Lookout, we have a badass on out hands. Although the story is only emerging now, in 1993 Emile Leray’s Citroen down broke in a Moroccan desert miles from nearest village. Unfazed, he took the car apart and turned it into a motorbike. He then, surely, cruised into the nearest village, smirking and beat all the locals in a bike race.

OK, the last bit is wishful thinking, but I am sure will feature when the film is made. The Daily Mail has published the story of Emile Leray, who was driving his Citroen 2CV across the desert from the Moroccan city of Tan-Tan, when he was stopped at a military post and was told he could not go any further. Oh well, thought the 43-year old mechanic, let’s take this baby off-road. Car Magazine describes the 2CV as ”the most intelligent application of minimalism ever to succeed as a car”, and that it was designed for a bit of off-road driving. It is Citroen’s most iconic car.

Leray told the British Sunday Times, “I decided to do it in a 2CV because, although it is not a 4×4, it is tough. In Africa they call it the ‘Steel Camel’ because it goes everywhere — provided you drive it gently. One must not be rough.”

He wasn’t gentle enough and crashed into a rock snapping the Citroen’s swing arm and wheel axle rendering the car unable to drive. He had some tools and enough water to survive for a few days, so instead of trying to hike to the nearest village like every other human would, he decided he’d mod the Citroen into a motor cycle.

He started by removing the Citroen’s body, which he used as a shelter to sleep under. To build the bike he shortened the car’s chassis before reattaching the axles and two of the wheels, as well as installing the engine and gearbox in the middle. He had thought that it would take him just a few days to construct the motorcycle, but in the end it took 12.

After a day of riding Emile was picked up by the Moroccan police who drove him to the nearest village. Not understanding what they were dealing with, the police hilariously fined Leray because the registration documents for his car no longer corresponded to what he was driving.

Although his story appeared in brief on French television in the 1990s, Mr Leray, now 61 and living in northwest France, did not publicise his exploits, and they only recently emerged again after appearing on a motoring website.

[Source: Daily Mail]