Restoring a Yard Sale Cozy Coupe Fire Truck

It is nearly the end of summer and there are garage sales everywhere. Military families often receive orders to move in the summer. Moving often initiates purging of household goods before and after a move. As a result in our military communities we often see large volumes of yard sales in person and online.

It is a great time to get unique pieces of furniture, second hand toys, used surf boards, vintage ball gowns, and everything else you can imagine has traveled with military families around the country and the World.

This summer I was watching the yard sales for a Cozy Coupe.

I had told my friends to keep an eye out for a cozy coupe. They kept an eye on their local yard sales for a good low cost one. Having the wonderful friends I do they alerted me as soon as the perfect little fire truck Cozy Coupe showed up for sale in their neighborhood for $10!! That is a steal since they can retail for upwards of $60.

I knew I wanted to restore a Cozy Coupe for my toddler. I just needed the right model and a few additional materials.

The biggest challenge during the restoration was removing the old stickers. I tried multiple ways and found the most effective was to spray with Desolve-It to let the adhesive loosen then use a knife edge to remove everything sticking to the surface. I had tried sand paper and Magic Erasers and neither were as effective as physically scrapping off the loosened stickers.

After all the stickers were removed I washed and dried the Coupe with a hose and dishsoap. The I let it air dry.

Next step I removed the two screws in the “truck” area that hold the top in place. When they were removed the Coupe came apart easily.

After all parts were washed and separated.

I laid them down on old packing paper (we wrote an article on the many crafty things you can use packing paper for) in a well ventilated area then coated them in high gloss spray paint.

I choose high gloss spray paint for this project to give the finished product a shiny finish like a real Fire Truck. I did three separate coats of spray paint, letting each coat air dry before the next.

Once the paint was dry I reassembled the Coupe. It was very simple to get the pieces back in place before replacing the two screws in the back to secure it.

The finishing touch was putting new stickers on the Coupe. I found a store on Etsy that prints vinyl stickers for all kinds of Cozy Coupes for replacement or custom projects, The Toy Restore. They also have their own website. I ordered the Fire Truck set of sticker as well as a custom license plate. I am very happy with the products they make. They are thick and beautifully printed with vibrant colors.

And Voila! This yard sale Cozy Coupe transformed into a custom Fire Truck for one very happy little Fire-Truck-Loving toddler.

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