A “Grinchbike” for Christmas


Remember that famous scene in the film “How the Grinch Stole Chrismas” where Jim Carey as the young Grinch is cruising his custom Harley down the Whooville Highway in his black leather biker jacket and fingerless biker gloves to the tune of “Born to Be Wild”?



Didn’t think so…

But Jim Carey does and so do a hundred un-credited extras, un-mentioned crewpersons and forgotten craftsmen and set designers.

And so does the film editor who decided that this scene should “hit the cutting room floor”.

For every scene that makes it into a film, there are countless others that are written, planned, mocked up and sometimes even shot, that never make it into the final production.

Sometimes they are cut for budget, sometimes for dramatic effect, sometimes because a film is just too long, and quite often, scenes are cut to achieve a specific film rating.

Whatever the reason was… The Grinch’s “Born to be Wild” scene was just a little too wild to make the final print. All that remains of this scene is some footage in a warehouse, a bunch of disappointed crewmembers, a pair of fingerless biker gloves, a custom leather jacket with rather long arms, and a custom Whooville Hog…



The GrinchCycle !!!

This bike came to my attention one summer afternoon when I traveled out west to pick up a car-trailer that I had left behind on a previous cross-country trip. It was being stored at the home of a movie car collector and car museum owner.

After enjoying some conversation time, he asked me what I was transporting back to the East Coast and I replied that I just came for the trailer and was going back empty for a change. Never one to pass up an opportunity, I accepted the offer to share the ride home with two screen used E.T. The Extraterrestrial aliens,



a 6-foot flamethrower from Babylon 5, a guitar from Josie and the Pussycats, a rather large set piece from “Beetlejuice” and Jim Carey’s half Harley, half Vespa custom motorcycle from “The Grinch.”

(Actually… I volunteered to travel back with a live monkey too but that is another story)

The first time I saw this bike it was on display at a movie theatre lobby along with the motorcycle from film “Deep Impact”. I secretly hoped that I’d failed to remember a scene with the Grinch riding a moto-cross racer, but that was not the case. I would be traveling back with this huge chrome and fibreglass monster that looked like a train wreck had occurred between a locomotive, a nuclear reactor, a scooter and a pipe organ. With my trailer parked down hill from the movie theatre, I set about to be the first rider of the Grinchbike since completion of filming.

A monkey would have been right at home behind the wheel of this frightening contraption.

When I returned home with this collection of pipes, hoses and springs, I called it’s owner to arrange pickup.

“What’s it look like?” he asked.

“Like something Jessie James designed on an acid trip” I replied. “You mean you’ve never seen it?”

“Just a photograph from the auction company.”

“You know it came with a big box of parts don’t you?”

“Um… No…”



As is often the case with large movie props after a film has been completed, the bike had been damaged when transferred from one display and warehouse to the next. For a vehicle that was built to look like a porcupine made out of metal, this was not a good thing.

“Do you know anyone who wants to put it back together?” he asked.

At that moment, the Grinchbike became a celebrity guest at my shop and the last project to be completed at our Lebanon, NJ location.

I’ll have to admit, for a short project, this one was a lot of fun…

One of the first things to do was to put the bike in the middle of the room and empty the box of parts and try to guess where these things might have come from. With no reference material available, it was anybody’s guess as to where these parts were originally mounted.

Some parts even came down to removing screws jammed in parts and seeing which holes the fit into. Others were matched up by assessing the amount of damage to the main body and guessing which part could have caused it. Very much like building a 3D puzzle of something you’ve never seen before.

But with each part that found it’s way off the floor the job became easier and the pieces of the puzzle eventually fit into place. Some parts were actually a single part that had to be welded or glassed back together before they mounted up correctly, some parts were missing entirely and some parts were so badly damaged, they had to be rebuilt.

Such was the case of two strange looking pipes, we termed “intestines” that were made from aluminum, fibreglass and foam that seemed to take the weight of the fall and eventually disintegrated. With enough of each of the pipes intact, we were able to “guess” at what they might have looked like when they were first constructed.



Using bodyfiller and fibreglass, the “intestines” were re-sculpted to their likely original state, painted and re-attached.



The next thing that I set to work on were the bikes handlebars. As was the case with most of the items on this bike, they were either loose or broken off entirely. One thing you don’t want loose on a motorcycle is your steering mechanism. Whether it was meant to be loose (as was the case with many of the accessories on the bike) or came loose during storage, the massive handlebars were secured.

