Moller knows
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Moller knows
A little known insignificant fact, that Sam knows, is OMC was the only American company to produce a rotary..at that time, and maybe till now..
A GREAT thread..keep it going..
Thank you,Quote:
Originally Posted by LIQUID NIRVANA
That's a reasonable approach ...Now can you shed any light on Edgar Rose's involvement (or lack thereof) in the Curtis Wright/Wankel/OMC chain of events?
T2x
Quote:
Originally Posted by T2x
Edgar did indeed come from Curtis Wright and may have had
some involvement in hiring Harry Ward & Mike Griffith (both
CW rotary people); that was before my time at OMC. While I
was there, Edgar had virtually nothing to do with the Rotary
program. I worked for Edgar as part of my initial training prograam We were trying to develop a viscosity independent carb. so we could recycle heavy ends instead of dumping them overboard. He was Charlie Strange's buddy and as I remember was involved in APBA. There have been other rotaries produced in the USA. There are huge oil field engines still
running today; 1000 HP types. I think CW made them, but may
be mistaken.
I worked with a fellow for many years who had worked for OMC back then, his name was Don Werder- he has since passed away i guess 10 years ago or so. He showed me many photos of the rotary motors, and made mention he had worked the outboard ,snow mobile division and i thought he said the rotarys also.
But anyway, i heard someone- i won't mention his name- has 2 of these rotary motors in his collection. I would be great if he'se following this post and might be willing to share his story on where and how he was able to have such a motor. :smiletest:
Are they complete
Quote:
Originally Posted by LIQUID NIRVANA
If i heard right, one was complete and the other was missing the lower?
If you know this guy, how about you contact him directly; e-mail or phone. I would be very interested in knowing what vintage he has. I can identify them.Quote:
Originally Posted by htower
John.
I think we would all love to hear his story and i would think he is following this post, since i've seen his name on Screamandfly. Some people like to fly low and stay under the radar, i personally like people to see what i have collected over the years.
be respectful and contact him personally/privately. He is a great guy and if he wants to keep his stuff private, then that should be respected.
JT
I agree completely, this is why i have not made any remarks in reguard to his name. I only suggested if he was following the post . I will not make any other comments. thanksQuote:
Originally Posted by JWTjr.
Amazing history of the Rotary. But the follow-on has me laughing so hard I have tears running down my cheeks and I pissed my pants. Jackie - I love your new title "Ol Cranky". Can't wait for OFF. - :p Steve Sirois
Great stuff.
So we all know and appreciate what Ken has done.....he is a OMC historian and fan only. He's a working stiff struggling to pay bills and survive.
Not a retired guy with time and $$$, just a love for the history and with enough dedication (and time) to continue to search, dig and protect it.
He forwarded me a preliminary version of the story and I expected some ........"discussions" to take place ;)
As John and others have said, "after 35+ yrs"..............
Great read and history regardless :thumbsup:
As to successes with rotaries I would point to Mazda. I was a huge IMSA sports car race fan back in the late '80's and Mazda won and set almost every race/record they entered.
I want to say it was in the GTU class with the "U" meaning under 3.0 liters.
As I recall, they experimented in other classes as well but they OWNED GTU for many yrs winning all the sprint races and the endurance races including Leman, Daytona 24, and 12 hrs of Sebring among others for many yrs in a row.
One thing I do remember is they were one of the first and only teams to run a muffler back then as the painful shriek from the open exhaust would melt the wax out of your ears :eek:
Gary
Hey Steve, I love the story of OMC's Rotary efforts and would not belittle their efforts in any shape or form----It's just that the tales i hear and the memories some of the OMC guys have do not tie up with the facts as we know them.Quote:
Originally Posted by seeroy
Now ,if you had the U.S. Government begging you to build all the rotaries you could build. [ That's an open checkbook if ever you saw one] one would think that a company that was in deep Poo-Poo financially would have grabbed that lifeline. Hells teeth, the government were going to sue OMC if they DIDN"T build the things. That does not have a ring of reality in it somehow.!!!!???
I think someone is having a laugh, or trying to pull my plonker.!!!!
AS for the wonderful Mazda Rotary, log into RX8 RECALL---RX LAWSUIT---- RX ENGINE FAILURE.
The Renesis is claimed to be the current leader in the field of Rotaries, ASK any MAZDA dealer and he will tell you that it's a customer relations nightmare. Joe Pub. loves all normally aspirated Mazda's but not the RX8.
One last little dig-------why do most RX owners put a Detroit V8 in place of the rotary.?? ANS. "cos they like the car to run".
Still waiting to hear about the ONE Rotary that is alive and well and making money, ANY TAKERS ???
Jackie: If you recall this was 1973 and OMC was having record profits. One of Ken's posts shows OMC's financials at the time. Nobody said anyone threatened a lawsuit. What actually happened, was they threatened to have Robert McNamara (sec of defense at the time) personally call. He never did. Look at Ingersol Rand's 1000 HP oil field rotary. They have been running for 10 of 10000's of hrs.Quote:
Originally Posted by jackie wilson
John