Category Archives: Reference

My attempt to compile as info as I can about toys, to help people to restore them…

How to Identify Your Model of Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Car

How to Identify Your Model of Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Car

How to Identify Your Model of Little Tikes Cozy Coupe
How to Identify Your Model of Little Tikes Cozy Coupe

How to Identify Your Model of Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Car. Or if it is made by Little Tikes at all?  Here are some of the most popular models, and how to identify them.  It is a quick reference of the different models of ride on cars for your toddler, so you can fix it up, or make it over. Keeping these great toys out of our landfills. I will be updating, and gladly fixing any errors I may make as I put this together.

How to Identify Your Model of Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Car : The Original Little Tikes Vintage 1980s / 1990s  Model Cozy Coupe Car

How to Identify Your Model of Little Tikes Cozy Coupe : Little Tikes Vintage Cozy Coupe 1980s / 1990s
How to Identify Your Model of Little Tikes Cozy Coupe : Little Tikes Vintage Cozy Coupe 1980s / 1990s
  • Made by Little Tikes.
  • Made from 1979 – 1990s.
  • Cozy Coupe Car.
  • has thin tube front columns.
  • two color schemes:  blue and yellow, or red and yellow.
  • Here is a link to my set of my regular replacement decals for this car.
  • Here is a link to a whole bunch more decals I made for this car.

How to Identify Your Model of Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Car :  The Little Tikes Cozy Coupe II Model (What I called the 90s)

How to Identify Your Model of Little Tikes Cozy Coupe : Little Tikes Cozy Coupe 2 II (2003-2009)
How to Identify Your Model of Little Tikes Cozy Coupe: Little Tikes Cozy Coupe 2 II (2003-2009)
  • Made by Little Tikes.
  • From 2003-2009
  • Cozy Coupe Car.
  • Has no eyes.
  • Has an indent in the front where the headlights go.
  • Has thick front columns.
  • Has many different color schemes.
  • Here is a link to my set of my regular replacement decals for this car.
  • Here is a link to a whole bunch more decals I made for this car.
  • I was mistakenly calling it the 90s model it will take me some time to fix this 🙂
  • I have a page on this model here.

How to Identify Your Model of Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Car : The Little Tikes Grand Coupe Model

How to Identify Your Model of Little Tikes Cozy Coupe : Little Tikes Grand Coupe
How to Identify Your Model of Little Tikes Cozy Coupe: Little Tikes Grand Coupe
  • Made by Little Tikes.
  • Front columns and roof all one piece.
  • Cozy Coupe Car.
  • pink trunk.
  • yellow roof with green body.

How to Identify Your Model of Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Car : The Little Tikes 30th Anniversary Cozy Coupe Car Model

How to Identify Your Model of Little Tikes Cozy Coupe : Little Tikes 30th Anniversary Cozy Coupe Lightning McQueen Makeover
How to Identify Your Model of Little Tikes Cozy Coupe : Little Tikes 30th Anniversary Cozy Coupe with a Lightning McQueen Makeover
  • Made by Little Tikes.
  • Made from 2009- ?
  • Cozy Coupe Car
  • Has eyes.
  • Thick front columns.
  • Several different themes and color schemes.
  • Here is a link to my set of my regular replacement decals for this car.
  • Here is a link to a whole bunch more decals I made for this car.

 

How to Identify Your Model of Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Car : Little Tikes Classic Pick-Up Truck (without Eyes)

How to Identify Your Model of Little Tikes Cozy Coupe : Little Tikes Cozy Truck No Eyes
How to Identify Your Model of Little Tikes Cozy Coupe : Little Tikes Cozy Truck No Eyes
  • Made by Little Tikes.
  • Cozy Coupe Truck.
  • No eyes.
  • has several colors. so far I have seen: black blue, and yellow.
  • Here is a link to my set of my regular replacement decals for this car.
  • Here is a link to some more decals I made for this car.