One of the original features of this bike was the smoke-screen device carefully constructed under the framework. This allowed the Special Effects department to pour in their favorite Top Secret smoke solution to a mechanical device that would cause both exhaust pipes to act as if the engine were billowing out some noxious petroleum byproduct cloud in it’s wake. This was to go along with the undoubtedly loud chopper engine noise courtesy of the Sound Effects department. Pretty neat because this vehicle was constructed on an energy-efficient Vespa scooter that actually runs on a pair of car batteries an makes no sound at all.

This smoke-screen exited through a huge pair of saxophone looking tail pipes with pine-cone exhaust tips. One of the pipes was bent, the other broken off completely and both of the metal exhaust tips were in the box of parts and so severely damaged they wouldn’t fit back in the tubes from which they had come.

One of the things I’d enjoyed while playing this twisted game of “Mr. Potatohead” with the bike was that I discovered that the overall look of the bike was designed to be twisted in the first place. Some of the things I’d taken to be damaged and bent, were done so according to the original design. I had to take care not to over-correct the damage that was supposed to be there in the first place.



Until such time as the unreleased scene becomes available, we can only imagine what this bike must have looked like cruising the streets of Whooville. The bike has a huge front end and gets smaller as it heads towards the back. Pipes stick out from everywhere and head off in unnatural angles. No two matching items are mounted the same or really match in the first place.

To make the look all the more whimsical, many of the accessories are mounted on springs!

Such was the case with the turn-signals and running lights. I found a few of these hanging from half broken pipes or dangling from their wires and discovered that some of the pipes had been sawed halfway through so as to allow them to dangle. Several of these had broken off, so we had to replace broken pipes, re-mount the lights…

then saw through them and break them again !!!



On the oversized aluminum tube handlebars were mounts for two rear-view mirrors. But the single mirror in the parts box was not of the same type as the mounts, a trip to a few motorcycle and bicycle shops made the discovery that the mounts were actually from mirrors from a child’s bicycle. A little searching turned up two kid’s mirrors that closely resembled the mirror in the parts box.

Now that we could steer the bike, it was time to see if we could get it to go.

Under the intimidating fibreglass engine cover sits a very docile little motor and two small car batteries. The wires had been cut to the original ignition key (which was missing) and the cables to the floor pedal of the Vespa were history as well. Being a motorcyclist myself, I knew there was only one place for the power to be controlled…

The throttle on the handlebars !!!

We set about running a new set of wires up to the throttle along what was originally a simulated throttle cable.

A few DAYS charge on the batteries got us our first signs of life from the bike. The tail lights blinks and the bike rolled forward about 6 inches.

Success !!!



Sort of… that six inches drained the batteries and those blinking tail lights were still being dragged by their cables extending from their broken mounts.



The battery charger was reconnected for the remainder of the restoration.



Once again, I had a hard time trying to get the tail lights on straight when it occurred to me that they weren’t designed to go on straight in the first place. I had to start thinking like a Whooville mechanic.

These changes in mentality lead to the discovery that what I had originally believed to be the driver’s seat was actually the passenger seat and vice versa. Just because it “made sense” that it would be more comfortable to ride a bike with huge handlebars and long foot-pegs from the back seat with a passenger or small Whoohound on the seat in front of you, didn’t mean that this was the way it was. More appreciation for the otherworldly flexibility of actor Jim Carey.


Once the seats were switched and the batteries were fully charged, it was time to take it for a test ride around the parking lot. I did this before painting in case I embarrassingly dumped the rather difficult to manage design.

Not one to be so bold as to take it on the streets, I did have an interesting time doing laps in the parking lot of the shop to the amusement of the gathering crowd of townspeople. And these people are not easily amused, they’ve seen the test rides of the General Lee, the Megaforce Armored motorcycle, my tiny pocket-bike motorcycle and even a tank. But still, this got their attention without making a sound.

Maybe that’s what got their attention?

One of the people who happened by really knew her motorcycles and was very interested in the bike. Ms. MotorcycleIndustryUSA stopped by for a look.



Within minutes, I had a model for my publicity shots who knew her way around a bike.

All that remained was to paint the bike, wash it up and shoot some pics.

Oh… and give about a hundred more tours of the bike.

With all the attention that the bike received, I’m surprised that it was cut from the film. From what little I’ve learned about the scene itself, it sounds like something that should have been included in the DVD.

So… with a little help from Nicole, Ms. MotorcycleIndustryUSA, and some old photos I had from the Whooville set on the Universal Studios Hollywood lot,



we tried to come up with a photo of what the Grinchbike might have looked like on film. But with Nicole, I’m sure that this is a pic that the Grinch would have likely had on his wall instead. I have one on mine.

Merry Christmas from the Grinch !