I am a member of the set construction crew at the Players Theatre at Port Macquarie, and we have to build 'Greased Lightning' for our upcoming production of Grease.

Our plan is to use the floorpan of my 69 beetle that has been in storage since I took the body off to do a re-build as a baja - about 37 years ago, and build a 'Greased Lightning' body for it.

So, this is what we have to end up with:



And this is my floopan as I have un-buried it and dragged it out of the garage



If anyone has any ideas or info, I would be happy to hear

oh dear, i think i can hear the song in my head even now..........dammit.

I have what may be an alternative plan, but it doesn't involve VW floorpans unfortunately. It would probably be much better suited to a Playschool (sorry, Theatre.... ) set though.

Make a really basic tube/rhs chassis, build the body of your dreams out of paper mache/fibreglass/etc for it, but then for drive units find some cheap 250W/500W electric bicycle or scooter hubs to drive the thing around on stage. Bugger all weight comparatively, electric though so still appears to "jump" a bit for effect, and WAY cheaper than rebuilding a VW chassis.

Have fun, sounds like a cool deal.

Not a bad idea, but we don't have time to source those parts & start from scratch.

The VW floopan gives us a rolling, steering base & seats that we can build a body on.

I am going to try and put a clutch & flywheel (no crankshaft) on a bracket bolted to the bellhousing, and a starter motor & a battery so we can drive it on & off the stage.

I put some wheels with tyres on it today and cleaned off the floorpan.



Later on, I put the seats on the pan. For the show, I will put my spare set of mag wheels on it, but not until we have finished painting etc. These were a painted set of wheels, quite marked and with some surface corrosion, but I have polished them the same as the ones I already have on my car, so I can run a pair on my trailer.

Ok, so I set up the seats on the pan so we could make sure the body wouldn't interfere with anything there, and it would look correct with people sitting in it.



Talking to the director, he want a bit flatter sort of Greased Lightning so it is easier to dance on



So, this afternoon, I started to make up the frame and attach it to the pan. I was thinking of re-setting the torsion bars so it didn't sit so high, but wasn't sure what to do with the front, then hit on the idea, I only need to compress the suspension and wire/strap/clamp it down. I don't need suspension travel on the stage, and it would be better to dance on if it isn't bouncing all over the place.





I had a type 111 bumper bar that will look good on one end - need to find another one - I will ask around locally. Looked the the headlights from the 69, and we can get them to work fine on this body I am sure. I will see how I go in the next few afternoons.

Interesting Project, looking forward to seeing the final product!

Tonight I framed up the 'boot lid' area so it is supported off the pan. Lucky enough, I had 2 brackets on the 2 big bolts in the end of the tuning forks which used to hold a skid plate - I did a lot of off road driving. This should make the boot lid strong enough to dance on.



I also framed up the front a bit more to take the 'grill' and the bumper bar, which fitted on a treat. I put 2 more struts down to the frame head at the ends of the Napolean's hat to give the bonnet and the front more support, especially when we cut the doors out.



Tomorrow afternoon, I am hoping to 'lower' the suspension with chains if I finish work early enough. I have a mate coming over for tea, so If I work too late, I will run out of time. The director also mentioned that he would like the steering wheel on the left - Grease is an American show, and they will all talk with Yank accents. It doesn't have to be terribly reliable steering as it will only travel at a push speed, so we are thinking of using 2 pulleys and a belt. Will have to think on this one.

Steering.........
solid rod across between stub axles, join the steering tube to it with an offset bit of pipe on the end of it. Sorta like a hill trolley for big boys!
I rekn belts would slip and cause the wheels to angle independantly.

It has all the steering rods, the steering box, and the coupler for the steering column to go in on the RHS, so both wheels turn as usual. I was hoping to put a pulley on the coupler rather than bolting the steering column to it, so then we could put the column on the LHS and 'Americanise' it.

Hey Jeff,
Would the steering box just bolt on the other side and swap sides with the tie rods?
Quicker and neater if it does.

Well, I got the suspension lowered. It looks better now, and will be a lot easier to get onto it to dance. The actual lowering only took a bit over an hour to do all 4 corners - I don't know what everyone makes such a fuss about it for. lol ........ mind you, I wouldn't like to drive it like this :-)

All I did was parked it under the big beam across my carport (that I use to winch my bug up to remove the engine or work under it), put a prop from the top of the shock tower to the beam, jack the suspension up, put a chain around it, shackle the chain, then lower the jack & remove the prop.



So this is the rear:



and this is the front:



and this is the result



I will see if I can frame up the back of the 'boot' tomorrow evening, and maybe look at framing the doors

Jeff, did you used to work at the Morgan factory ?

Dunno about Greased Lightning...Chain Lightning could be a worry, though.

So did I...that is, until I discovered STEEL.

I am a carpenter though - I do what I know. It only has to last about 4 weeks. Sets are all an illusion.

