The 19th century naturalist Henry Walter Bates discovered caterpillars in the Amazon with gigantic heads resembling those of pit vipers. This type of mimicry is a clever and effective means of survival, but can it work on cars? Given the continued popularity of various “retro” designs — Mini, Mustang, Beetle — the answer is apparently yes. In this series, we’ll check out some of the less known examples of retro-inspired cars along with the JNCs they mimic.
These days, the fame and classic stature of the Mazda Cosmo Sport is perhaps second only to that of the Toyota 2000GT. Historically-speaking, the original Cosmo was important for having the world’s first production twin-rotor rotary engine (NSU began producing its twin-rotor Ro80 in the same year, shortly following the Cosmo Sport). Continue reading
