It was important for him to maintain the look of the original car, with the same color scheme, and no windows, BBC reported.
"What a wonderful idea to make something like that, but real," he told BBC. So, how much does a slice of childhood cost these days? The car's price on eBay, is listed as £21,500 or a little over $33,000.īitmead created the vehicle by modifying a Daewoo Matiz vehicle in 2013, with the help of his brother Geoff. John Bitmead of the United Kingdom decided to create an adult-size replica of a Little Tikes car, which runs on gas and goes 70 miles per hour, the BBC reported. The traditionally yellow and red plastic vehicles cost around fifty dollars and come in themes ranging from police cars to princess vehicles. Does your little tyke waste food Cutting down on food wastage is something all households should be doing. “I just hope my wife doesn’t leave me,” he jokes.A grown-up version of a children's push car is up for auction on eBay.Ĭhances are you've seen toddlers riding around or being pushed by their mothers in Little Tikes cars.
#LITTLE TYKE CAR FULL#
Meantime, his basement is full of Cozy Coupes, both finished and unfinished, parked neatly on the concrete floor or hanging on hooks from the ceiling. Sometimes, though, a sick child doesn’t survive the wait for his or her customized Cozy Coupe, which has happened eight times, says Nardiello, pointing to the decorated cars in his basement that he never got a chance to deliver. And then he personally delivers the vehicles to the kids, with some exceptions: For a child in Georgia, for example, Nardiello deconstructed the car and shipped it in pieces. He finishes one or two Cozy Coupes per month, spray-painting them in his driveway, working as fast as he can with one arm and a lot of persistence. Nardiello keeps track of his masterpieces on a poster he has dubbed his “Warrior Board,” which features photos of the children with their new rides, marked with the date they received them. “I thought I was a tough guy, but the stories get me every time,” he said. He’s working on one for a girl whose cancer treatment has required her to undergo 28 painful spinal taps. “I went down that road a long time ago,” he says, his tone implying a world of past headaches.įor some older, bigger kids, he’ll transform bicycles. And even a New Jersey Devils-themed car - which was tough, because Nardiello is a Flyers fan. A handful of Captain America cars, painted red, white and blue. A Cookie Monster vehicle covered in blue felt pieces, its little trunk filled with a few bags of Chips Ahoy! cookies. A cowboy-themed ride, topped with a ten-gallon hat. There was the Batman-themed car with a mask drilled into the top. Using paint, felt, sandpaper, disinfectant, and masking tape, Nardiello customizes the cars to a child’s specs. He then donates them to children battling cancer. Nardiello, 62, refurbishes discarded toy cars - specifically, those ubiquitous, bulbous yellow-and-red “Cozy Coupes,” made by the Little Tikes toy company that seat two and are powered by kids’ feet. “But it’s worth it when I see the smiles on the kids’ faces.” “It takes me a while to get them done," he says. But that doesn’t stop him from painting and customizing toy cars for sick kids. Rich Nardiello doesn’t have full use of his left arm and shoulder, and he drags his left leg behind him.
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