How to Identify Your Model of Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Car : Little Tikes Cozy Truck Model  With Eyes

How to Identify Your Model of Little Tikes Cozy Coupe : Little Tikes Cozy Truck With Eyes
How to Identify Your Model of Little Tikes Cozy Coupe : Little Tikes Cozy Truck With Eyes

 

  • Made by Little Tikes.
  • Cozy Coupe Truck.
  • Has eyes.
  • Two color schemes: yellow and dark blue,  and pink and purple ( princess).
  • Here is a link to my set of my regular Set Boy replacement decals, for this car.
  • Here is a link to my set of my regular Set Girl replacement decals, for this car.
  • Here is a link to a whole bunch more decals I made for this car.
  • At the current time of writting this Little Tikes is currently carrying the replacement decals on thier site, so if you don’t want custom decals, you can check there first to see if they are still instock.

How to Identify Your Model of Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Car : The Step 2 Tottle Tune Coupe Car

How to Identify Your Model of Little Tikes Cozy Coupe : Step 2 Tottle Tune Coupe Newer Model
How to Identify Your Model of Little Tikes Cozy Coupe : Step 2 Tottle Tune Coupe Newer Model

 

  • Made by Step 2.
  • Tottle Tune Car.
  • has the oval profile shape.
  • Front columns are thin from the front, and thick from the side.
  • several different color schemes.
  • Here is a link to my set of my regular replacement decals for this car.
  • Here is a link to some more decals I made for this car.

 

How To Fix The Gas Cap on Your Vintage Little Tikes Toy

How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap

What child doesn’t like to fill up their car with gas? Usually when I find a vintage Little Tikes ride on the first thing gone is the gas cap.  Here’s how I fix the gas cap on these toys. They originally had flimsy plastic tabs to hold the top of the gas cap on, and they broke off over the years. With design changes, the newer Little Tikes replacement parts don’t fit the older ones anymore, but you can easily make them fit, by drilling a hole.

How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : Each Project is Different

As with any case of modifying new replacement parts to fit older toys, these instructions will vary depending on future design changes on the gas cap. In this case, I used a replacement part from a 1990s version Little Tikes Cozy Coupe, on a vintage Little Tikes petal tractor. I believe the 30th Anniversary model is the same basic design as well, but I have to double-check my measurements on that, and I will update this post when I do.

How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap :

Find the Replacement Part

 

  •  Call the 1-800 number on your toy, or visit the Little Tikes website to see if they offer replacement gas caps. If not  you can easily find sellers on Ebay who will offer them. If I have any available you can order them HERE.

How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap :

Remove the Old One

  • Pry off the old one, and clean the plastic.
How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : Replacing an old style Little Tikes gas petro cap with a new one
How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : Replacing an old style Little Tikes gas petro cap with a new one

When you compare the vintage style to the newer style, you will note that the vintage one has a larger diameter then the newer one. Luckily there is a smaller plastic column in the newer one to help hold it in place, otherwise the newer gas cap would just fall out.

 

How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : A comparison of an early 1990s vintage gas / petrol cap versus a newer late 1990s - early 2000s Little Tikes Cozy Coupe gas cap.
How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : A comparison of an early 1990s vintage gas / petrol cap versus a newer late 1990s – early 2000s Little Tikes Cozy Coupe gas cap.

 

How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap :

Measure

 

How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : Measure out there to drill the smaller hole for the Little Tikes Ride-On
How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : Measure out there to drill the smaller hole for the Little Tikes Ride-On

Just for when the design changes, you should double-check to see where to drill your hole. When I first did this, I didn’t measure a thing, I just eye-balled it all. I marked the place to drill the hole, in the above photo, and I eye-balled the drill bit size, as in the next photo.

How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : Find the right grill bit. You can eye ball the size by placing the bit in front of the plastic column. If you should just barely be able to see it on each side.
How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : Find the right grill bit. You can eye-ball the size by placing the bit in front of the plastic column. If you should barely be able to see it on each side.

