The S65, being a V8, may not be longer than an S14 (is it?) but those two heads up high also mean a lot of weight exactly where you don’t want it.

True, most likely not, but...

A crazy idea, although not so much an engine swap but a platform swap:

UAZ also built Ladas/Zhigulis (you know, the old Fiat 124) with Wankel powerplants; also, allegedly, for the security forces.

I like it!

I suppose you are talking about the US model?

With a special chilly bin to keep a steady supply of a certain kind of ice cream?

Saab Turbo engine, Opel/Vauxhall Omega gearbox.

Do that to an old Giulietta and some guys with big lapels, funny accents and no sense of humour will pay you a visit.

Felix Wankel – who could not drive, himself – had an R017 SL converted to rotary, using an prototype engine intended for a boat, if I recall.

Very nice idea!

It’s been done. Quite often, in fact... but you probably get closer to the whole Stratos experience if you fit Alfa’s Busso.

It’s been done many, many times. In fact somewhere in Europe there is a sort of 2CV racing category specific for cars so converted.

Yeah, why not kill the perfect balance and handling of the first M3 by dropping a whopping big V8 into it?

Very nice. Good call deleting the idiotic late Turbo wing. Although I have to acknowledge that at least this car had the correct setup: rear wing and front lip have both to be present. Just the rear wing, Porsche used to insist, makes the car unstable.

I know! The problem is “airship”, which in proper usage refers to a motorised, steerable lighter-than-air craft (hence “dirigible”).

Many, many moons ago I handled briefly a very interesting book which covered all kinds of GP/F1 results and statistics. I think it went as far as listing pole positions, hat-tricks, Grand Slams and such. Compiling all that must have been a huge undertaking; even most amazingly, it only listed one person as the author. …

I suspect some fine day that person will also find out about the first The Magnificent Seven.

True, but do bear in mind that the road versions of the really nice Group N/A cars (say, the Delta Integrale or the Escort Cosworth) were generally better made and more accomplished, product-wise, than any previous “fast” cars homologated for Group 2 racing/rallying.

Shh!