Phoenix, Arizona - To celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Rotary engined vehicle, Mazda North America has acquired one the original CosmoSport vehicles imported into North America, for the Curtis-Wright Aircraft Company, from Mr. Glenn Roberts of Arizona.

On June 4th, Mr. Jeremy Barnes of Mazda North America, and Mr. Aaron Robinson of Car&Driver magazine arrived in Arizona to fetch the newly purchased vintage Rotary. But, instead of a trailer and rig, the two drove up in RX-8 with nary a truck, rig, or hitch in sight.

This, as it turned out, was to be an adventure and feature story for C&D Magazine. It was about reliving the vintage Rotary sports car experience. The boys were going to drive the Cosmo from Arizona all the way back to Mazda HQ in Irvine, Ca. and write feature story for C&D.

At the start point, Mr. Glenn Robert's residence, to meet Jeremy and Aaron, were Tim Eull, President of the Arizona Rotary Club, and Glenn. After Tim and Glenn's initial shock that the boys were driving the vehicle back to California, and not storing it up in a climate controlled vehicle carrier, they helped prep to old girl for the long drive through what turned out to be +100' heat of the desert.

We are happy to report that the Cosmo made it to Irvine in great shape and without a problem in sight. It's reported that Aaron was very impressed with car and the unique experience of driving vintage Rotary sports car such a long distance. This by the way is the same type of Rotary car that ran and finished fourth overall at the grueling 84-hour "Marathon de la Route" race at the legendary Nürburgring circuit in Germany in it's day! So what was a five to six hour sprint through the desert heat? The RE legend lives on!!

Enjoy the pics and look at for a full feature in C&D magazine soon.