Desert miracle in 1993

When Emile Leray’s Citroen 2CV broke down in the Sahara Desert in 1993, he tore the car apart and built a motorcycle from the parts to escape dying from the elements. It worked.

That was 31 years ago. Leray gets the MacGyver Award for that year, and every year thereafter, as nobody has done something quite so badass since then, except in movies.

As Emile Leray wiped the sweat from his brow in the Sahara heat, he knew the clock was running out. It had been 12 days of labor trying to make his own motorcycle without parts.

The insanity of this creation couldn’t be better expressed than in the episode of Mythbusters, where they tried to recreate his process and failed twice.

Emile Leray called his creation the Desert Camel. He barely had enough water left to make it back to civilization, but he’d done it. The bike was operational.

As he neared civilization, a cop pulled him over for operating an illegal vehicle.

Imagine the cops face as the story came out of Leray’s mouth. “Sure you did, pal. Step over here please.”