NAGASAKI -- As her 80th birthday approaches this December, a resident of this southwest Japan city has decided to give up her driver's license -- and let go of the beloved RX-7 sports car she has cruised around in for the last 25 years.

The now 79-year-old Naoko Nishimoto will sell the RX-7 back to its maker, Mazda Motor Corp., which will keep its wheels running at events.

Nishimoto said of the car, "The RX-7 has been a partner and friend with whom I have shared my life. I hope many people will continue to love it."

Mazda: 'We want to convey the joy of the car'

When Nishimoto was working as a clerk at the age of 55, she was looking to buy a new car. She checked more than 10 dealerships for a two-seater, but found nothing that piqued her interest. She then fell in love with the RX-7 when she first happened to see it in an anime series that her second son had recorded. "Its outline is beautiful," she thought. She immediately bought a brand-new silver model for around 3 million yen (about $20,000 at the current rate).

She has used the vehicle for daily necessities like trips to the supermarket, and it has racked up about 75,000 kilometers over 2 1/2 decades of use. Even now, it runs smoothly, with a pleasant roar from the rotary engine audible from the driver's seat. Nowadays, a car that went out of production over 20 years ago is a rare sight, and when waiting at the traffic lights she recently was given a thumbs-up from young motorcycle riders.

She made up her mind to let go of the beloved cruiser in December 2022 when she turned 78. Although she felt no anxiety about driving, she decided it'd be best to hand in her license before she had any regrets, and chose her 80th birthday as the right occasion.

Hoping to pass the car to another woman, she searched for its next rightful owner, and even appeared on TV and in other media. When the PR department at Mazda caught wind of her story, they sent out an email: "We believe that the story of 'living a long and vigorous life through the power of a car' will inspire lots of people," the company told her.

Nishimoto had received around 400 emails from those wishing to acquire the vehicle, but she happily decided to sell it back to Mazda so that it could continue to be seen by as many others as possible. Once the car has been paid for, it will be checked by the company's specialist mechanics and then used as a promotional vehicle for a variety of events.

Hideaki Tanaka of the domestic public relations team at Mazda's domestic product marketing department said, "The RX-7 is a difficult car to obtain, and female owners are rare nationwide. Through Ms. Nishimoto's RX-7, we want to convey the joy of the car."

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The RX-7 integrated Mazda's technical prowess and included a high output, low noise and vibration rotary engine. Around 810,000 of the vehicles were produced between 1978 and 2002. Having plenty of overseas fans, the car was featured in "The Fast and the Furious," and it has been immortalized in the street-racing manga, anime and game series "Initial D" as the car owned by the protagonist's rival.

(Japanese original by Kazuki Kawashima, Nagasaki Bureau)