Inside Lane - 1930 L'Eclair

Welcome to The Inside Lane, where we give you a quick rundown of some of the more notable pieces of Lane Motor Museum's collection.

On this episode, we take a look at one of our handbuilt, propeller-driven vehicles, the 1930 L'Eclair.

Built by Jean Legeay of Gennes, France, the L’Éclair is a home-built propeller-driven car. Built in Monsieur Legeay’s garage, he made every part, except the Indian V-twin engine, the wheels, and the gauges. He even carved the propeller himself! The name L’Éclair shares its meaning with the pastry; éclair in French means “flash of light”. It was said you ate the dessert as fast as a bolt of lightning. Monsieur Legeay also used the car from 1930 until 1935, making many improvements. He said the car ran very well, had smooth acceleration, and was faster than anything else of the time. The drawback was the noise; it scared people, and it was said he would also chop up many chickens that ran across the road in front of him. In 1935, he gave up on the L’Éclair to pursue other business interests.

The L’Éclair hung in the attic until 2004, when it was donated to Espace Air Passion, a regional airplane museum in Angers, France. In 2005, Lane Motor Museum borrowed the L’Éclair with the understanding that we would restore the original, and make a replica for ourselves. The project was completed in 2015.

Lane Motor Museum is one of the few museums in the U.S. to specialize in European cars. The Museum also showcases specialized cars, historically significant cars, and prototypes and home-built one-offs. It is a working museum with the goal of maintaining all vehicles in running order. Some cars are in showroom condition, while others represent typical aging. Efforts are made to restore each vehicle to near-original specifications.

The Museum has been developed in a well-known Nashville landmark, the former Sunbeam Bakery on Murfreesboro Pike. Home to the bread company beginning in 1951, the 132,000 square-foot facility was the largest and most modern bakery in the area at the time of its opening. The bakery building, outfitted for the museum’s needs but left with many of its original characteristics, has a high ceiling, natural light, and hand-crafted brick and maple wood flooring. The architectural style complements the age of the cars represented. The main floor has approximately 40,000 square feet of open space, ideal for displaying about 150 of the museum’s total 560-vehicle collection.

To purchase your copy of "a hobby gone wild," be sure to visit our online bookstore: https://www.lanemotormuseum.org/books...

Special thanks to our volunteer videographer Corey Gibb with LifeLike Imageworks: https://lifelikeimageworks.com