Mazda solely made one rotary-powered front-wheel drive automobile, the Luce R130. The Luce (Italian for “light”) was a luxurious coupe designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, who additionally created the Volkswagen Golf, Lotus Esprit, Ducati 860 GT/GTS, and BMW M1. Fewer than 1,000  models had been constructed in the course of the Luce’s transient run from 1969 by way of 1972, and solely round 200 are thought to nonetheless exist. The 13A twin-rotor rotary engine within the Luce displaced 1.3 liters, placing out 124 horsepower and 127 pound-feet of torque. It was by no means utilized in one other automobile.

The Luce’s 13A was topped by a Hitachi-Stromberg four-barrel carburetor. So outfitted, the Luce may go from 0 to 60 mph in 8.3 seconds and hit a high velocity of 119 mph. It was solely offered in Japan and had a sticker value of 1.75 million yen. Accounting for inflation and foreign money conversion, that equates to round $40,000 at the moment.  

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