You’re driving through the Sahara Desert when you hit a rock and destroy your car’s front axis. You’re 20 miles from the nearest village and food and water are in short supply. What do you do? Take your entire car apart and then build a motorbike, of course.
This is the remarkable true story of Emile Leray.
The year was 1993 and Emile Leray was on a solo road trip across Morocco in his Citroën 2CV. He had traveled around the country many times before and knew it well, but on this occasion he hit a military roadblock who blocked his path. The authorities demanded he go back the way he came. Leray, however, had other ideas.
While attempting to circumvent the checkpoint by crossing the desert instead, Leray hit a rock and his car ground to a halt. He did what any resourceful mechanic would do, and stripped his car for its working parts, transforming it into a functional two-wheel vehicle which he rode to survival.
For 12 days and 11 nights, Leray was stranded in the desert, working on his ambitious escape. The shell of the car served as his shelter during the days and his bedroom during the nights.
It is worth noting that Leray had a penchant for cars, particularly the Citroën 2CV. So he knew the machine inside-out. He began by shortening the vehicle to fix the chassis and adding two wheels, but this was just the start. Leray then added suspension, an engine, ignition and a comfortable seat, before “training himself to master this machine”.
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Remarkably, it worked and he rode in the direction of Tan-Tan where he was delighted to again encounter civilization. Yet the police who met him were less excited, and especially unimpressed with his makeshift vehicle which failed to conform with the specifications of the Citroën 2CV Leray had registered. They slapped him with a hefty fine, worth 4,550 dirhams (450 euros).
A fine might not have been the return he was expecting, but Emile Leray lived to tell the remarkable tale and now has a collection of quirky machines made out of Citroën 2CVs. As well as his motorbike, he has since made a 2CV boat, a 2CV wood-cutter and even a pair of glasses from the seat’s rubber.
“You can make a lot of things,” he smiles. “The only thing I am missing is an airplane!”
If you enjoyed this story, we’ve got plenty more Great Big Stories like it, including the video below on the inventor Ivo Zdarsky. In 1984, Zdarsky escaped Czechoslovakia in a homemade aircraft, and now lives in an airplane hangar in Lucin, Utah, about 25 miles from his nearest neighbor.
