7. Mazda Rotary Pickup Truck
Among all the Japanese car companies, Mazda is famous for being the most innovative. That is why they have kept perfecting and investing in the Wankel engine concept since the late 60’s. The first Wankel-powered model was a little sports car called the 1100 Cosmo. Soon, Mazda started installing this engine into ordinary models.
The advantages of the Wankel engine are considerable. It had small dimensions and lighter weights compared to regular inline units. It also had a high revving capacity and simple construction. However, the disadvantages are also significant. Wankel engines have little torque and are not durable.
Since the construction is so specific, spare parts and components are hard to find. This is why it was strange when Mazda decided to install a small Wankel engine in its B-Series pickup truck in 1973. The B-Series was a common Mazda compact truck they sold globally. The version with the Wankel engine produced 110 HP from the diminutive 1.3-liter engine. This was more than enough since the whole truck was a little over one ton.
The interesting thing was the red line on this little engine was 7,000 rpm, which made driving a B-Series truck like driving a sports car. Unfortunately, a truck equipped with this engine wasn’t capable of towing a lot of weight, but it looked and sounded cool.