Thursday, July 22, 2010

Pimp My Ride

Is that title offensive? Can I say "pimp my ride" on a craft blog?
It's done, now. If it shocked you, please forgive me :)

My little boy (Asher) is turning 4 in just a couple of weeks. Recently, I asked him what he wanted for his Birthday. He said he wanted a black car. To ride in.
Now, since he already has a cozy coupe AND a power wheels jeep, there was absolutely no need to buy him a new ride in vehicle.
But I'm a sucker for this face.

I had to figure something out.

So I made over his old Cozy Coupe.
Are you aware that this is the best selling car in America? It's popularity is astounding. This review, about it's attributes, had me rolling on the floor.

Anyway, on to the makeover.
Ash has had this car for almost 3 years, now. It was his Birthday gift when he turned one. He was delighted with it then, and has played with it non-stop since.

It was actually a little beat up...
Here it is, before:
 

To start, I disassembled it. I scrubbed the whole thing down and removed all of the decals - didn't want to be painting over stickers!
 

The drivers door (the one that opens) was cracked at the bottom - a result of my daughter standing on it to climb on top of the coupe. My husband used some sandable plastic epoxy to repair it. It worked REALLY well, filling in the cracks completely.
 

Then I gave it several coats of this paint

Rustoleum Direct-to-Plastic Spray Paint. No sanding or priming required. In High Gloss Black.

When the entire thing (including the undercarriage!) had been painted, I rigged up a cover for the body using an old sheet that just allowed the seat to show through. Then I painted it white - using the same type of paint.
 

Once all the paint was on I gave the car a couple of good coats of a sealer - Rustoleums Clear Top Coat.

Then I reassembled and started on the detail work.
I considered purchasing another set of decals from Little Tykes - the cost is VERY reasonable...until you add in shipping. I always have a problem paying 4X the amount of the product for the mailing.
So I improvised.
Using paint pens I drew on a personalized license plate and filled in the tail lights.

Then I used a silver sharpie to give it a grill, some door handles and to outline the ignition.
I really wanted to give it a speedometer or a radio on the dash, but with the top of the car back on I just didn't have a good angle to draw it with.
 

Last, but not least, I gave the coupe white-wall tires. Ash requested them specifically. I actually used wall paint on this part - mostly because it was easiest!

After all the details were drawn on I gave one more coat of clear. And then a few more coats of clear.
I'm worried that my makeover won't "stick" - the paint scratched off quite easily in the beginning. I had to touch up quite a few spots...
However, the longer it's on there, the better it seems to be doing. Hopefully it will eventually become part of the plastic :)

My boy loves it - and it's much more to his taste now. A classy black coupe with white wall tires feels so much more grown up than the red, yellow and blue original! LOL
Here it is...all pimped out :)


   



Linking up to...
Transformation Thursday at the Shabby Chic Cottage
Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple
What Are Little Boys Made Of at Seven Thirty Three
Get Your Craft On at Life as Lori and
Look At Me at Fun to Craft

61 comments:

  1. This was the most awesome makeover of a Little Tike item I've ever seen! Love how you made it more grown up for him and more manly!! Love the license plate on the back with his name too!! You might be in the start of a new side job! I'd go out and look for this stuff and yard sales and re-do it and then sell it! I would totally buy one from you! -Karen

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  2. oh my gosh! soooo cute! I could certainly see this in a girly pink too.

    great idea!
    gail

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  3. oh, my cozy-coupe got lots of love and faded away in the sunshine.

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  4. This awesome I am so going to look for one of these, second hand and make it girly for my little one!!

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  5. Genius! It is now very "grown up" looking! : )

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  6. Our little car is on boy driver #3. What a super project!

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  7. awesome idea! i've always wondered how those plastic spray paints worked...there could be so many uses for it!
    meagan

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  8. Wow! I can see a makeover wave of cozy coupes all across America!!!

    Thanks for sharing with What are little boys made of?

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  9. So cute! I'd be a sucker for that face too :0)
    Much more "manly" now~~you did a great job!

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  10. What a cool ride! My son loves his cozy coupe, but it's a bit sun-faded (the neighbours gave it to us as a hand-me-down) - maybe we could pimp it up too!

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  11. Thanks for posting this. I plan to do the same thing with one I scored off freecycle..I'm thinking batmobile with some vinyl decals!

    Cute!

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  12. I love this! My daughter has a really sad old car that could use some freshening up. Thank you so much for the idea!

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  13. I just LOVE the cozy coupe makeover! You are totally on to something here!! I'm loving your blog and following you now!!

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  14. Yep, thats pretty much awesome! Love it! Great job! I have been so inspired lately by all the Little Tikes makeovers. I might have to attempt this for my son once we move. Found you on Somewhat Simple

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  15. What a cool car. I still have the one my girls played with years ago. They are now 16 and 18. I should do this and put it up for their children. Thanks so much.

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  16. OMG! So cute and fabulous idea! I have an oversided wagon made out of this plastic too. I totally need to try out the paint. Fabulous job!

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  17. i love this!! i can see us doing that to our sophia's car down the road.. it's pink and if we have a boy we'll probably have to de-girl it a bit. hehe.

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  18. I am so stealing this idea! What a clever, clever idea! THANKS!

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  19. SO cute, I love your idea! I will definately be passing this on to other Mom friends!

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  20. You’ve got a great blog here and this car is amazing! Would love it if you’d link up some of your creative ideas for toddlers on my Tot Tuesdays Linky Party:
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  21. You really did a fabulous job. I especially like the license plate idea. Did you end up having a lot of scratches, or the paint coming off? I was thinking that because you did a few coats of that sealant that it probably do the trick.

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  22. Wow, nice to see the pimped Cozy Coupe of your son! If little children want to pimp their little cars, what more those big boys? Some of my friends wanted a great pimp for their Avenger dodge caravan. Edmonton, our hometown, luckily has a lot of trustworthy dealers, that's why they've got their Dodge in a affordable price. Most of them wanted to change and add such new design for their car, since their dealer advises them about it.

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