80-year-old Japanese woman donates RX-7 she daily drove for 25 years back to Mazda
Published on Aug 31, 2025 at 1:00 AM (UTC+4)
by Claire Reid
Last updated on Aug 27, 2025 at 9:15 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
An 80-year-old Japanese woman drove her Mazda RX-7 for 25 years, adding 48,000 miles on the clock, before giving it back to the carmaker.
Naoko Nishimoto from Nagasaki bought her beloved Mazda RX-7 when she was 55.
She fell in love with the car after first seeing it on the anime series Initial D with her son.
After seeing it on screen, she said she headed straight to her local Mazda dealership to get her hands on one, kicking off 25 happy years of ownership.
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She drove the Mazda RX-7 daily for a quarter of a century
Naoko learnt to drive back in 1965, when it was still relatively rare for women to drive in Japan.
She even went against her parents’ wishes to get behind the wheel, but it was all worth it for Naoko, who found real joy in driving.
During that time, Naoko drove around 48,000 miles and made sure to look after the car by treating it with regular wax coatings to keep it looking slick.
However, when she turned 80, Naoko made the decision to voluntarily surrender her driving license, leaving her with a car; she could no longer drive.
She wanted the well-kept RX-7 to go to someone who would truly appreciate it and eventually decided to give it back to Mazda.
Although pleased that the car was going back to its creator, Naoko admitted that it was a bittersweet moment.
“This car is my friend. A friend who was always there for me,” she told Mazda.
“I’m saying farewell to a dear friend. But that’s okay. Because thanks to this old friend, I’ve made many more new friends.”
What will happen to the RX-7 now it’s back at Mazda?
After Mazda took re-ownership of the 25-year-old RX-7, the marque committed to a full restoration.
“I’m a little jealous,” Naoko joked.
“My RX-7 gets to become young and beautiful again – how wonderful is that!”
The car was then set to be used as a publicity vehicle to help share Naoko’s touching story and the spread the joy of driving to a whole new set of motorists.
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With a background in both local and national press in the UK, Claire moved to New Zealand before joining the editorial team at Supercar Blondie in May 2024. As a Senior Content Writer working on New Zealand Standard Time (NZST), Claire was the first writer on the team to make the site’s output a slick 24/7 operation covering the latest in automotive news.
