Man stranded in desert builds motorcycle out of his broken car..EDITED

[SoCalDem]

Last edited Sat Jun 23, 2012, 10:24 PM - Edit history (2)

EDITED with supporting INFO and an additional link woith pics of the man
http://www.odditycentral.com/news/real-life-macgyver-builds-working-motorcycle-out-of-car-that-broke-down-in-the-desert.html
So here’s how it all happened: Emile had left the city of Tan Tan, in Morocco, and was driving his Citroen 2CV across the Sahara. Upon reaching a military outpost, he is informed by the Royal Gendermerie that he cannot continue further, due to new developments in the conflict between Morocco and Western Sahara, in the area beyond Tilemsem.

Left with the option to go back to Tan Tan and asked to take a passenger back with him, the Frenchman refuses invoking an insurance problem that doesn’t allow him to take any passengers. He turns his car around driving at high speed, to make sure he isn’t followed by the military, and decides to by-bass their post by circling around and returning on the original trail later. After venturing off road, on rocky and bumpy terrain, it doesn’t take too long for his car to break down, after brutally hitting a rock. Emile is now stranded in the middle of nowhere.

snip


Emile Leray motorcycle5 550x380 Real Life MacGyver Builds Working Motorcycle Out of Car That Broke Down in the Desert

Emile in classic desert wear. If you look closely at his right hand, you can see the string he uses to operate the camera

snip...
The adventurer began work on his unique project thinking he would complete it in three days time, but he only succeeded after twelve days of hard work. With only 1/2 liter of water left, he managed to ride his motorcycle (called Desert Camel) out of the desert. On his way to civilization, Leray was actually pulled over by the Gendermerie, for driving an illegal vehicle. Now that’s what I call a real-life story fit for a movie.

Leray's website: http://chameaudacier.free.fr/index.html
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original post below
http://www.autoblog.com/2012/05/23/man-stranded-in-desert-builds-motorcycle-out-of-his-broken-car/?ncid=txtlnkwbauto00000002



By Jeremy Korzeniewski RSS feed

Posted May 23rd 2012 2:01PM
148796
Comments157


According to Merriam-Webster, ingenuity can be defined as "skill or cleverness in devising or combining" or "cleverness or aptness of design or contrivance." We'd say that's an apt description of a Frenchman named Emile who reportedly found himself stranded in the deserts of Northwest Africa after breaking a frame rail and a suspension swingarm underneath his Citroën 2CV.

What to do? Why, disassemble the broken hulk and build yourself a motorcycle from its pile of parts, of course! As the story goes, Emile was able to use the inventive machine to escape the desert, though not before convincing the local authorities that he wasn't an insurgent and paying a fine for importing a non-conforming vehicle...


snip

[eShirl]

1. MacGyver!

[B Calm]

2. This for real?

[rfranklin]

3. Even a kick stand! Talk about obsessive-compulsive...

I don't buy the story for a moment.

[B Calm]

4. I noticed the kick stand too,

that's why I'm skeptic.

[mzteris]

30. wouldn't he have to stablize it

in an upright position to work on it?

Maybe the kickstand was necessary, not a luxury.

[MrScorpio]

5. The Ride of The Phoenix nt

[Motown_Johnny]

8. that was my first thought too

funny

[tclambert]

6. How did he lift the engine? Those things are heavy.

[leveymg]

17. It has a 2 cyl engine - it's already part scooter, but no steering. Nice sculpture

Anyone see a steering hub or how the front wheel might turn? I was going to point out there's no chain or drive shaft from the diff, but a photo shows that the inboard brake hub on the differential has a direct friction drive on the rear tire. Clever, but that tire wouldn't last very long.

In the time it took to build this, he could have walked to the Atlantic Ocean.

[slackmaster]

21. It was a 2CV. There are weight lifters who can pick up the entire car and walk with it.

[MineralMan]

25. Not that heavy.

A Citroen 2CV has a two-cylinder air-cooled engine. Can't weigh more than about 75 lb. Probably more like 50 lb. I used to pull the 4-cylinder water-cooled engine out of my Fiat 600 by grabbing the intake and exhaust manifolds and pulling it back, then lifting it and carrying it to the workbench. It weight about 125 lb. Not that big a deal, really. It was only 600cc.

