified the fundamental flaw in the design which Wankel had never resolved: both rotor and rotor housing rotated, each on different axes, creating an assembly almost impossible to keep in balance as well as necessitating an additional housing.  While Wankel proceeded along his path, publicized by NSU in 1954, another NSU engineer, Hanns Dieter Paschke (1920-1999), unbeknown to Wankel, was developing his own version (KKM 57), displayed in 1957 as the DKM 54 at the NSU Research & Development Department in Versuchsabteilung.  Before long, the concept would be refined in that the single housing became static and only the rotor rotated, Wankel’s original vision intriguing but perhaps, even now, impossible to build as a practical working device and NSU devoted some years to making their version exactly that.  In 1964, it was released to the public.

1967 NSU Spider.

In 1964, the Western world was not so laden with rules and restrictions (for good and bad) and it was possible to sell for use on the public highways what were essentially prototypes in development and that the NSU Spider certainly was.  It was also a seen by NSU as an advertisement on wheels, a showcase not only for their upcoming models but also to encourage other manufacturers to buy licenses to produce their own Wankels, an option that would be exercised by many, including Alfa Romeo, Curtiss-Wright, General Motors, Daimler-Benz, Rolls-Royce and Mazda.  For whatever reason, BMW, Felix Wankel's Nazi-era employer, declined.  Citroën, an outfit with a reputation for the quirky, were enthusiastic enough to set up with NSU a Swiss co-venture to pursue the technology.  More than most, the French would come to rue the day they ever heard Wankel’s name.

A NSW spider, the Sydney funnel-web.

The NSU Spider should not be confused with NSW’s spiders of which there are quite a few.  Of the order Araneae, spiders are air-breathing arthropods (the usual reference to them being arachnids is a bit vague) and Australia is home to many, the most venomous of which is the Sydney funnel-web (Atrax robustus), found in New South Wales (NSW) in forests as well as populated urban areas.  They prefer to burrow in humid sheltered places but it’s not uncommon for them to wander into suburban backyards and sometimes they have to be rescued from swimming pools.  Human encounters are however relatively rare but they’re noted for their aggression if a threat is perceived so caution is recommended, their highly toxic venom produced in large amounts and the remarkably large fangs (larger than a brown snake, another of Australia’s many dangerous species) can be deployed with sufficient force to pierce human finger & toenails.  Although measuring only 15-35 mm (.6-1.4 inch), their venom contains a compound which attacks the human nervous system & internal organs, a strike from a male able to kill an adult although since anti-venoms became available in 1981, no fatalities have been recorded.  The Sydney funnel-web is the deadliest spider in Australia.

Skoda (rear) engine bays, the conventional (piston) engine (left) vs the single-rotor Wankel (right).

Although the project never progressed beyond the prototype stage, the Czech manufacturer Skoda was apparently the first to have running vehicles with a rotary engine installed (a complete engine said to have been running as early as 1961) but in 1964, the NSU Spider was the first to go on sale.  It used a single-rotor, water-cooled engine and was easily distinguishable from the Prinz Sport because it was a soft top cabriolet, apart from which it was substantially the same car with only detail differences in styling and specification except it was offered only in red or white.  One other change was definitely apparent however, power had jumped to a heady 50 bhp (37 kW) at a surprisingly low 5,500 rpm, enough to propel the Spider to close to 100 mph (160 km/h) for anyone on the autobahn prepared to push the little machine to the limit.  Never expected to be a big seller, fewer than 2500 were built between 1964-1967, its purpose more to whet the public appetite for what NSU intended to be their entry into the burgeoning middle-class mass market.  Additionally, though not at the time discussed, the Spider’s engine, while at a stage of development beyond being a prototype, was not ready for release to a public using it in a wide variety of ways in different climates in different countries.  The Spider’s customers unwittingly were also NSU’s development test team, something which later in the century would become a handy business model for many software companies.

Given the specifications of the Wankel NSU would produce in the future, it may that the Spider’s single rotor powerplant wasn’t an ideal a test bed for the customers to debug but problems in design and the choice of materials were identified and, where possible, within the limits of metallurgy and the realities of economics the lessons learned were applied.  Nor was the Spider’s specification static, the experiences of the customers applied to improve not only longevity but also power, the later cars enjoying a slight increase in capacity, output now 54 bhp (40 kW) at 6,000 rpm, 4 bhp perhaps not impressing all but it was close to 10% more and although the factory didn’t claim any increase in attainable speed, the most recent Spider owners presumably got there a little more quickly.

