Hello. I'm now the owner of a Siver 09 plate Copen with 18000 miles on the clock. I picked it up Monday and have taken a couple of days off from working to apply some rust prevention wax to the sills and wheel arches etc. I've also put a couple of new tyres on the front. I have another impractical car which is a highly modified Vauxhall VX 220 Turbo, I thought the luggage space was small in that!!! I'm going to try and keep the Copen standard, I will have to manufacture some replacement seat belt guides that work though!! I've only done a couple of hundred miles do far but I'm really impressed with the drive, not quite the performance of the VX220 but great fun in its own right. Dave.
Welcome to Copenworld, it sounds like you are already enjoying your Copen. You do get used to the seat belts after a while and there are some threads on here telling you how you can improve them. DaG was making his own guides at one point but I am not sure if he ever reached the point where he was 100% happy with them or there are some that you can buy from chrome design in Germany that might give you some ideas. Otherwise the Kumoi Motors ones from Japan are a thing of beauty but I don't think that you can buy them anymore:-((. Have fun.
Trustafox has a silver 09 Copen and resides at shepshed Loughborough. He hasn't been on here for a while I wonder what has happened to him? Two silver shepshed Copens now.
I made twenty sets in mirror finish stainless steel but as you say I wasn't 100% happy with how they looked. I sent a set down to Foxy for an opinion but he never said what he thought. I currently have just a stainless plate in place of my guides I've done away with the loop the belt passes through. The plate is shaped to the curve of the seat side and is more or less the same profile as the original plastic guide. The front edge of the plate goes around the beading on the seat back to stop the belt from wearing the leather when I pull it across. I'll take a picture when I get some light.
Thanks for the replies. Loads more fun driving around Suffolk over the last couple of days. I've been using the seat belt out of the guide and only using the bottom part of the guide to "store" the belt so it doesn't slip behind the seat! I've not seen another Copen in Shepshed yet, I will keep my eyes open but a friend has seen one in Loughborough a few times. I do see one around Bingham (nott's) a yellow one advertising a Pizza House and used as a delivery vehicle, not sure how many they can deliver with the top down, perhaps that's where the heated front seats come into there own! Dave
Weirdly I was going down Iveshead Road in Shepshed last Thursday in my silver Copen and there was a silver Copen pulling out of Charnwood Road and that must have been old Trusafox. Small world init
I had a look on your website earlier, I was curious what engineering you do. One of my favourite cars and a car id love to own is the mk1 frog eyed sprite. I always wanted to get one and restore it but it never happened. The copen is a kind of sprite substitute and one of the reasons I bought it. Not quite the same but near enough.
I make make Big Healey panels, mainly the inner body panels for the 3000 and 100. I also make tuning parts for the VX220 and bespoke parts for other vehicles, some quite obscure such as a chimney for a Sentinel Steam wagon and some fuel tank fairings for a Hawker Hunter! In the past I've done a lot of work for Noble Automotive and still do a few bits on the M600. I have had a few Frogeye Sprites and yes the Copen is like a modern version. I assembled a few body shells for the company that made all the panels a couple of years ago but he sold his business and now they are made in Manchester I think. This year I have also looked after an MG Midget that has been raced in the Lackford Challenge (with success!) as I used to race a Frogeye in the Austin Healey Championship many years ago also with a bit of sucsess. In fact that particular car is sitting in the corner of my workshop and I try and do a bit of work on it every now and then, just needs about 3 days work and then it's ready for paint having had a total body rebuild. Dave
Hello Dave! Sorry I'm a bit late spotting you! I'm a fellow Leicestershire owner, living a few miles south of Leicester, but I often pootle into the Loughborough area. I'll look out for you Gill