[Arkansas Granny]

7. Color me skeptical.

[panzerfaust]

9. No doubt that this was cleverly built from on old 2CV

But pretty much doubt the rest of the story.

[coalition_unwilling]

31. Instant DUzy (if such is possible :) - n/t

[Codeine]

10. Riiiiiight. nt

[reACTIONary]

11. If you follow the links to the full story and picture sequence...

...you will find a three quarter view that includes a licence plate integrated with the frame. You can barely see it in the side view above. Yes, stuck in the desert, weeks away from civilization, he went to great pains to make sure his rescue vehicle was street-legal and fully licensed.

Cool story, Bro!

[panzerfaust]

16. You mean this view?

[UnrepentantLiberal]

12. And he had enough water and food to sustain him

while he built this contrapture? None of the bolts were frozen?

[longship]

13. Deux Chevaux, no less

Ugliest, most basic auto on the planet.

[The Jungle 1]

14. ?

I don't dink so.
Need more of this story. Tools?

[JohnnyRingo]

15. No welding or cutting?

While I'm sure those are parts from a 2CV, the French "people's car", I'm also sure it was built in a shop. Since it's still a Citroen I doubt it made it much further anyway. I hate being so cynical because it's such a cool story, but there are too many canyons of faith to leap here.

Having said that, thanx for posting, it's a cool conversion and a real work of art.

[spanone]

18. he must have had a massive garage with welding tools and...never mind

[Baitball Blogger]

19. Fucking awesome!

That vehicle should go into that remake of Mad Max that they're putting together.

[russspeakeasy]

20. El toro poopo !

[randome]

22. If he was so clever, why was he driving alone through the desert?

[kentuck]

23. Yeah, that's the ticket!

He also distilled the coolant to make drinking water and used the lubricants to make cake.

[demwing]

24. To those who say it couldn't have been done

or ask why he added a kickstand...

http://hackaday.com/2012/05/21/man-stranded-in-the-desert-makes-a-motorcycle-from-his-broken-car/

ripvango says:
May 24, 2012 at 5:06 am

I can’t find a explanation in English but but just from the photo I can see what he did and how this was actually pretty easy to do.

So I’d say it’s real.

The car is essentially a metal box stuck on two beams that independently connect the front and rear suspension on either side. The 20 hp horizontal twin air cooled engine just bolts to to these two beams up front and directly supplies power to the front wheels through a simple gearbox transmission and two brake hubs on either side of the engine.

All he did is remove the metal box, unbolt the engine, eliminate the right beam with it’s damaged suspension. He used the left side alone with it’s two working wheels, re-bolted the engine to the single left beam further back, and left the front suspension intact with it’s working steering.

He then rotated the rear swingarm 180 degrees so that the rear wheel now rests directly under the left brake hub where it comes off the engine tranny assembly. This is important. Even though the rear swingarm now has no shock or suspension the weight of the engine and frame now rests on that wheel because the brake hub sits right on top of it. looking at the picture you can see the right hub above the wheel. The other side is identical it’s just the hub rests on top of the tire.

When the transmission is now engaged it turns the brake hub which then rotates the wheel the opposite direction just do to the simple friction of the hub being on top of the tire. In order to get it to go forward all he had to do is run it in reverse. Do to the original layout all the transmission controls would still be right in front of him. All he had to do is make some kind of steering rod, a seat, throttle control, and then mount the tank on the beam in front of the engine with a gravity feed.