They say I am delusional, so I guess that is close. :-)

This evening I framed up the back



and did more framing on the front & the bonnet - it sure looks square & boxy in this photo. Once it's sheeted and the foam goes on & gets shaped it should look a whole lot better



I was hoping to start on the doors, but ran out of time - I was late finishing work. I will try & do them tomorrow night

This evening I got the doors cut out, framed up, & hinged. Sandy has to jamb Danny's hand in the door at the drive-in, so the doors have to open.



Now if only I could get the bodywork to appear like VW do with the Amarok in the ad. lol

Tomorrow we are spending the day working on it (except I have to duck off for a short while for a mate's funeral - he fought cancer for 9 years - plucky bugger), so hope to get the sheeting on, a lot of the foam on, and start shaping it.

Started cutting & fitting MDF sheeting & foam today. Starting to get a bit of an idea of what it will look like now.





Just have to keep working on the panels & foam now.

The Australian car manufacturing industry is alive and well and operating in Port Macquarie!
Nice work Jeff, you'll have SsangYong nicking your design ideas if you are not careful.
All the best, Rob.

Cut & fitted the last of the MDF panels today, and started shaping the foam on the bonnet & front guards.





I hope to get the windscreen in tomorrow, and hope to get more sheets of foam fixed on ready to shape.

This evening, I made up the windscreen surround and fitted the windscreen - an old sheet of perspex I have had for .......... I don't know - a lot of years. Could be over 30. The problem is, the glue holding the protective paper on it is well & truly dried out, so I will have to get tome stuff tomorrow to clean it off.





Tomorrow the plan is to glue a lot more foam on ready to shape, and maybe clean the paper off the windscreen.

One of the best builds yet...Maybe some Torana tail lights?......

Jeff, I find it hard to believe you have got so much done, in such a short time...Amazing !

Pity you're so far away. I would love to help out It'd have to be metal-work though, as wood is NOT my medium

And thanks for taking the time to show us the progress, as time must be quite valuable to you.

Hi Jeff, I am fascinated by this project and your skills. A truly worthwhile enterprise.

Will you be driving it to Valla??

Paint it black and tell everyone it's a replica. Put it on club rego.
It's better looking (and built) than one that has gone that route...

Thanks for the comments fellas. While it would be good to do it in metal, we just don't have the time - only have about 3 weeks to build it - show opens on the 22nd, and they need to practice on it before then. You can call in on your way to or from Valla and see it. lol

I don't know that I would particularly like to drive a car that shape for any amount of time - I am a beetleboy. I particularly wouldn't like to drive that car anywhere - if you have any sort of a close look at it, it isn't really very well built. It is just an illusion to be viewed from the seating area in the theatre. Good fun to do though. Time is a problem, I started late today after trying to finish preparing a contract for a job - will try and finish it & send it off shortly, otherwise first thing in the morning before the office dwellers start work.

So today's job was to fit the foam to the doors. The hard part here is trying not to get too big a gap in the foam to allow the doors to open when they are only a crappy timber frame on house door hinges, and the foam is 50mm thick.



I did the best I could by undercutting the back of the front guard, and then having the front of the door skin extend forward so it could open into the gap in the front guard.





I have thin PVC angles to silicone into the backs of the front guards so we can get clean edges that won't fall apart, and I was really hoping to get them done tonight so the silicone would dry so we could shape the foam tomorrow afternoon, but I ran out of silicone. I will get some in the morning as soon as I get the contract away and do it then. Hopefully it will be dry enough tomorrow afternoon.

I also got a heap of foam on the back guards and built the wings out to thickness ready to shape.



If I can get the angles in front of the doors done in the morning, Tim & I should get a heap of the sides shaped tomorrow evening (I hope).

I'm getting itchy

Looking good man

I put the foam on the back of the boot this evening, as well as on the top of the doors. I also started getting the 30 year old protective paper off the perspex windscreen - what a job.....

Tim did a lot of the shaping of the foam to the top of the fins,



and did a lot of the LHS foam shaping.



Tomorrow I hope to finish cleaning the paper off the windscreen & re-fit it, and maybe do the dash and cut out for the bumper brackets, but it will be a late start as I have a Master Builders Association committee meeting as soon as I finish work - I am the treasurer.

Tonight, Tim did a lot of shaping to the top of the doors and did some filling with builders bog & with expanda foam while I was at my MBA Committee meeting. When I got back, he did more shaping to the foam on the LHS. I got the perspex for the windscreen pretty clean, and Tim was saying the thought the windscreen looked too high as I had built it. After some discussion, I cut down the perspex & the windscreen frame and re-fitted it. I think he was correct. I then fitted foam to the front ready for shaping.





Tomorrow afternoon I have arranged to pick up a starter motor and a few things from 'Toey's' father ready for the car. I then have to save 27 lives (donate blood plasma at the Blood Bank) while Tim is shaping more foam, and when I get home I hope to start either fitting the steering column or fitting the clutch & pressure plate.