What you've got in mind isn't easy, but hardly anything easy is worth doing. I performed a
motorcycle appearance to kick off my theater performances up until 2007. It was an original illusion and method fabricated by
William Kennedy. If you're unfamiliar with Willie Kennedy's work, he is incredible - the right hand for many years to another magician you may know a bit better: Doug Henning.
In a theatrical setting, deceptive appearances on this scale are not easy to pull off. Aside from Copperfield, I have rarely seen truly deceptive appearances on that scale, ever. Perhaps he set the bar too high. One of my most memorable words of advice as a stage performer came from Chris Kenner. It was the first night I met him. He watched a video of my (very, very, very rough) stage show. And his advice was two-fold: get rid of the boxes, and bring everything WAY closer to the audience. If you're performing at the back of the stage, your audience loses that intimacy that makes live theater... live theater. Years later, Chris's words could not have rang more true. Notice how in
Portal, Copperfield isn't just CLOSE to the audience: it's standing over their heads.
Logistically, modern stage illusions pose many challenges. You have differences in angles, lighting, wing space, and a host of other factors to run with. To add to that, the safety requirements baked in. In my own performances, we used a real Ducati. It weighed about six times more than I did. If it was moving, I was coming with it. The result - hours and hours of rehearsal - was an effective illusion with a lot of punch. My best advice to you would be to research as much as you can, and study what the greats - Copperfield, Henning, more - have already done. Then figure out how to make it your own.