Hi I am Kate, 24 yrs old, - now a proud owner of a 2004 659cc turbo Copen: The previous owner has made many changes to the car; evidently to show her love of the colour red! I really like the look of Copens that have been made to look a bit retro - such as the Aston Martin kits I seem to see in Japanese forums from time to time. This car is a bit of a project, so I'll be asking a lot of questions around parts / mods to help me on my way. If you have any advice or pointers, or have a retro project Copen of your own, I'd love to hear your thoughts and recommendations. Swaps or offers of parts gratefully received! Nice to meet you all, hope to speak soon!
Wow, CopenKate, that looks well nice! I was excited by the prospect of a 2014 Copen, but I'm guessing it's a 2004! Nice Momo steering wheel with red centre boss (mine is black with red inserts on the rim) and your dash looks lovely. Red alloys too - quite a looker! You are so going to love driving that car and what with your project ideas it's going to be a totally fun time! Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!
It the steering wheel painted? I've never seen an OEM one with red centre before. Are they Copen mud guards or bespoke? I didn't realise the Copen turbo could go fast enough for mud splatter to be a problem If you like Retro Copens, then talk to DaG. Its not so much a retro project, more a retro driver. Although his use of doilies in the car is quite breath taking.
Cheeky bugger. I doubt most people today know what a doilie is. An old fart like you will know obviously but I had to google it. Old badger will probably have heard of them as well. The car looks great but the first mod I'd do is change the wheel colour. I'd then try and get the centre panel back to black or maybe cover it in a piano black or Kevlar affect wrap.
In other words change it back to near original you seem to be saying. Reading between the lines I don't think you like its doily-less design. Personally, I quite like the wheels............but on a copen, a darker shade to match more closely the red leather.
I think silver cars look better with silver wheels, preferably spoked on a small two seater. Red wheels look like they're made of plastic, like a toy car. Just my opinion.
Old Badger carefully places his dentures and truss on doilies every night before drinking his Horlicks and sipping a nice glass of Wincarnis
Absolutely, my thoughts too - it looks like a Lego car! - I would love wire wheels - what size wheels / width etc could I buy? There are some on ebay Triumph TR4 ones, would they fit?
Yes, sadly the steering wheel is painted and so is the centre console, and I would love to put them back to the original, it's a poor paint job too :-(
I'd be surprised if tr4 wheels will fit the Copen. There are lots of wheels for Copens on ebay and online wheel stores. http://www.lkperformance.co.uk/alloys-by-car/daihatsu/copen/2002-to-2012 Above is just an example plenty of others about. If you search this site and other Copen forums you should find threads about wheels with links to where different people have bought them. Another alternative to new wheels is to have your red wheels refurbished. The finish on original Copen wheels is called diamond cut. That means the wheels are painted but then the paint is cut from the front face of the wheels only leaving paint in between the spokes. The wheel is then clear lacquered to protect the bare alloy from corrosion. Or you could just get them painted and not bother with the diamond cut finish. You'll probably pay about £60 a wheel for this. There is a thread on here I remember reading that states MR2 wheels fit, have a search for it.
If you decide to cover your centre console in wrap you'll need to remove it. Trustafox covered his in Kevlar wrap so he might be the one to give you advice. A hair dryer is a useful tool to apply that stuff to allow it to follow contours. I'm sure you have one.