Think of it as more of a mule then a motorcycle. He was stuck in the North African desert with all his tools and possessions. If he walked out they would of been gone and the car stripped before he returned. He made a simple device that could be driven at about walking speed or a little above, that with the front suspension intact could carry all his gear even over a rough road surface. Brilliant!! So simple there was no doubt that it would work.

and

titoblog says:
May 21, 2012 at 6:48 pm

Informations from the pictures :
- The chassis was cut to keep only the central part. Front and back extensions were dismissed
- The direct transmission. The brake is at the top of the rear-wheel. Due to the transmission rotation you have to drive in rear-gear, maxing at 20km/h
- The saddle was made from the end of the rear bumper covered by the felt of the dashboard and held in place with orange duct tape
- The right-drum is blocked so that the differential distributes all the power to the left one
- The front wheel is the only one to have a suspension
- The handlebar is made from the main piece of the jack. On that are fixed the gears and electrics command
- The immatriculation plate is necessary but didn’t prevent a fine for non-conform vehicule importation
- The gas inlet pipe is used as kickstand
Reply

and finally, and a doubter and a response:

My name is says:
May 28, 2012 at 12:18 pm

I have a simple point. Why all the extras? Why tape up the handle bars. I mean, think about it. Why waste the 5 mins and the energy to wrap tape around a piece of metal, that at most, you’ll be holding on to for a few hours. Why a kick stand? But even that I could POSSIBLY understand. But if you are truly in a survival situation I certainly wouldn’t waste my time puting a license plate on it! Who gives a damn if I get a ticket! I’m alive an back in civilization!
Reply Report comment

POTR says:
June 16, 2012 at 9:02 pm

No, you have three uninformed, but seemingly reasonable questions, followed by your faulty reasoning.

“Why all the extras?”
“Why tape up the handle bars.”

If you have ever spent 5 minutes raking a lawn with a rough, wood handled rake, you would know why you would want to cushion the potentially rough metal edged steering control to be used on an experimental vehicle over rough terrain with no medical assistance available. (You must also be intelligent enough to understand why you don’t want to injure yourself when in such a crisis situation.)

“Why a kick stand? But even that I could POSSIBLY understand.”

Certainly you would understand and wouldn’t even bring up this question if you had ever built a single project. So for this I will make my point by asking my own question.

Would it be easier to install and check fit of an 80 pound engine and trans axle on a frame that is level and stationary, or on a frame that laying in the dirt at an angle and will allow no support for you to let go of it while you are trying to bolt it on?

“But if you are truly in a survival situation I certainly wouldn’t waste my time puting a license plate on it! Who gives a damn if I get a ticket! I’m alive an back in civilization!”

You last point here is a bit naive. The world is not one big homogeneous love fest, and never will be. At least not until the “Great Hacker in the Sky” decides to finish up his experiments…

War zones, and the areas adjacent to them, are very easy to die in.

The purpose of the plate was strictly to prove his legitimacy. Keeping the plate means he had some visible identification from a distance, and therefore got a ticket for an illegal modification instead of a bullet 500 meters from his destination for being mistaken as a guerrilla or insurgent.

Cheers,
Phantom Of The Router
Reply

[DefenseLawyer]

26. And there... in the frame of his motorcycle-made-out-of-his-car.....

was a bloody hook!

[struggle4progress]

27. "... nobody has been able to confirm the veracity of the events ..."

[cthulu2016]

28. Obvious Bullshit

He was stranded in the desert with a machine shop? Welding equipment? A winch? (How strong is this guy???)

Common sense, people!

[Blue_Tires]

34. +1

[HopeHoops]

29. He just happened to have a chest full of metric tools? And why aren't the tires the same size?

Sounds fishy to me, but I guess that's what he gets for driving a shitbox.

[Tsiyu]

32. Can't attest to the veracity of the tale

but it is a way cool story, true or no.

Lots of fun contemplating this - and lots of fun reading our DU Quality Assurance Crew go to work mining for the troof.

[SoCalDem]

33. a supporting link from PCWorld (is that a reliable source?)

http://www.pcworld.com/article/256179/stranded_in_the_desert_man_builds_motorcycle_from_his_broken_car.html#tk.rss_news

[MattBaggins]

35. I'm going with the skeptics crowd

He had all the tools needed to do this in the car itself but couldn't just fix the original problem?

[progressoid]

36. Yep - me too. n/t

[Hugabear]

37. So he just happened to have all the necessary tools in his car?

I mean, who doesn't routinely carry around all that gear in their car?