The march of car-themed face masks continues as Japan struggles to deal with COVID-19. Though Japan’s coronavirus death rate — a little over 1,000 — is pretty mild compared with that of the US, themed masks are still doing brisk business there. The latest caters to Mazdafarians with an officially licensed RX-7-themed mask set, which is said to have been designed with Mazda’s rotary engine as inspiration.
The “Rotary Spirit” mask case is made by WakiPrintpia, the same company that recently released series of classic Nissan mask cases. Like those sets, this one doesn’t actually have a Mazda on the mask itself. It’s simply a mask holder for ordinary white disposable masks.
However, whereas those Nissan mask holders opened along a horizontal fold and contained just one measly mask, the Mazda holder doubles your mask-holding capabilities with two slots. The company says this was inspired by the dual-rotor construction of the original Mazda 12A and 13B engines. And, they say, the fact that you can fold it in half and easily slip it into your pocket so you can go out empty-handed was informed by the RX-7’s compact and lightweight philosophy. Hmmm.
That seems like a stretch, but at least it has some snazzy images of an SA22C, FC3S, and FD3S RX-7 printed on it. And when you have it in your back pocket you can show anyone looking at your butt that you’re an RX-7 fan. Adding to the Nissan mask set and the BRIDE reusable mask made from racing seat material, there are several choices on the market for hygiene-minded car nerds.
Hello. And Bye.