Few cars have been as important to automotive history, yet as overlooked and underappreciated as the NSU Wankel Spider. The Wankel Spider was the first production car to be powered by the Wankel designed rotary engine. These three rotary powered Spiders can be found as a package with extra parts on eBay, with a current bid under $500.

The red one is the only one with its rotary engine still in place. The grey one comes with its original engine, but is out of the car and in pieces. All three cars are in rough shape, but between the three of them it should be possible to put together one or possibly two complete cars.

The Sport Prinz that the Spider was based on wasn’t particularly spectacular. But with the roof chopped off and the tiny single rotor engine placed above the rear axle, the Spider became a spectacular car to drive. Its rotary engine was rated at 50 hp, which was a huge upgrade from the Prinz’s meager 2-cylinder engine’s 30 hp. Between the two engines included with these cars, it shouldn’t be too difficult to get at least one running.

The Wankel Spider was a very innovative car, but proved to be unreliable, which led to the car’s demise. Only 2300 Spiders were built and very few are still in one piece. The Spider showed the world the potential of a rotary engine paired with a light platform. While there are plenty of other cars out there that are faster, few are as unique or as nimble as these. If the reserve isn’t set to high, we think these cars could make for a great buy. We just hope they are not too rotted out and that someone will be able to get one or all of them back on the road soon.