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build a website today a meal larae the
electrician who escaped the desert by
turning his car into a motorbike 1993
the Sahara Desert is the largest desert
in the world covering over 3.6 million
square miles to give you an idea of the
enormity of the scale that's over 31
times bigger than the American state of
Arizona the story goes back to 1993 when
a lone car was crossing the Moroccan
part of the Sahara Desert called the
toffee Assam an area that was dangerous
for many reasons including the fact that
there was a tentative ceasefire in place
between the Moroccan government and the
local police aureole Front guerrillas
but the real danger in the area was that
it was a harsh and brutal place with
virtually no rain or foliage where the
temperature was extremely high a
seemingly endless desert with its flat
stony plain with its occasional sand
dunes and saline depressions the only
point of reference on this featureless
landscape was some distant mountains so
who was driving alone along a road in
the middle of nowhere with only the
occasional camel or sheep Laden truck
passing by while his name was Emile
larae nicknamed by his friends the
doctor of African mechanics by trade he
was a French electrician who was
currently on a road trip in his Citroen
2cv to explore and enjoy the Moroccan
scenery his trip had been uneventful so
far until he passed through the village
of Telamon he was stopped by the
Moroccan army who told him for security
reasons to turn around and head back to
the town of Taunton that he had left
some hours earlier not wanting to argue
with them he did as they ordered but
Emile was determined that his trip would
not be interrupted so after a few miles
he turned off the road to take a dirt
track that circumvented the village by a
roundabout route and would rejoin the
main road after the village the dirt
track was heavy going on his vehicle as
it was an underpowered City car designed
for trips around town not a bumpy
unforgiving road then the inevitable
happened
hit a large rock in the middle of the
road wrecking the front of the car and
breaking its axle suddenly he found
himself stranded in the middle of
nowhere with little chance of rescue
luckily he had ten days of food and
water and though he thought about
walking the ten miles back to the
village he realized there was another
possibility as crazy as it sounds he
could use his mechanical skills and the
fully equipped toolkit along with the
parts from his wrecked car to make a
makeshift motorcycle so for the next 12
days and 11 nights he endured sandstorms
and dust devils while he slaved away as
he was cannibalizing his car when the
exhaustion or the heat too much form he
slept in the shell of the car sheltered
from the elements just as his food was
running out and with just half a liter
of water left he had finally completed
his two-wheel motorcycle complete with
suspension and an ignition system the
handlebars were made from the tube of
the car's jack and covered in black tape
for grip while the bike's frame was made
by cutting down the cars chassis and a
kickstand was made from the tank fill
spout the bike saddle was constructed
from the car front bumper and covered in
insulation fog for comfort amazingly
though difficult to drive it worked well
enough to take him back to civilization
where ironically he was stopped and
fined by the local police because his
makeshift vehicle didn't match the
original cars documents he had even
fixed the number plate to the vehicle
although this did not give him a pass
Amil array eventually went back to
France and continued with his love of
improvised mechanical conversions of
Citroen 2cv s including converting one
to be the hull of a boat and 26 years
later he still has his beloved Citroen
motorcycle and it's still in full
working order
emile larae built a bike to get back to
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