A Japanese lady celebrating her eightieth birthday determined to mark the event in a singular manner. She not solely surrendered her driver’s license, but additionally gave up the guide Mazda RX-7 she’s owned for the final 25 years. Don’t fear, although, it is a heartwarming story
In a now-viral interview on YouTube by Nagasaki Broadcasting, Japanese housewife Naoko Nishimoto mentioned that she was searching for somebody to take over possession of her Mazda RX-7 as a result of she was going to surrender her driver’s license when she turned 80. After the interview Nishimoto was inundated with emails, receiving over 400 with presents to take the RX-7 off her palms. A kind of emails was from Mazda’s PR division.
It seems one among Mazda’s engineers had seen Nishimoto’s interview and instructed the PR staff to succeed in out to her. Nishimoto recalled seeing the e-mail to CarWatch Japan:
“It was an e-mail crammed with ardour and sincerity, and it appeared to shine to me.” The Mazda one who despatched the e-mail additionally had a robust attachment to the RX-7.”
Nishimoto owned quite a lot of distinctive automobiles earlier than she received her palms on the RX-7. CarWatch says she received her license when she was 21. Her possession historical past was largely Toyota, having owned Publicas and Coronas till one thing lovely occurred when she was 55 years previous.
When she was 55, her Corona Coupe, which she had been driving for almost 10 years on the time, began to malfunction and he or she was contemplating shopping for a brand new one. She occurred to be watching the anime “Preliminary D” along with her son and fell in love at first sight with the model of the RX-7 (FD3S). She instantly went to a close-by Mazda vendor and ordered a brand new automobile. The acquisition value on the time was about 3.2 million yen.
She didn’t buy simply any previous RX-7, both — she particularly ordered an RX-7 Sort RB S. This was a “base” mannequin with some mild efficiency goodies like suede seats, rear spoiler, ZR rated tires and fog lights. It had Mazda’s turbocharged 13B-REW Wankel engine making 261 horsepower, mated to a five-speed guide transmission. Over 25 years, Nishimoto put simply over 48,000 miles on the RX-7.
She says after a decade or so, issues are likely to begin to go flawed with automobiles. Not so with the RX-7. She was sadded to be taught when manufacturing of the RX-7 ended, because it meant she couldn’t exit and change it with one other one if she needed to. “At first, I assumed that if it began to go flawed after about 10 years, I may simply change to a brand new RX-7, however after I heard that manufacturing was ending and I may not change to a brand new automobile, it turned much more necessary to me,” she instructed CarWatch.
The automobile is now within the palms of Mazda, who gave Nishimoto and the RX-7 a handoff ceremony on the native dealership that she bought the automobile from and serviced it at. She was offered with flowers, the license plate from her automobile, and design sketches of the RX-7. Mazda’s President and CEO Moro Masahiro known as Nishimoto’s relationship along with her RX-7 a major instance of how automobiles are far more than simply one thing for us to get us round in. He additionally remarked how the RX-7 was particular to him.
“This was a transferring reminder that you just see a automobile not simply as a way of transportation, however as an necessary companion in life. It was additionally the primary mannequin for which I used to be chargeable for advertising after becoming a member of Mazda, so it’s a automobile that holds very particular recollections for me. We’ll treasure this automobile, together with tales of the times whenever you lived a contented, energetic and vibrant life, drawing vitality from the ability of automobiles.”
Nishimoto’s RX-7 shall be saved at Mazda’s R&D heart in Yokohama, the place the automaker says its public relations will use it for particular occasions.