1967 NSU Ro 80 (1967-1977).

If the spider had generated interest, the NSU Ro 80, released in 1967, was a sensation.  Even without the novelty of the rotary engine (without which all concede it would doubtless have been a success), it would have made quite an impact.  The body, which does not look out of place even in the twenty-first century, was a modernist masterpiece, trendsetting in a way the 1955 Citroën DS (often called the déesse (literally "goddess")) was just too extreme to be yet more aerodynamically efficient, the Ro 80’s drag coefficient (CD) of .354 just a fraction better than the French car’s .359.  Beneath the skin, the futurist vision continued, the efficient front-wheel-drive packaging in the vanguard of adoption by larger vehicles, four wheel disk brakes (inboard at the front), a semi-automatic transmission, power-assisted rack and pinion steering and all independent suspension.  Reviews upon release were sometimes ecstatic, the only criticism from some who found the interior austere but it was era in which only the most expensive German cars were fitted-out with much beyond the starkly functional; NSU’s designers looked to Le Corbusier and Gropius, not the Jaguar Mark X.

The Ro 80 won the 1968 European Car of the Year award and buyers seemed as impressed as the many journalists who voted NSU.  Out on the autobahns, the twin-rotor engine was a smooth, quiet and a delight to use, the slippery shape meaning the 113 bhp (85 KW) it generated from a comparatively small 995 cm³ (61 cubic inch) displacement allowed it to match the speed of cars with even three times the capacity, the turbine-like feel encouraging a disregard for the 6500 rpm redline which it seemed to exceed without complaint.  The honeymoon didn’t last.  Critics began to notice it was good to match larger six cylinder cars in performance but it came at the cost of a thirst many V8 owners didn’t suffer.  Nor was the Ro 80, so at home cruising at 100 mph (160 km/h) on the autobahn, quite as happy in the stop-start urban conditions where the modern German motorist was now spending much time, some finding the previously admired semi-automatic transmission clumsy to use, the experience jerky.  The Wankel engine didn't deliver much much low-speed torque and drivers had to adjust their technique; those used to the more effortless performance of the 2-3 litre engines most often found in this class of car found negotiating their commute through a succession of red traffic-lights harder work than before.    

Nothing is perfect and such was the appreciation of the Ro 80’s virtues these drawbacks may have been overlooked or at least endured but what couldn’t be forgiven was that the Wankel engines were frequently, numerously, rapidly and expensively failing and, being within the warranty period, it was NSU which bore the cost to repair or replace.  That was bad enough but the car was quickly gaining a reputation for unreliability and sales were falling, exacerbating the financial strain NSU was suffering from all the warranty claims.  Nor was the once profitable motorcycle business there to subsidise the four-wheel venture, production having ended in 1968 to allow the company to focus on the Ro 80.  The problems hadn’t been wholly unexpected, just underestimated; NSU’s engineers had warned the board the engine wasn’t yet ready for production and needed at least months more durability testing and development but, perhaps remembering the relatively smooth introduction of the Spider, and certainly seeking cash-flow, approval was given for a debut in 1967.

It wasn’t difficult to work out where the problems lay which was mostly in the high wear of the apex seals and consequent damage to the rotor housing.  Essentially, the seal failure destroyed the engine, necessitating a replacement and it was not uncommon for replacement engines also to fail and require replacement, again under warranty.  For a small company with limited resources, it was unsustainable and NSU was soon unviable, the takeover by Volkswagen in 1969 said to be a "merger with Audi" only an attempt to glue a veneer of corporate respectability on what was the takeover of a distressed competitor.  It was unfortunate.  In just about every way except the flawed engine, the Ro 80 was years ahead of its time and deserved to succeed.  Had it been powered by a 2.8 litre flat-eight and configured with all-wheel drive (AWD) it would have been worthy competition for Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar (in this class BMW & Audi not yet a thing) and more advanced than either. 

1967 Mazda Cosmo.

The issue was the engine at that stage of its development given the metallurgy of the time rather than NSU because Mazda, which had in 1961 purchased a licence to produce the Wankel, were suffering the same problems in the Cosmo sports car, introduced also in 1967.  The Cosmo however, was a low-volume model and Mazda had other, profitable ranges on sale and so could absorb the cost of fixing failed Cosmos.  Mazda did seem to learn from the NSU experience however.  When they put the Wankel into volume production, the vehicles initially were offered either as a rotary or with a conventional piston engine, an approach which seemed promising but such was the fragility of the Wankel, even that had to be abandoned.  Mazda, after putting Wankels even into small trucks and busses, realised that for consumer vehicles, it was a niche product and restricted it to specialist sports cars.  The problems didn’t go away, but, for a while, they became manageable.

