For Moose’s first birthday we had a “The Big One” surf themed birthday party and I knew I had to make this DIY Cozy Coupe Volkswagen Beach Van. This DIY cozy coupe makes a perfect birthday or Christmas present, reduces waste in the landfill by breathing new life into a pre-loved toy, and ensures your little one will be riding in style.
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Materials Needed
Second hand Cozy Coupe, pre-2009
Phillipshead screwdriver
Dropcloth
Trash bags
Duct tape
Rustoleum Painter’s Touch in Gloss White
Rustoleum Painter’s Touch in Ocean Mist
Newspaper
Rustoleum Clear All Purpose Top Coat
Rope or strap
Super Glue
Cloth diaper key chain (optional for our cloth diapering families)
Tide bottle for gas can
Finding A Cozy Coupe To DIY
I found this Cozy Coupe easily on Facebook Marketplace for $10. Since then I’ve also seen them reasonably priced at several yard sales.
For this classic look, you’re going to want to find a pre-2009 Cozy Coupe. In 2009 the Cozy Coupe was given eyes, which are much more difficult to work around for this upcycle.
Taking Apart Your Cozy Coupe
You’ll start by taking the top and the steering wheel off of your Cozy Coupe. Inside the “trunk” there is a screw on each side holding the back of the top on. Use a Phillips Head screwdriver to take these out.
Flip the Cozy Coupe over. There will be a screw holding in the steering wheel. Take the steering wheel out.
The front of the top is not screwed in. If you’ve taken the screws out of the back of the top, you should be able to wiggle the top off. Pop off the door of the Cozy Coupe as well. It is not held in by screws and should also wiggle off with a little effort.
Sanding And Painting Your Cozy Coupe
Once you have your Cozy Coupe disassembled, wrap the wheels in garbage bags and secure with duct tape to prevent overspray.
Clean your Cozy Coupe pieces thoroughly and lay them out on a drop cloth. Lightly sand your Cozy Coupe with sandpaper. You’re not trying to remove anything by sanding, you just want to rough up the plastic a bit so that the spray paint sticks to the plastic better to prevent peeling in the future.
Once sanded, spray your Cozy Coupe with two coats of Rustoleum Primer. Allow your primer to dry.
After your primer has dried completely, paint the top of your Cozy Coupe with two coats of Rustoleum Painter’s Touch in gloss white.
Paint the body of your Cozy Coupe with two coats of Rustoleum Painter’s Touch in Ocean Mist.
After the ocean mist paint has dried completely, use painter’s tape to create a line on the top of both doors and on the front of the Cozy Coupe going to the door. Cover the bottom of the doors and the section of the front that you want to remain blue with newspaper to avoid overspray. Paint the top of the doors and the top of the front of the car with your white paint. See photos below of the sections that will be painted white.
Once your white paint has dried completely, spray two coats of Rustoleum Universal Clear All Surface Top Coat over the entire Cozy Coupe. Let dry completely.
Reassemble your Cozy Coupe after the top coat has dried.
Surf Board
Coat your surf board cutting board with two coats polyurethane spray. This step is really important. I left the surf board as-is at first and had to replace it after it began to excessively mildew beyond repair from playing outside in the humidity.
Let the polyurethane spray dry completely. Tie your surf board to the top of your Cozy Coupe using rope or a strap.
Finishing Touches
Add a Volkswagen emblem to the front of your Cozy Coupe. These emblems stick on. You can also add these to the wheels to make hubcaps.
Add two of these stick on touch lights to the front of your Cozy Coupe, on each side of the Volkswagen emblem, to create working headlights.
Add the custom license plate to the back of your Cozy Coupe.
Replace the Cozy Coupe’s tail lights with these stickers.
Wrap chrome trim around the front of your Cozy Coupe and down the sides of the doors. This chrome trim does have a sticky backing, but I ended up also super gluing it down so that it held a little better.
If your second hand Cozy Coupe did not come with a key, you can order a replacement here. I also ordered an empty replacement key fob to attach to the Cozy Coupe key so that Moose could have a key fob like mom. *Do not put a battery in the key fob! Button batteries can pose a severe medical risk if swallowed.
Since we are a cloth diapering family and I keep a cloth diaper key chain on my keys, I added a cloth diaper key chain from Texas Tushies to Moose’s keys.
Gas Can Bonus
For an added bonus, use a Tide bottle and Microsoft Paint to create a little gas can to go with your new DIY Volkswagen Cozy Coupe.
The Finished Product
The finished product is an absolutely adorable beach van that is sure to delight your little surfer.
Feedback
Did you DIY your own Cozy Coupe? Leave a comment below and tag us in a picture on Instagram at @lintukotohomestead !
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