80-year-old woman gifts her 25-year-old manual RX-7 to Mazda after surrendering her license
- The woman bought an RX-7 when was 55 years old
- After 25 years, she had put over 48,000 miles on the car
- She had bought it after watching ‘Initial D’ with her son
Published on Dec 26, 2024 at 3:38 PM (UTC+4)
by Nalin Rawat
Last updated on Dec 26, 2024 at 3:38 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Siddharth Dudeja
A Japanese woman donated her 25-year-old manual RX-7 to Mazda on her 80th birthday.
She bought the car after watching the anime ‘Initial D‘ with her son and fell in love at first sight.
The Japanese housewife Naoko Nishimoto owned several unique vehicles before she got her hands on the RX-7.
And that started a journey of 25 years and 48,000 miles.
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80-year-old woman donates her 25-year-old RX-7 to Mazda
Nishimoto got her license when she was 21 years old, and since then, she has owned Toyotas, Publicas, and Coronas.
However, when she was 55 years old, her Corona Coupe started to malfunction.
And that’s when she saw ‘Initial D‘ with her son and loved the style of the RX-7.
It is one of the few underrated Japanese cars petrolheads secretly dream about.
After that, Nishimoto immediately went to a nearby Mazda dealer and bought the car for 3.2 million yen.
She bought an RX-7 Type RB S variant with some light performance goodies like suede seats, rear spoiler, ZR-rated tires, and fog lights.
25 years and thousands of miles later
After 25 years, she had put over 48,000 miles on the car.
“At first, I thought that if it started to go wrong after about 10 years, I could just switch to a new RX-7, but when I heard that production was ending and I could no longer switch to a new car, it became even more important to me,” said Nishimoto.
Moreover, the RX-7 stood the test of time, most likely due to regular maintenance and servicing.
In an interview, Nishimoto said she was looking for someone to take over ownership of her Mazda RX-7.
It was because she was going to give up her driver’s license when she turned 80.
After seeing the interview, Mazda reached out to her.
Further, seeing the heartfelt email, she decided to donate the car to Mazda, who will use it for special events.
Nishimoto also had a lovely handoff ceremony at the local dealership, where she purchased and serviced the car.
Nalin started his career by working with various national newspapers in India. He has also worked as a writer/editor for many popular websites, while still pursuing his journalism and mass communication degree. Working as a digital nomad has allowed him to inform and educate through his work. When he is not writing, you can find him playing video games or travelling the mountains on his bike.