Mazda RX-7 (the Porsche 924-928 inspired second generation (1985-1992) model) in Lindsay Lohan's music video clip First (2005).

The Cosmo's spiritual replacement was the RX7, a two door coupé (there was a short run of roadsters in the second generation) built over three generations between 1978-2002.  With over 800,000 produced, it's probably still the machine most identify with the Wankel engine and was the car which came closest to gaining the mainstream acceptance which had eluded earlier models such as the RX-2 (Capella), RX-3 (Savanna) & RX-4 (Luce), probably because reliability had significantly improved and those buying relatively expensive sports cars were more tolerant of the higher fuel bill and in fairness, much of the competition offering similar performance returned fuel consumption which was little different.  It was replaced by the RX-8 which proved (thus far), the swansong for the Mazda rotary on the streets.     

1972 NSU Prinz 1200 TT.

Remarkably, Audi-NSU, although axing the outdated rear-engined Prinz range, maintained the troublesome Ro 80 in production and despite its thirst it survived even the first oil crisis which killed off so many others.  Although most of the old NSU manufacturing capacity had long been given over to the Audi production line, it wasn’t until 1977 the last Ro 80 was built, the decade’s total production of 37,000-odd a disappointment for a car expected to ship more than that every year.

Despite NSU’s takeover in 1969 in the wake of the problem, even in the early 1970s, many major manufacturers were still convinced the Wankel's many advantages would render the piston engine obsolete and embarked on large, and expensive, development programs.  In this they were encouraged by the legendary optimism and confidence of engineers who so often think any engineering problem can be solved with enough time and money.  However the problems, seal wear, emissions and high fuel consumption proved insoluble and the projects which hadn’t been abandoned didn’t survive the first oil crisis.  Apart from the odd small-volume independent, only Mazda persisted. 

Notable Wankel Moments

1974 Mazda Rotary Parkway 26 Minibus (1974-1976).

The Mazda Cosmo was shown only weeks after the NSU Spider. Twice the capacity of the NSU, it was much more ambitious and though also troubled, its low volume meant the rectification was manageable.  Only Mazda has produced Wankel engines in large quantities and they've offered the power-plant in sports cars, racing cars, sedans, coupés, station wagons, pick-up trucks & buses, the last two perhaps a curious place to put an engine not noted for its prodigious torque.  Others, with varying degrees of success, have put them in automobiles, motorcycles, racing cars, aircraft, go-karts, jet skis, snowmobiles, chain saws, and auxiliary power units.

1976 Mazda RX-5.

Even Mazda, which has at least partially solved most of the problems, currently don't have a Wankel in production; the last, used in the RX-8, unable to meet the latest EU pollution standards.  Despite this, Mazda claim to be committed to the Wankel and the factory say development is continuing, in 2016 showing the RX-Vision, hinting it could be on sale as early as 2020.  The COVID-19 pandemic put that at least on hold and concerns about CO₂ emissions may mean the Wankel's historic automotive moment, which lingered for so long, may finally have passed so whether Mazda really solved the problem of toxicity may never be known. 

1975 HJ Mazda Roadpacer (HJ & HX, 1975-1977).

Most Holden fans, as one-eyed as any, don’t have fond memories of the HJ (1974-1976) Premier.  Usually, all they’ll say is its face-lifted replacement, the HX (1976-1977), was worse.  With its chassis not including the "radial tuned suspension" (RTS) which lent the successor HZ (1977-1980) such fine handling and with engines strangled by the crude plumbing used in the era to reduce emissions, driving the HJ or HX really wasn’t a rewarding experience (although the V8 versions retained some charm) so there might have been hope Mazda’s curious decision to use the HJ (and later the HX) Premier as their top-of-the range executive car, complete with a smooth two-rotor Wankel, might have transformed the thing.  That it did but the peaky, high-revving rotary was wholly unsuited to a relatively large, heavy car.  Despite producing less power and torque than even the anaemic 202 cubic inch (3.3 litre) Holden straight-six it replaced, so hard did it have to work to shift the weight that fuel consumption was worse even than when Holden fitted their hardly economical 308 cubic inch (5.0 litre) V8 for the home market.  Available only in Japan and sold officially between 1975-1977, fewer than eight-hundred were built, the company able to off-load the last of the HXs only in early 1980.  The only thing to which Mazda attached its name not mentioned in their corporate history, it's the skeleton in the Mazda closet but does have one place in history, the footnote of being the only car built by General Motors (GM) ever sold with a Wankel engine.

Mercedes-Benz C-111 (1968-1970), the three-rotor (upper) and four-rotor (lower) Wankel versions.

