Creative dad designs incredible Toy Story cars for his baby twins for just £45
- Liam Andrew, 29, picked up two coupes for free from Facebook Marketplace
- He transformed them into amazing Toy Story-inspired vehicles
- The entire project cost just £45
If your kids are Toy Story-obsessed and you’re looking for a way to bring a little Pixar magic to your garden, look no further than this creative dad and his Little Tikes Cozy Coupe transformation.
Liam Andrew, a 29-year-old estimator and father of two from Clacton-on-Sea, decided to use his lockdown creatively when separated from his twins Jude and Florence, 18 months.
He picked up two coupes for free on Facebook Marketplace and spent just £45 transforming them into tributes to the famous movie.
Liam told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: “Myself and the twins’ mummy have been having regular video chats so that the twins can hear and see me still.
“We talked about how as they're getting to that age now - 18 months - that they would really enjoy a coupe each so that they can play out in them in the sunshine as they love the garden.
"I didn't want to just go and buy them the coupes though - I have a bit of a creative flair and wanted to make them something that no-one else has and that was special.
"I had seen the Woody design online but no one has ever made a Jessie coupe before and so I had to use my initiative to make it look relatively like her.
"The twins are obsessed with Toy Story at the moment and so it made sense to make them a matching pair.
"I picked up the coupes for free from Facebook Marketplace and bought the paints from B&M and The Range and got to work in the evenings, a weekend and on my lunch breaks painting the cars.
“I used a mix of PlastiKote spray paints, acrylic paints and a clear gloss lacquer to make sure the cars were waterproof. It took approximately 10 days to do from start to finish, but I had to fit it around a full time job, and cost me around £45 for both cars.
“I spent £25 on five cans of spray paint so £5 per can, £10 on acrylic paint, one can of spray gloss lacquer at £5 and £5 on the two cowboy hats from ebay!
“My top tips would be to make sure before you start that the cars are nice and clean and dry.
“Make sure you don't make the same mistake that I did and use regular masking tape, as when I was preparing Woody's checked shirt, regular masking tape peeled some of the paint off and it was heartbreaking!
"Use frog tape - that's the best tape for the job to mask off certain areas.
"You're only limited by your imagination so go wild, and once you're happy with how it looks, remember to seal the cars with a top coat - I used PlastiKote gloss lacquer.”
The project was a great distraction for Liam during the lockdown when he was unable to spend time with his twins.
"This project was particularly helpful to me because as I'm missing my twins terribly and still can't wait to see them,” Liam adds.
"They live with their mum and it helped to take my mind off of missing them for a little bit and instead made me look forward to thinking about their little faces once they saw them for the first time.
“It's not ‘just’ a lockdown project - in my opinion, there's no reason to send your own coupes or other garden toys off to live in some landfill site when other children can still get a lot of joy out of them. Upcycle!
"All of the things I bought can be found in B&Q, B&M, The Range, Wilko - all high street names!
"I dropped the cars over to their mum the evening they were finished and she loved them. I also found out the next day that the twins loved them even more!”
Tom Church, co-founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, comments: “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and this saying has never applied more than when you look at the abundance of perfectly good items available for free on Facebook Marketplace!
“It’s amazing that Liam managed to bag these two cars entirely for free, and spent just £45 transforming them into these jaw-dropping Toy Story-inspired vehicles.
“His twins must absolutely love them, and parents across the country will no doubt want to copy this genius, wallet-friendly idea!"
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