As many of oyu have experienced, I also had the "leaper" fall of the hood while closing it; however I was able to recover all the parts including the spring, metal stop and torn wire, I though of many solutions to make it easy to compress the spring to restore functionality and finally came up with super easy way to fix it and all it takes it having access to a bench vise, wire cutters, a flat screwdriver or small chisel and a hammer; you will not need a swaging tool to compress the ferrule
First, remove the leaper mount from the hood by taking out the big plastic nut inside the hood, The base has a glue strip that holds the base tight in place, no problem, just take a length of dental floss, slide it under the front and using a awing motion it will go through the glues strip with no problem
Luckily my local Westlake hardware store used to have small engine repair shop and luckily still have the setup in place and I was able to use it.
- Buy one foot of 1/16' wire and one 1/16" aluminum ferrule with 2 holes which looks like a figure 8 when looking at it from the end; cost $1.05.
- Thread the wire through the hole on the bottom of the leaper until both sides are about even, app. 6" each. thread the two wires through the hole in the ornament base, the spring and the spring stop; you might have to enlarge the hole on the spring stop some to allow both wires through and then tread the wires through the ferrule holes. if the end of the wires are fairly smooth and not fraying they should go through the holes without any problem,
- Next, place the ferrule at the edge of the vise jaws so they the ferrule is held in place but allows wire movement. Press on the leaper to compress the spring while pulling the wire carefully (it helps if you have a helper).
- When the spring is compressed sufficiently tighten the vise as hard as you can and it should compress the ferrule so it holds the compressed spring and wire in place.
- With the components assembled place the ferrule on the hard surface of the vise and use the screw driver or small chisel and hammer and with one sharp blow place one grove on each side of the ferrule to permanently seal the wire in place.
- Cut excess wire.
- Return the assembled components to the hood and tighten it in place with plastic nut, the glue strip should still be functional.
- Enjoy your work.
Once I figured out how it works it took 5 minutes to remove the ornament base, about 5 minute to assemble the components and tighten ferrule, 5 minutes to reassemble the hood ornament and base on the hood and it was very ease to do. Hopefully someone will benefit next time.
I have attached a few pictures including a rough schematic of the vise setup. Having the vise makes the entire process very simple since it is very easy to compress the spring by pushing the leaper towards the vise

Original Components

Ferrule on vise, tight enough to hold it in place but not to tight to prevent the steel wire from sliding.

Ferrule in place and compressed.

Completed assembly ready to go back on the hood.