I should start by saying I'm not 100% sure when or why I decided to call my new car Miss Cooper. Maybe Coupe-Cooper.. erm.. I dunno. But anyway that's what it's called for now.
It was originally French and ened up in the UK several years ago. From the service history it seems to have stayed on its French registration for quite a long time while it was driven in the UK. Lots of dealer service history and 1 lady owner. It seems to have been garaged at a point and changed hands to a dealer in Wales. It was advertised on here, bought and then I ended up buying it off ebay at a higher price. But that's business and I'm not complaining. Wish I had seen it when liste don here but anyway... doesn't matter.
I bought it and had it dropped off to Kit a good year ago and he was kind enough to do some work on it for me and store it while I was so busy I couldn't spare the time to come over and get it. Eventually I arranged to have it trailered to another friend in Germany so it arrived there a couple of weeks ago. I arranged my travel and flew over on Friday last week to get it.
I had a day tinkering in my mate's workshop (he restores cars to a scary level of detail including replicating the original part markings, including overspray and brush marks) so I had good company.
image by Miss Cooper Audi CQ20V, on Flickr
The original seats had been abandoned in Wales and I sourced rear black leather seats and front MK3 Golf recaros separately. Kit fitted the rears when they arrived at his place and the Recaros went in the tow vehicle, so Steffen (the German friend) fitted them before I arrived. He basically moved the seats about on the frames and refixed them straight so they wouldn't be wonky. They sit a bit high but to be honest the driving position is totally fine for me at 5' 10"/177cm. I would like to consider putting them on original frames though so the height can be adjusted. They are great seats and very snug. Definitely not for the wider ars3d driver though Pictures to follow.
I also had a 1 on 1 polishing & restoring lesson with a rotary polisher, which was friggin brilliant. Most of the paint work is good, with just a few chips here and there, but the bonnet has a bad dose of "orange peel" effect. So Steffen showed me how to work on it and the patch we did is about 80% better. So at some point (probably spring) I will dedicate some serious time to the paint. A few places definitely need some paint though so I'll be leaving that to the professionals locally.
Steffen swears by this product and insisted that I throw away whatever I have at home (and gifted me a bottle because I may not be able to get it in Finland).
image by Miss Cooper Audi CQ20V, on Flickr
He also used this on top and swears by it. I should be able to buy it easily enough though.
image by Miss Cooper Audi CQ20V, on Flickr
So anyway I left on Saturday evening, drove to Travemunde in North Germany and took a 29 hour ferry to Helsinki.
image by Miss Cooper Audi CQ20V, on Flickr
Then had a set of Hakkepelita 8 studded tyres fitted and drove north for 7 hours (including a few stops to piss/grab tea/stun teenagers with the sound of a 20v 5 pot). Weather got a bit interesting half way but calmed down again nearer home.
image by Miss Cooper Audi CQ20V, on Flickr
The main thing is the car is mechanically sound. It handled the pissing rain in germany and the slush and snow in Finland no problem. I overtook at speed on the snow and ice without filling my pants so that's a good sign.
I have quite an epic task list ahead of me, including some bits and pieces that I need to buy so if anyone can help with advice or any of the actual parts please give me a shout.
I have considered at times that I'm an idiot for spending quite a bit of cash and time getting this car but aside from an S2 it's the coupe that I need to have and I've only seen one for sale in finland in recent years (it was an American spec with huge bumpers). I plan to work away and get the car into a shape i'll be proud of. There will be a few non-standard mods but I'm doing this to have a car I want to drive, not to restore it to factory spec.
More later....
It was originally French and ened up in the UK several years ago. From the service history it seems to have stayed on its French registration for quite a long time while it was driven in the UK. Lots of dealer service history and 1 lady owner. It seems to have been garaged at a point and changed hands to a dealer in Wales. It was advertised on here, bought and then I ended up buying it off ebay at a higher price. But that's business and I'm not complaining. Wish I had seen it when liste don here but anyway... doesn't matter.
I bought it and had it dropped off to Kit a good year ago and he was kind enough to do some work on it for me and store it while I was so busy I couldn't spare the time to come over and get it. Eventually I arranged to have it trailered to another friend in Germany so it arrived there a couple of weeks ago. I arranged my travel and flew over on Friday last week to get it.
I had a day tinkering in my mate's workshop (he restores cars to a scary level of detail including replicating the original part markings, including overspray and brush marks) so I had good company.
image by Miss Cooper Audi CQ20V, on Flickr
The original seats had been abandoned in Wales and I sourced rear black leather seats and front MK3 Golf recaros separately. Kit fitted the rears when they arrived at his place and the Recaros went in the tow vehicle, so Steffen (the German friend) fitted them before I arrived. He basically moved the seats about on the frames and refixed them straight so they wouldn't be wonky. They sit a bit high but to be honest the driving position is totally fine for me at 5' 10"/177cm. I would like to consider putting them on original frames though so the height can be adjusted. They are great seats and very snug. Definitely not for the wider ars3d driver though Pictures to follow.
I also had a 1 on 1 polishing & restoring lesson with a rotary polisher, which was friggin brilliant. Most of the paint work is good, with just a few chips here and there, but the bonnet has a bad dose of "orange peel" effect. So Steffen showed me how to work on it and the patch we did is about 80% better. So at some point (probably spring) I will dedicate some serious time to the paint. A few places definitely need some paint though so I'll be leaving that to the professionals locally.
Steffen swears by this product and insisted that I throw away whatever I have at home (and gifted me a bottle because I may not be able to get it in Finland).
image by Miss Cooper Audi CQ20V, on Flickr
He also used this on top and swears by it. I should be able to buy it easily enough though.
image by Miss Cooper Audi CQ20V, on Flickr
So anyway I left on Saturday evening, drove to Travemunde in North Germany and took a 29 hour ferry to Helsinki.
image by Miss Cooper Audi CQ20V, on Flickr
Then had a set of Hakkepelita 8 studded tyres fitted and drove north for 7 hours (including a few stops to piss/grab tea/stun teenagers with the sound of a 20v 5 pot). Weather got a bit interesting half way but calmed down again nearer home.
image by Miss Cooper Audi CQ20V, on Flickr
The main thing is the car is mechanically sound. It handled the pissing rain in germany and the slush and snow in Finland no problem. I overtook at speed on the snow and ice without filling my pants so that's a good sign.
I have quite an epic task list ahead of me, including some bits and pieces that I need to buy so if anyone can help with advice or any of the actual parts please give me a shout.
I have considered at times that I'm an idiot for spending quite a bit of cash and time getting this car but aside from an S2 it's the coupe that I need to have and I've only seen one for sale in finland in recent years (it was an American spec with huge bumpers). I plan to work away and get the car into a shape i'll be proud of. There will be a few non-standard mods but I'm doing this to have a car I want to drive, not to restore it to factory spec.
More later....
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