Building a motorcycle from a broken car in the Sahara Desert is an incredibly challenging task that requires numerous factors, yet Emile Leray managed to do just that and save himself while stranded in the desert.
Imagine being trapped in the desert with a broken car! You are far from the city with very little food and water. This may sound terrifying, but this is exactly what happened to Emile Leray, a French mechanic who found himself stuck in the Moroccan desert.
Assembling a motorcycle in the desolate desert seems impossible. With only basic tools instead of specialized ones, and no drill, torch, or forge, Emile Leray constructed a two-wheeled vehicle by simply screwing the parts together.
“I had to get my mind into survival mode. I couldn’t walk – the distance was too far.” A French man suddenly became famous 20 years later for pulling off an incredible feat: escaping from the Moroccan desert on a homemade motorcycle made from parts of a broken car. To accomplish this feat, Leray single-handedly converted a Citroen car into a motorcycle and earned the title of the world’s most resilient mechanic “survivor.”
“Mad Max” Frenchman turned a Citroen 2CV into a motorcycle.
In 1993, Emile Leray, then a 43-year-old electrician, decided to embark on an adventure in his Citroen 2CV from the city of Tan Tan across the Moroccan desert. However, things did not go as planned. After veering off the paved road for a while, Emile crashed his car and found himself alone and stranded in the desert. Knowing he wouldn’t be able to escape the desert on foot, Emile decided to build a motorcycle from the remnants of his now useless vehicle.
He had enough food and water for 10 days. After thoroughly considering the mechanical issues he would face, Emile began constructing his motorcycle the next morning. He started dismantling the Citroen, using the car’s body as a shelter from sandstorms.
This homemade vehicle helped Emile survive the desert to seek help.
Under the scorching sun and having to concentrate while working in a short-sleeved shirt, he fashioned sleeves from a pair of socks. With his genius engineering mind, he transformed the car’s impact-absorbing cushion into a seat; compacted the chassis and installed the engine and transmission to create a vehicle that could run long enough to get him safely out of the desert.
This adventurous survivalist began this impossible project thinking he could complete it in 3 days, but it actually took him a grueling 12 days – four times longer than he had estimated. With only half a liter of water left, he started the engine and rode this two-wheeled creation out of the desert.
Emile Leray, now 62, still keeps the vehicle as a memento of his incredible survival feat.
After a day on the motorcycle, Emile was discovered by Moroccan police and taken to the nearest village. He received a hefty fine from the police because the car documentation no longer matched the vehicle he was riding: a device that was half car, half motorcycle.
Although Emile’s miraculous story appeared on French television in the 1990s, he had no intention of publicizing this achievement, and it only recently surfaced on a motorcycle website. Leray currently resides in Northwestern France.
Emile Leray’s story is a testament to the power of the human spirit. In seemingly hopeless circumstances, he utilized his intelligence, creativity, and skills to build a means of transportation that ultimately saved his life. Leray’s courage and perseverance are an inspiration to many, affirming that humans can overcome any challenge if they have enough determination.
