Mention rotary power, and chances are your mind instantly goes to Mazda’s RX sports cars and that one weird Suzuki. But as Antii reminded us, Mazda made rotary-powered sedans, too! His fascinating tour of these machines generated a terrific blend of comments – some born from experience. Shooting Brake:
Man I love rotaries, ever since I worked at Mazda and got to drive a bunch of RX-8s. Unfortunately I can’t bring myself to own a rotary ever since I worked at Mazda and helped replace a bunch of RX-8 engines…
Pro tip if you hope to see yourself in COTD, at least when I’m doing it: I can’t resist an insightful snack analogy. Here’s James McHenry, taking the beloved “rotor looks like a Dorito” ref to the next level:
If the RX-7 was Flamin’ Hot and the RX-8 was Nacho Cheese, the Cosmo was certainly Cool Ranch.
I’m also a big fan of flights of imaginative fancy. Here’s I RegretNothing, Esq, DVM, BBQ in that mode, but also, sounds plausible:
A small band of rotary engineers still exists in Mazda’s headquarters. They live a nomadic existence, moving between unoccupied offices and skittering away when someone flips on the lights. At night they leave proposals for rotary pickup trucks on the desks of executives and slip rotary engine specifications into the files of other projects. Some see them as mischievous little elves causing no harm. The shareholders have denounced them as fiscally reckless extremists, and call them Wankel-Qaeda.
David tore the lid off crank-window “technology” for an eye-opening look at the nuts and bolts (and scissors and worm-gears and pulleys) of arm-powered portals and precisely how well the new Slate truck measures up, specifically in terms of how many cranks it takes to get a window from fully closed to fully open. I lolled (and agreed fully) with Lockleaf going full reductio ad absurdum:
I want a two-foot crank with gearing that gets the window from down to up in 1/4 of a turn.
I’m including this comment from Jorge Gonzales simply because, as a former serial Omni/Horizon owner, I can confirm:
I could reach and operate the cranks for all four windows of my ’84 Dodge Omni from the driver’s seat. No need for electric windows.
And finally, here’s Hoonicus making the very same reference that I did when I socialed the Slate crank story. I can only assume Hoon is a withered geezer, like myself:
A wise old owl told me three cranks was the proper number.
We need a Rube Goldberg competition, preferably a steampunk-style machine, turned gears proudly displayed like a skeleton watch, mounted where the old crank was removed.
Something about Tootsie Pops? Still, it sounds right.
There’s the classic commercial above, in case you missed it. Side note: really-little-kid-me really, really did not like the impressionistic animation of this commercial. Ditto for when Sesame Street used similar styles (see: virtually everything in this playlist).
And finally, we have more great stuff from Antti, with his look at the Falco-edition Volkswagen Golf GTI. This story generated some great pop-culture refs, including this deep cut from Andy Individual:
I just want The Normal Golf with warm leatherette.
I’m a sucker for anything related to the earliest, most experimental days of electronic music and synth pop, so here’s to you, Andy:
I got the biggest LOL from yesterday’s comments with the teamwork of CarEsq, Yzguy, Logan, Porschebago, and Emil Minty. Now, there’s nothing particularly funny about merely calling out a reference, but the way these heroes “understood the assignment,” as the kids say, and filed in to paint the rest of the picture cracked me up. I’m sharing this one as a screen grab, because it’s funnier when you feel like you’re “there”:
Now, I understand none of the above is worth a laugh unless you’re familiar with the legendary Simpsons bit, which might be the funniest thing the show has ever done. The send-up of musical tropes and The Planet of the Apes’ iconic story beats set to Falco’s “Rock Me Amadeus” is just perfect:
Have a great rest-of-your-weekend, everyone!
Top graphic images: Volkswagen; 20th Century Fox
Wankel-Qaeda is pronounced Wank-Al-Qaeda, of course.
I feel bad as a huge rotary fan that I don’t actually like Doritos… most especially the cool ranch ones.
I’m pretty sure VW already has heated leatherette seats for the Golf, a The Normal edition would just be a matter of licensing and designing the decal package.
“The report of my death was an exaggeration.”
“Old Soul” I’ve graciously accepted from many of my seniors.
But I Ain’t never ever had my vibrant physique Called “withered geezer”
DANGNABIT !
(you also put an errant comma in the machine turned[surface treatment], not to geezer bash.)
I had the privilege of showing this clip to a co-worker, who was also a Simpson’s junkie. He had never seen it before. I enjoy bringing enlightenment others.
Still miss Phil Hartman.
Simpsons is, like, 90% of my sense of humor. Approved.