When eyeballing things, you want the drill bit to be the same size  or slightly smaller. So place the grill bit in front of the plastic column, if you can slightly see the plastic column on each side of the grill bit, then you have a good size. You don’t want it too small, or too large. If you make it too small you can re-drill it with a larger grill bit, or crave it larger with a box cutter. I measured the plastic column for the newer replacement part and it is 6.3mm, so  6 mm grill bit would work fine. I will add the equivalent imperial measurement when I find my imperial drill bits, or my scientific calculator.

How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap :

Drill the Hole

 

How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : gas-cap-5
How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : For my example, using a 1990s version replacement gas / petrol cap on a vintage Little TIkes petal tractor, I drilled the hole 10mm from the outside edge of the large hole, to the center of the smaller hole.
  • Drill your hole, and push in the new cap. Hopefully it all fits snuggly, if not, you could thicken the larger column of plastic on the replacement cap with electrical or duct tape to make a snug fit. But I have never had to resort to that, the drilling always seems to work out fine for me. You could also choose to turn the cap a different direction and drill again. The first hole would be hidden behind the cap.

How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap :

Pop it in

 

How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : New gas / petrol cap for your vintage little tikes ride on.
How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : New gas / petrol cap for your vintage little Tikes ride on.

 

How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : New gas / petrol cap for your vintage little tikes ride on.
How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : New gas / petrol cap for your vintage little Tikes ride on.

Please feel free to ask me questions, I will gladly update this file as I can.

How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box

How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box

How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box : Replacement stickers or decals to fix up your Little Tikes Football Toy Box.
How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box : Replacement stickers or decals to fix up your Little Tikes Football Toy Box.

How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box. These have been around since the 1970s, and are still going strong. Usually the only thing missing is the decals to restore them to like new condition. I sell replacement decals for it (HERE), and here are some tips on applying them.

How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box:

Remove the Old Decals First

How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box : Football Toy Box Restoration 1
How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box : Rubbing Alcohol

First remove the old decals, by pulling them off, as much as possible. Then you can use rubbing alcohol to move all the glue residue. If you leave some of the residue on, it will show underneath as lumps.  Also be sure to wash off the rubbing alcohol before applying as it will weaken the adhesive.

How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box:

Apply The New Decals

Once it is clean, dry and smooth, apply the stripe decals, starting from the front, lining them up to the front outside indent. And removing the backing as you move from the front to the back, smoothing out the creases, and any air bubbles as you go along.

How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box : Football toy box smoothing out
How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box : Apply the new decals

These are made from a strong material that won’t rip or tear, but it can stretch, so be sure to place them properly first before pressing down and smoothing out.

How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box:

Yes, I can Customize it

How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box : Replacement decals for Little Tikes Football Toy Box, customized replacment logo plate.
How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box : Replacement decals for Little Tikes Football Toy Box, customized replacment logo plate.

Yes, I can customize the logo plate. I can put your favorite team, family name, your child’s name. The colors can change, and the font can change.  I just don’t have the Original Little Tikes Logo in stock.

 

Please feel free to ask me questions.

Melissa 🙂

How to Fix Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Wheels or Tires

How to Fix Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Wheels or Tires

How to Fix Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Wheels or Tires : Replace a missing tire with new parts
How to Fix Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Wheels or Tires : Replace a missing tire with new parts

How to Fix Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Wheels or Tires. I cannot tell you how many Cozy Coupes from Little Tikes I rescued from the garbage, or recycling, just because they were missing a tire, or front wheel assembly. Maybe people don’t have the time, or energy to fix them, but maybe they just don’t think they can. So here’s what I know of how to fix them, in the hopes that more are rescued from the landfills.

How to Fix Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Wheels or Tires:

Find Replacement Parts

 

Little Tikes offers lots of replacements parts, and you can get them from just calling the 1-800 number that is printed on your toy, or on their website. If they don’t have cozy coupe kits with the wireforms available anymore, then you can find sellers on Ebay who will offer what you need.

