MTFCA Forum

A While back there was a question on how the leaping leana [that's the ford t that was built to stand on its rear wheels ,] the question was how did the rods not burn up in this position , my uncle Charley made one of them for a V-F-W- in the town of Concord Mass years ago, i remember it well, I lived in West Acton at the time, and when the war was over that ole car was seen every where in parades, three guys in the rear unk in front, he had put a hand A brake in for each rear wheel, to steer it when it was leaping,i tried to find some one that would remember this ole car, but there all gone, I was nine years old and things like that had a lasting memory for me, this is what i think he did to keep those rods from burning up, knowing my uncle he may have drilled the block and installed external oil lines to each of the rods locations and fed them from a container of some sort, to start out the engine oil was at its lowest it could be, he would have rigged a valve to feed those lines , as i remember she smoked up a storm, and was a crowd please'r i lived a 585 mass ave the brick house in the middle of town, he drove up on our lawn to transfer oil out of the pan to the supply container under the hood. there were 5 0f those French boys and never a dull moment . wish i could go through those times again. [ i kinda do when i set back and think ]

Thanks Richard, that’s an interesting setup. I’ll take a closer look under the bonnet of Leapin Lena next time I’m in Temora.

Here is the original thread with pictures:

https://www.mtfca.com/phpBB3/viewtopic. ... enA#p51981

This discussion about Leapin Lena's caught my attention. Back in about 1973 my dad purchased two model T's one of which was this '26 touring Leaping Lena (which is exactly the name we called it). The previous owner was a Shriner I believe from Chicago. We attempted to drive around the neighborhood and soon realized it was too dangerous nearly hitting a parked car. I recall the rear end was a model A and bricks were placed under the rear seat for counterweight to achieve the right balance. Well, we soon sold the leaping car to a friend in the Model A club and he put at back to original with correct rear end and fenders etc. He drove it for a few years and sold it to someone in WI. I still have the other car a 1920 touring, which I believe was the car my Dad wanted in the first place. John

The earliest mention of Leapin Lena I could find was in the Harold Teen comic (published 1919-1959). I wonder if that is where the name originates?


There's a nice video of a Leapin Lena here. I think I got whiplash just watching it.

https://youtu.be/vG4yPl5qVT0