Jonathan - GR Copen

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Greeting!

My name is Jonathan and I am the owner of the R34 Skyline GT-T in Macau which was published in the 1^st issue of Stance Auto Magazine, if you haven’t seen it yet I highly recommend to check it out! https://stanceauto.co.uk/jonathan-nissan-r34-skyline-gt-t

Since the Skyline is a very rare car in addition to her rather large engine displacement, hence its uneconomical to be used as a daily car; therefore, I was scouting around for a fun compact sports car for daily use while enjoy the modern fuel-efficient technology. At first a friend of mine introduced a descent second hand Abarth 595 M/T with reasonable mileage, but sadly another buyer has managed to place deposits in advance, and hence I was back to square one.

By coincidence I came across the late fall 2019 Osaka motor show and found out Toyota / Daihatsu (Toyota purchased Daihatsu back in 2016) have just released the new GR Copen, which is a 2 seat hard top convertible Kei car with manual transmission and turbocharged. As being a GR model, the Copen comes with 16inch BBS rims, Recaro racing seats and MOMO steering wheels; simply upon hearing these specifications my eyes were wide-opened.

For most of us living outside of Japan, Kei car (or keijidōsha 軽自動車) meaning “light automobile”; is the smallest highway-legal passenger cars which enjoy special tax and insurance discount. Despite limited by specify a maximum size (maximum length 3.4m; width 1.48m; height 2.0m); engine capacity (Max 660cc) and power output (Max output 47kW / 64PS); their compact size and very fuel-efficient engine proven to be very popular in Japan that 7 out of the top-10 best-selling vehicle in 2018 were Kei cars. Since Kei cars are Japanese only vehicles meaning that they are the true modern-day “JDM” cars, not only it benefits from the fame of JDM cars but also enjoy some true “Japanese Domestic Market” set up.

However for the export markets, Kei cars are considered too specialised and too small to be profitable, hence it wasn’t easy for me to import this car to my city; in addition to the pandemic and being the first M/T GR Copen in town. I had to wait about ½ year until delivery.

As a 90s kid growing up with video games and car-related media, there is no way I’d keep my car in stock form. Since the GR copen is the new Gazoo Racing specification car, I was looking for Gazoo Racing-inspired racing liveries. And of course, the most eyes-catching livery is the Toyota GR Supra GT livery. Based on the photos I found online and some similar projects being done in Japan, I’ve decided to warp the Copen into the GR racing livery. Since the car comes in yellow as stock colour option it was first wrapped with metallic white warp as the base colour, follow by red and black stripes to form the general appearance of the livery.

Upon finishing the first stage of wrapping, the Liberty Walk Copen GT-K GT wing and factory option TRD front bumper lip and splitters arrive.

Since the GR Copen is still rather new to the market, there isn’t too much aftermarket option parts available yet, in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic that heavily affecting oversea delivery, I have managed to find the following parts as of today:

• TRD Carbon Fibre Front Bumper Lip
• TRD Carbon Fibre Front Bumper Splitters
• Take Off / Cross Half Series FPR Side Skirt
• Liberty Walk Copen GT-K Version.1 GT wing
• HKS AD102 Racing Suction with piping
• Blitz Super Sound BR blow off valve
• Blitz Front Strut Tower Bar
• GReddy / Trust T34F Spec-K Inter-cooler with piping
• Rosso Modello – Colbasso Ti-C Exhaust
• Mick Corporation custom rear wind shield illuminated panel

Finally, the delayed Take off / Cross Half Series side skirt arrive; together with the remaining decals of the livery is also being completed.

My new modification would be power upgrade, but it all depends on the availability of after-market parts as the car being relatively new to the market.

As mentioned in my previous article with my R34 Skyline, my city – Macau; is renowned for the Macau Grand Prix, which is due to take to in late November every year. I am now in discussion with the authority and hopefully be able to participate with the inter-race parade drive. The Grand Prix will also be streamed live online, I highly recommend you to watch it.

I also have a Instagram page for my car → @GR_Copen_Macau

Please go check it out give me a follow !

Thank you so much for reading, as well as to the Stance Auto Magazine team to publish my story!!

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