Emile Leray's Desert Motorcycle Escape

In 1993, French electrician Emile Leray was driving his Citroen 2CV car alone through a remote stretch of Moroccan desert near Tantan when he hit a rock, broke the chassis, and found himself stranded about 20 miles from town with only 10 days of food and water.

To survive the heat and isolation, he stripped the car to its frame, used the shell as his shelter and bedroom for 12 days and 11 nights, and methodically rebuilt the working parts into a crude two-wheeled motorcycle. When the improvised bike finally ran, he rode it across the desert back toward civilization until he reached Moroccan authorities. According to later accounts, officials then ticketed him for operating an illegal vehicle.

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