Sunday, February 5, 2017

Tastee Freez Twin Restoration Complete!

Greeting fellow fans of giant fiberglass statues!

After several months of extensive restoration our Tastee Freez Twin Eff is finished and he's now back with the rest of the family. In the end he took 114 hours of work to bring him back to his incredibly handsome, birthday-suit-wearing self.

Eff roaming the hallway at VR Headquarters

 Below are a few photos from along the way showing the different stages of restoration. Unlike our statues produced by International Fiberglass (the A&W Burger Family, Big George the Muffler Man, etc.) Eff needed much more work due to originally having a skim coat of Bondo between the fiberglass and the paint. Over the years the weather had taken a toll on him and several areas of the Bondo had deteriorated and broken. The worst spots were under his eyes, the top of his swirl and his mouth.

Paint stripping was the first step

As we started with the paint stripping we were able to find his original colors - brown syrup, a red tongue and bright yellow body - just like the original comics and the salt and pepper shakers available in the 1960s.

Under his eyes were patches of deteriorated fiberglass

In the photo above you can see where water had penetrated the paint which led to the Bondo popping loose and the original fiberglass rotting away.

Brain surgery

Repairing his face was a bit of a challenge as the only openings were the bottoms of his feet. Being around seven and a half feet tall it made it nearly impossible to reach up in there. The solution was to remove the back of his head so we could rebuild both the inside and outside of his face.

Facial reconstruction in progress

What followed was dozens of hours of sanding and patching until we felt he was as nice as the day he was created. Then came the fun part - seeing him with paint again.

Yellow body color was applied first

It was quite a shock seeing him bright yellow again considering he looked like an old biscuit that had been out in the rain for years when he arrived.

Chocolate syrup being refreshed

 Eyeballs and tongue to finish him off

After paint was complete he received multiple layers of clear to give him a bit of protection which will hopefully keep him looking sharp for another 50 years.

Dreamy eyed

It's hard to believe that we first saw a photo of him about 10 years ago and now we've gotten the chance to preserve him and keep a piece of oddball roadside history alive. Maybe someday we'll find a strawberry-haired Tee to complete the set!

Eff pre-restoration


Jeff & Kelly
Vintage Roadside