Although the C-111 would have a second career in the late 1970s in a series of 5-cylinder diesel and V8 petrol engined cars used to set long-distance speed & endurance records, it's best remembered in its original incarnation as the lurid-colored ("safety-orange" according to the factory) three and four-rotor Wankel-engined gullwing coupés, sixteen of which were built.  The original was a pure test-bed and looked like a failed high-school project but the second and third versions were both finished to production-car standards with typically high-quality German workmanship.  Although from the school of functional brutalism rather than the lovely things they might have been had styling been out-sourced to the Italians, the gullwings attracted much attention and soon cheques were enclosed in letters mailed to Stuttgart asking for one.  The cheques were returned; apparently there had never been plans for production even had the Wankel venture proved a success.  The C-111 was fast, the four-rotor version said to reach over 300 km/h (190 mph), faster than any production vehicle then available.

Herr Wankel’s personal R107 (350 SL) fitted with 4 Mercedes-Benz Rotor Wankel (KE-413).

Less conspicuously than the C-111s in lurid safety orange were the roadsters which Mercedes-Benz used as Wankel test-beds.  The first used the W113 (1963-1971) platform, remembered now as the first “pagoda” and while it would never have been suitable as a production car, it apparently wasn’t as unbalanced as the sole W113 fitted with the 6.3 litre (386 cubic inch) M-100 V8 (used in the big 600 Grossers and the 300 SEL 6.3) which test drivers described as "exciting but unstable".  Still, the Wankel W113 proved quite a bit faster than the 280 SL and as a proof of concept was judged a success.  The W113 though had never been intended to use anything but a straight-six whereas the successor W107 (1971-1989) was designed from the start with an engine bay and transmission tunnel which would accommodate either a V8 or the Wankel with its high central power take-off.  The W113 had used a three rotor unit (M 50 F) but R107 had four (KE-413) and delivered considerably more power than the 3.5 litre (215 cubic inch) & 4.5 litre (275) V8s used in the production models and not until the adoption of 5.0 (305) & 5.5 (339) V8s in the 1980s would the performance be matched.

Four rotor Wankel engine (KE-413, left) and the unit installed in Herr Wankel’s 350 SL.

Yet however successful the proof of concept may have been, the early skepticism mentioned by the combustion chamber specialists was vindicated because as they pointed out the chamber was "...the central feature of the combustion engine.  The priority is to produce an optimum design so as to achieve the most favorable thermodynamic efficiency."  By that they meant "...as complete combustion of the fuel as possible” and not only was this not happening with the Wankel, their point was that fundamental aspects of the design meant it could not happen, something which manifested in high fuel consumption and difficulties in meeting the exhaust emission standards due to all the non-combusted hydrocarbons.  Modest in their demands in the early 1970s, the US regulators had already provided a decade-long roadmap which would make the rules so onerous there was then no realistic prospect the Wankel could ever be made to comply.  The engineers were confident they could produce a smooth, reliable and powerful Wankel, albeit a thirsty one, but knew they could never make it clean.  All of the factory’s W113 & R107 test-beds were scrapped when the project was cancelled but Felix Wankel’s personal R107 SL survives.  He obtained a four rotor unit from Mercedes-Benz, had it installed by technicians at his institute and in 1979, the trade journal Auto Motor und Sport published their road-test of the unique machine, reporting a 0-200 km/h (120 mph) time of 25.9 seconds and a top speed of 242 km/h (150 mph).

Citroën GS (GX) Birotor (1973-1975) on the stand at the Frankfurt Motor Show, August 1973.

Sometimes one gets lucky, sometimes not.  In the US, Ford introduced the new, small and economical Mustang II a few weeks before the first oil shock in 1973 and had a big hit (something sometimes forgotten by those who so decry the Mustang II and condemn it a failure).  In Australia, about the same time, Leyland announced the big new P76, a selling point its V8 engine.  The P76 wasn’t without faults and may anyway have failed but the timing didn’t help and it didn’t last long, shortly taking with it whatever remained of Leyland Australia.  In France, in October 1973, the very month in which events in the Middle East triggered the first oil shock, Citroën's thirsty GS Birotor went on sale.  Shown at the Frankfurt Motor Show in August, the reception had been generally positive, most complaints being about the aesthetic; all the Birotors appeared to be painted in shades of brown, a color which seemed to stalk the 1970s.

