If you’re into the rotary madness, you’re probably familiar with the Cosmo, the sports car that introduced Mazda’s first Wankel engine back in 1967, which was actually a German invention. These classic two-seaters are rarer than hen’s teeth, which is why seeing a modified one is almost impossible. However, the digital realm steps in to help, with this custom Series II Cosmo sitting as close to the road as possible.
Back in the day, the Cosmo, which was one of the first two-rotor production cars in the world and it cost as much as a Corvette. As you can imagine, mixing the said dollar rating with the quirkiness of the thing meant very few Americans got one. Of course, the Japanese sports car is a highly treasured collector items nowadays, with the most recent US sale taking place back in January on Bring a Trailer for $105,000.
As for this rendered example, it comes from a man who knows a thing or two about the custom car culture in America. We’re talking about Musa Rio Tjahjono (aka musartwork), the head designer of Burbank, California-based West Coast Customs.
And while we’ll get to the details of the rendering in a moment, let’s take a bit of time to see how the rotary engine that was such a treasure to Mazda became a nightmare for many other car companies back in the day.
The Wankel engine bankrupted its initial maker
Mazda gets the most credit for bringing the rotary engine to the market these days and rightfully so, since it ended up being the only carmaker that managed to keep the unit in showrooms for decades and even won Le Mans with it.
However, the motor was invented by a German called Felix Wankel, with the first production cars to offer it (in the late 1950s) coming from the country’s NSU brand. 1960 saw NSU and American company Curtiss-Wright joining forces: the first would focus on developing “normal-output” versions, while the latter would high-powered units, including those destined for airplanes.
The smoothness of the rotary design and the smaller number of parts, which promises superior reliability, meant countless automakers from around the world started working on Wankels. The list involved Alfa Romeo, American Motors, Citroen, Ford, General Motors, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Porsche, Rolls-Royce, Suzuki, and Toyota.
Alas, the engine probed problematic: its seals would fail, the fuel economy sat below that of the piston engine, with the latter also being superior in terms of torque. And while the Wankel motor ended up bankrupting NSU (the company was absorbed into what we now call Audi), most of the other names simply gave up—as stated, Mazda remained the sole player in the game.
And while the Japanese automaker may or may not revive the Wankel as a range-extender for 2023, we have tremendous respect for how Mazda kept the motor alive through 2012.
This slammed classic Cosmo is a surprising sight
This Cosmo, which is a Series II model—just like the engine-swapped one Jay Leno owns—with the more powerful 130 hp engine (this is a 982cc two-rotor), might only pack light virtual mods, but this allows it to keep the classic silhouette unaltered.
As such, the vehicle was slammed up to the point where the wheels are neatly tucked into the fenders. Speaking of the rolling goodies, the artist has envisioned rebarreled Work units for the JDM goodie—the wheels feature polished lips with black centers.
The latter color is also used throughout the car, from the various trim pieces to the front and rear light cluster treatment. Oh, and let’s not forget the air dam up front.
For the record, the Cosmo series evolved into a mid-size sports car for the 1975-1981 Gen II, as this Mad Mike build shows, while its final 1981-1989 iteration was a grand tourer.
However, the OG two-seater remains the most collectible, which is probably why these Japanese students gave an ND MX-5 Miata a Cosmo conversion in the real world.
