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Pimp that Cozy Ride- Little Tikes Car Makeover

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little tikes car makeover

Unless you live in a cave, you’ve all seen the typical faded Little Tikes cars of various types. You have to admit, Little Tikes toys are kind of like the cockroach on Wall-E. They’re made so well, they’re going to be around forever no matter what happens to the world around us. However, if they’re left outside, the colors fade and they start to look pretty worn out, although they still have lots of life left in them.

I’ve had it finished for a bit, but wanted to see how well it held up before I tell everyone how to go do this themselves.

I’ve read lots about the Krylon Fusion for Plastics spray paint, and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to put it to use. For this project I used the Krylon Patriotic Blue Fusion for Plastic and in Hunter Green. I also used regular Krylon MAXX in silver metallic for the bolts on the wheels and the steering wheel.

Also, if you haven’t already seen it, I’ve completely made over an old bouncing pony with the Krylon Plastics paint, be sure to check it out HERE.

Anyway, back to the car, shall we?

Little Man’s car was originally the red and yellow kind that after years, looked more like pink and cream (sorry about the terrible fuzzy pic).

Following the manufactures instructions on the Krylon spray paint, I cleaned the car. Prep work is extremely important on this project. Next, I took it apart, which surprisingly was easy, because only two screws hold it together. Once I did that, I was shocked at how much nastiness hangs out in the cracks and crevices of this toy, and I had to clean the grimey parts again.

Next, I put plastic bags over the wheels, and taped up all the small parts I didn’t want painted blue or green, and went to town. I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel, so I’m not going to give a tutorial on how to spray paint without dripping, etc, but I’m sure there’s one out there somewhere.

The directions said the paint would be dry in 15 minutes, and ready to use within the hour. I actually let it set overnight before moving to the next step of taping off and painting the smaller details. I taped off the wheels and steering wheel and gave it a coat of Krylon silver. This actually wasn’t plastics paint, but I thought I’d give it a try anyway.

*NOTE* If I were ever to do this again, I would do the painting order opposite of what I did. I’d paint all the small parts FIRST, then cover them and paint the bigger parts.

After letting it dry overnight again, I was ready to put it back together. Once it was put back together, I had some finishing touches to take care of. With my white paint pen, I added a pinstripe, a license plate, and some eyes and a grill. Once that dried well, and just for good measure, I covered the entire car with Krylon for plastics Clear Coat.

I finished this car makeover about a month ago, and it has since been played with, climbed on, driven, and even left outside in the rain. I can honestly say that so far it looks as good as it did the first day. The only part of the paint that has worn off at all is where the door opens and closes. It just rubs too closely I guess. You can’t even see it when the door is closed though.

Needless to say, my sons love it! I’m on the lookout now for more cars to makeover. Wouldn’t a green and yellow John Deere car be awesome? You never know, one of these days, you just might see one here.


Reader Interactions

Comments

  4. Just Me.... says

    Wow that is pretty darm amazing. I need to start getting alittle bit more crafty..lol
    New follower from the blog hop would love it if you could come over and check out my site.

  6. Cook Clean Craft says

    That turned out great. Our Cozy Coupe was a hand-me-down from a neighbour, so it could definitely do with a remodel, although keeping my son away from it for a day or two may be a struggle!

  7. Eschelle says

    great idea I should have done this with ours when we had one lol!! We had to give it up though as we moved into an apartment.

  12. Natalie says

    Wow!! That's a huge difference! I love this so much! Thank you SO much for sympathizing with me on my contest misery and for voting too! I really appreciate it! And now I get to discover your blog and I love it!! It's so clean and organized and I can't wait to have time to putz around and look at everything! Definitely a new follower! Have a great day!

  14. kristen says

    that's awesome!!! I would have never thought that you could pimp a cozy ride. We have basically that same old style Cozy Coupe for our munchkin. It's his favorite toy ever.

    new follower via blog hop!

  20. Tammy in NE says

    I like the colors you chose. We did this with an old Little Tykes car we picked up at a garage sale ($5!) early this summer. DH painted the exterior black, the interior is cherry red, and we stenciled flames on the doors. Now I'm looking for one to do in pink and purple for my young nieces. :o)

  23. Mimi says

    I love this! My kids are grown and I wish that paint had been around when they were little. What a fabulous job!

  37. diane says

    I just found a car similar to this but its a bed I am going to paint it like a ladybug for my granddaughter now I know how thanks for the post

  39. Reiko says

    This is just what I did last summer and had high hopes for it to last but it really didn't. The paint goes on really well and looks great for about 4 months when it just starts peeling and chipping. Hopefully yours will last longer than mine.

  40. scoop says

    impressed, so well done! I have so many outdoor kids toys that have come faded from yard sales- this really dresses something old up, thanks for sharing the great idea!

  41. Anonymous says

    I repainted a battery operated quad for my grandson. After I sanded it I sprayed
    on a coat of plastic paint adhesion/
    adhesive that I picked up at a paint
    store. The product makes the plastic
    paint adhere better to the plastic. I
    then used a plastic primer and finally
    the plastic paint.

    It has held up fairly well but it did come off when it got scratched. For the time & money
    spent, I would not go to the extent that I did. It doesn't matter to my grandson in the least. He was just happy to have it. The "looks like new" was what I wanted. I need to quit being such a perfectionist! Keep It Simple! Definitely the way to go!

  43. Anonymous says

    I just found one of these in someone's trash by the road. Of course I couldn't pass that up! Was thinking of ways to paint it, maybe even a cute little Halloween coupe, but yours is soooo cute. You did an awesome job!

  44. Anonymous says

    I just bought a used one for 15$ and painted it -followed your directions. Wow! I decided to paint the bottom blue and the top red, and the gas cap bright yellow. It matches the play-set colors in my yard and looks amazing. Thanks for the great idea. My grandsons LOVE their "new" car.

  45. Ebeth says

    Curious to know if the paint pen portions have stayed on well. I want to get one of those push buggies for my niece for Christmas and personalize it with her name and am trying to figure out the best paint/method