Mechanically though, even before going on sale, some with high hopes for the Wankel were disappointed, the Birotor not realising the promise of smaller, lighter packages.  Despite the compact size, the engine would fit in the GS’s engine bay only transversely so Citroën’s signature inboard disk brakes couldn't be used for the first time since the pre-war Traction Avant. That necessitated a different subframe, a wider track, and bigger wheel arches than the standard GS.  Combined with other detail differences, it bulked the rotary-powered GS up to 690 lb (290 kg) more than the standard GS, compelling the addition of anti-roll bars to reduce the increased propensity towards body roll.  Another mechanical aspect not much discussed at the time was the Wankel's high exhaust emissions.  In one of many possible illustrations of how the politics of the matter has changed, it was a time when the exhaust pollution rules imposed by the United States appalled Europeans because of the way they made the detoxed cars behave.  Not wishing to sacrifice power, in Europe, drivers for years enjoyed un-emasculated engines and accepted the higher emission of CO₂ and other pollutants as part of life.  Widespread interest in climate change, then the concern of a handful of specialists looking at what was called the "greenhouse effect", was a generation away.  Despite cubic money being spent, it was one aspect of the Wankel that was never fixed and was the final nail in the coffin of Mazda's RX8.    

Known also as the GZ, the Birotor replaced the noisy but robust and economical air-cooled flat four used in the GS on which it was based and cost about 70% more.  The Wankel engine was the first fruit of the NSU-Citroën joint venture and, being of small capacity, attracted lower taxes than a similar piston-engined car.  However, it suffered the problems endemic to the Wankel: ruinously high fuel consumption and chronic unreliability caused by wear of the rotor seals and the damage this caused to the housing walls.  Citroën had looked at the Ro 80's issues and had included an additional oil pump to improve seal lubrication but the problems persisted.  Internal documents later revealed that just as at NSU half a decade earlier, there were those within Citroën who understood, long before the release, that a disaster was impending but a combination of corporate inertia, an unwillingness to admit failure and a number of contractual obligations meant the Birotor went on sale.  Within months the extent of the problem was realized.  Although only a few hundred had found buyers, broken ones were being towed to dealers around the country and owners were irate.  Early in 1975, Citroën dropped the model, offering to buy back all the 847 made, running or not, customers given a full-refund.  Most agreed and Citroen scrapped every one they could, hoping everyone would forget they ever existed.  A remarkable third of owners declined the offer and many survived in private hands; among Citroën aficionados they’re a collector’s item though probably more displayed as a curiosity than driven.

A twelve-rotor motor intended for marine applications.

The low weight, compact profile, small number of moving parts and very high specific output of the Wankel has always attracted engineers.  The Wankel turned out to be well suited to applications where it could be maintained at a constant speed for long periods, the problem of unburnt fuel in the exhaust substantially resolved, improving emissions and fuel consumption.  Wankels lose efficiency dramatically when they are revved up and down as they are in the normal use of a passenger car but in boats and aircraft where engine speed tends to be constant for long periods, they can work well.  In airframes especially, where weight is so critical, the inherent advantage of the vastly superior power to weight ratio can be compelling.

1989 Norton 588.

One of the many companies to purchase a licence from NSU was English motorcycle manufacturer BSA (British Small Arms) and this became the property of Norton when it absorbed BSA in 1973.  Norton’s troubled history in the 1970s had little to do with the Wankel but after bankruptcy, it was revived on more than one occasion and during one of those escapades, it made almost a thousand Wankel motorcycles.  Other manufacturers dabbled with Wankels and Suzuki actually made some 6000 RE5s between 1974-1976 but the best of the breed were thought to be the Nortons, even though they were admitted to be early in the development cycle.  The Wankel was a more reliable thing by the time the Nortons were made but they suffered the underlying problem of all road-going applications: the advantages just weren’t enough to outweigh the drawbacks, added to which, piston engines continued to improve.  Norton allowed the project to die but did use the Wankel technology to develop a line of UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles, sometimes called drones) engines that proved successful; weighing only 22 lb (8.2 KG) yet producing 38 bhp (28 kw) they proved ideal for the task.

1972 Chevrolet Corvette XP-895 Prototype.

In 1972, spooked a bit by the news Ford would be offering the mid-engined De Tomaso Pantera through Lincoln-Mercury dealers, to steal a bit of the thunder, Chevrolet dusted-off and displayed a mid-engined Corvette prototype, production of which had been cancelled because of the cost.  It was shown again in 1973, this time with a four-rotor version of the Wankel GM had been developing in a number of configurations.  After the Wankel project was aborted, there were plans to use the body with a V8 to replace the existing Corvette, a release penciled in for 1980 but again, costs and concerns about sales potential aborted the idea.  It meant the already long-serving Corvette stayed in the line for fifteen years, not replaced until 1983 and not until well into the next century was a mid-engined version released.