‘Necessity is the mother of invention,’ they say. Whoever made this proverb was perhaps familiar with Frenchman Emile Leray’s fascinating story of getting stranded in the middle of Sahara desert and crafting himself a bike out of his Citroen 2CV.
After embarking on a journey in 1993, Leray took the longer route to Tilemsem after being stopped by Moroccan Forces, and was told to return back to Tan-Tan. Now that he had defied the forces, he had to stay well away from their reach. This meant pushing his car through remote areas...without any proper roads.
As fate would have it, the car broke down after an encounter with a massive rock, with the swing arm and the axle being the first casualties.
Refusing to give up in the middle of desert, Leray used his quick mettle to convert the car into a motorcycle instead!
All it took him was shortening the chassis and re-attaching the wheels to the three ends, with the engine and gearbox in the middle. And guess what became the seat of his motorcyle? His car’s bumper!
His newly custom-made motorcycle was ready with his car’s number plate attached to it. Now isn’t that a wonderfully inspiring survival story to tell the generations to come?
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