Pininfarina’s quirky NSU Ro 80 concept car features a rotary engine

The 1971 NSU 2 Porte + 2 spent much of the past two decades in the Audi Museum after being purchased by an American collector in 1995

The strange thing you’re looking at is called the NSU Ro 80 2 Porte + 2, and it’s a curious creation from Pininfarina that you probably haven’t heard of until now. The one-of-a-kind piece of art will be auctioned in Los Angeles later this month and is expected to sell for approximately $80,000. Not bad for a car that looks like it came straight from the fever dreams of a design studio.

The show car is based on the NSU Ro 80, a four-door sedan produced by NSU in West Germany from 1967 to 1977. Fun fact: NSU was acquired by Volkswagen in 1969 and later merged with Auto Union, eventually becoming the Audi brand we know today.

Approximately 37,000 Ro 80s were produced and Pininfarina chose it as the basis for one of its wild concepts. The 2 Porte + 2 was shown at the 1971 Turin Motor Show and the 1972 Brussels Motor Show before joining the Rudi Klein range in California in 1995.

Read: Los Angeles junkyard hides classic treasure worth millions of dollars

The original Ro 80 might be considered an oddball sedan by modern standards, but the 2 Porte+2 takes that oddity to a whole new level. Pininfarina replaced all the body panels, giving the front end a pointed nose, minimalist headlights and a tiny grille. Viewed from the side, it looks different from other cars on the road, with rear suicide doors and a roofline reminiscent of American sedans from the 1980s, complete with a flat rear decklid. This is definitely not your typical family sedan.

RM Sotheby’s is handling the sale of this automotive treasure, noting that it features a sliding roof panel that neatly tucks into a recess in the trunk lid. Inside, the revamp continues with eye-catching bright orange cloth seats and a flat dashboard adorned with large round gauges. This is a very striking interior.

The Italian design house did not modify the car’s powertrain, retaining the original two-rotor Wankel engine, which at the time produced 113 horsepower, transmitted to the front wheels via a three-speed automatic transmission.

After Klein bought the car in 1995, he showed it on the West Coast and then loaned it to Audi, where it sat in the company’s museum for several years. It recently returned to the United States for its first auction, ready to find a new home—or perhaps another eccentric collector who appreciates its uniqueness.

If you think this car has a place in your collection, you can find more details and attend the auction at RM Sotheby’s.

Patrick Ernzen/RM Sotheby’s