Behind the scenes of Jay Leno’s garage are a number of projects in various stages of completion. In the famous gearhead’s latest update on what’s going on in the workshop, he reveals the details of his personal accident on his Indian motorcycle. He also tells us about other restoration projects on his tank car, his 1963 split-window Corvette and his Ariel Atom.
When the crash happened in late January, we knew it was an Indian and that Leno had broken several bones. We also knew it happened because Leno hit a wire that caused him to fall. Now we hear about the incident from the man himself.
Leno says he was on his 1940 Indian Chief with the sidecar attached. The wire actually hit him in the neck as he threw him off the bike. As a sidecar, “the bike just kept going and hit a building,” says Leno. As we see in the video, the front wheel has been broken for a long time and the front of the sidecar itself also needs to be repaired.
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Leno plans to add a new set of forks and fix the other issues associated with them before getting back on the bike. “Fortunately, I’m only 72…if I had been an older man, it could have been a bad accident,” he says. As he recovers, he and the team continue to work hard on other projects.
The famous tank car with its M47 Patton tender engine turns out to be too big and powerful for its own good. The engine, which Leno says weighs “closer to four thousand pounds,” had literally cracked the chassis. As part of this failure, other panels had fallen out of line and the shop had to add structural supports to bring everything back into line.
Lenos is also in the process of rebuilding the engine on his 1963 Chevrolet Corvette. He says it’s been running just fine since buying it and he hopes the addition of new rods and pistons will bring it back to its original condition with a smoother engine soon. One car that no longer has its original engine is its Ariel Atom.
The lightweight sports car was originally equipped with a Chevrolet Cobalt four-cylinder. Leno says the ECU failed at some point after purchase, so he decided to fit a new motor in the chassis. That engine is a fully custom 3-liter V8 with Hayabusa heads and around 488 hp according to Leno. Hopefully we’ll see him on the road soon.
Photo credit: Jay Leno’s garage
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Behind the scenes at Jay Leno’s garage, there are a number of projects in various states of completion. In the famous gearhead’s latest update about what’s going on in the shop, he spills the details about his own personal spill on his Indian motorcycle. He also tells us about other restoration projects on his Tank Car, his 1963 Split-Window Corvette, and his Ariel Atom."
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Back at the end of January when the crash happened, we knew that it was on an Indian and that Leno broke a number of bones. We also knew that it happened as a result of Leno hitting a wire that caused him to crash. Now, we’re learning about the incident from the man himself."
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Leno says that he was on his 1940 Indian Chief with its attached sidecar. The wire actually hit him in the neck as it knocked him off of the bike. Being a sidecar, “the motorcycle just kept going and crashed into a building,” Leno says. As we see in the video, the front wheel is long gone and the front of the sidecar itself needs repairs too."
[3]=>
string(256) "
Leno plans to add a new set of forks and fix the other issues associated with them before getting back on the bike. "Fortunately, I'm only 72...if I had been an older man, it could have been a bad accident," he says. As he recovers, he and the team continue to work hard on other projects."
[5]=> String(378) "
The famous tank car with its M47 Patton tender engine turns out to be too big and powerful for its own good. The engine, which Leno says weighs "closer to four thousand pounds," had literally cracked the chassis. As part of this failure, other panels were out of line and the workshop had to add structural supports to bring everything back into line.”
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Lenos is also in the process of rebuilding the engine on his 1963 Chevrolet Corvette. He says it's been running just fine since buying it and he hopes the addition of new rods and pistons will bring it back to its original condition with a smoother engine soon. One car that no longer has its original engine is its Ariel Atom."
[7]=> String(418) "
The lightweight sports car was originally equipped with a Chevrolet Cobalt four-cylinder. Leno says the ECU failed at some point after purchase, so he decided to fit a new motor in the chassis. That engine is a fully custom 3-liter V8 with Hayabusa heads and around 488 hp according to Leno. Hopefully we can see it on the road soon."
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