How to Fix Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Wheels or Tires :

Vintage 1980s Original Model Cozy Coupe: Front wheel Assembly Replacment

With the older 1980s vintage models, the front wheels, and wireforms are quite different from the newer models, but you can modify the newer parts to fit them.  The major differences are in the wireforms.

blog-replace-wireform-simple-measurements600
Front Left Little Tikes Cozy Coupe wireform comparisons. and measurements, Vintage 1980s vs 1990s model (no eyes) vs the 30th anniversary, (has the eyes). These measurement go from the edge of the rod, to the notch that catches the washer to hold the tire or bushings in place.
Recognize the notch to take proper measurements.
All the wireforms have this notch. My measurement are from this notch to the end of the rod. This is the important measurement to understand.

 

How to Fix Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Wheels or Tires :

Equal Sizes for Both Front, or Both Back is Important

There are two forms needed for the front, a right and a left. If you are unsure which one you need, I’ll put that to an end now. You need both, as the angle is different, and the newer tires are larger so you have to replace both wireforms and tires at the same time. If both your vintage tires are still useable then you could use them. The idea is that it must be the same on both sides. So the tires must match, and the wireforms must match each other.

Comparison of vintage Little Tikes cozy coupe tire vs a 30th Anniversary model coupe
Comparison of vintage Little Tikes cozy coupe tire vs a 30th Anniversary model coupe

Yes it sounds expensive, but if you sell the parts you don’t need, that can cut the cost down a bit. I know it is not hard to list them on Ebay and sell them.  Maybe have a peak on Ebay first to see if someone is selling a vintage tire, or wireform before ordering new parts from Little Tikes.

How to Fix Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Wheels or Tires :

Removing The Old Parts

A word about dismantling your older coupe. If you can avoid pulling off the old version cap nuts, do it, as they are VERY hard to pry off. And if someone knows a trick to this I would love to hear it.

A Comparison: Old Little Tikes vintage cozy coupe capnuts, vs the new cozy coupe capnuts.
Old Little Tikes vintage cozy coupe cap nuts, vs the new cozy coupe cap nuts. These cap nuts are quite universal too.

I think I found the easiest way to get them off is with a pry bar and a hammer and just tapping the pry bar with a hammer to wiggle it off. But rarely any of them were able to put back on.  I just pull off the top cap nut and the rest of the wheel assembly will come off all together.

Vintage Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Front Wheel Assembly
Removing just the top cap nut will leave you with the vintage wheel assembly still all together. Ready to sell on Ebay to someone else.

How to Fix Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Wheels or Tires:

Save Your Old Parts if Possible

Definitely try to save the original bushings, as they are shorter, and can make assembly easier. If you don’t have them, or you are going to use them with on another car,  you can use the newer ones, but then you need to increase the length of your upper straight length, the part that goes through the body of the car.

How to Fix Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Wheels or Tires:

Measure Your Cut

Once you have both tires and wireforms off, put on the new version ones. They will be too long for the older coupe,  but you can measure them out on where to cut them. The length will change depending on whether you have the old or new bushings. So measure them with the bushings you are going to use.  Give yourself a good 2 cm of clearance on the top. If you find the wheel is a little loose you can pry off the newer version cap nut much easier recut the wireform, and put it back on. Obviously if you cut it too short, you won’t be able to use it, so really put a lot of thought into the length. And as I said before, you have to replace them with either two new wheel assemblies, right and left sides, with wireforms, and wheels, or find some vintage parts you need, and replace them. If you end up replacing with all new parts, please sell the old stuff you had. I promise you there is someone out there who needs that left tire you don’t anymore.  🙂

How to Fix Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Wheels or Tires

Make Your Cut

So here you are, you have two new 30th anniversary wireforms, and two new tires from a 30th anniversary, how do you make it fit your coupe. Easy cut it with a hack saw to the right length.

Just cut it with a hack saw
Just cut it with a hack saw

 

A vise grip holding it to a work bench makes life easier, but I have to admit I have tried several Macguiver type set-ups and it still worked out fine.

I’ll be adding more to this hopefully adding links and more pictures and stuff.  Please feel free to ask questions. I will try to answer as quickly as I can.