As we are to a Greek hero undone by a tragic flaw, so are we drawn to rotary-engine powered Mazdas. They may be an engine invented by a super Nazi. They may have never met their promise to be the next big thing in internal production, but they are strange and wonderful and it’s hard not to love them.
Here, then, is a visual guide to rotary Mazdas. Well, this is a Mazda promotional film put out today for some reason, and by all appearances it is less a complete guide to Mazda’s rotary history as it is a visual tour of rotary-powered Mazdas that happen to be in Mazda’s basement car collection in Irvine. These cars all look somewhat familiar.
The only thing that’s missing is the grunting noise of a really well-tuned 13B at idle, or the ear-splitting wail of a 26B four-rotor at full throttle. But the rest of YouTube is there for you, should you want to go hunting.