It all started from a post on twitter by Kazue Ito, a Japanese actress, on her long-owned and beloved car, a Nissan CIMA. She posted a photo of the CIMA she’s been driving for 30 years when she took it for its annual safety inspection. The post created a lot of buzz. Comments included: “30 years? That’s just amazing!” and “Hope you can continue driving it like forever!”

Nissan instantly responded by setting up a voluntary team to announce their decision to restore the 30-year-old original model CIMA. There was nothing but positive reactions to this, “That’s insanely cool!” “Restoration? That’s so awesome!” “I’m starting to love Nissan!”

The whole restoration process was documented on social media over the following eight months. Parts no longer in production were reproduced faithful to the original. The restoration developed into a big news story and generated publicity worth over 3.4 billion yen. Rather than the latest model or a concept model, it was love for a long-owned model that increased affinity with the Nissan brand.