The Widower's Wife: Fact #22

If raw ingenuity counted more towards immigration status, then these guys would have gotten their citizenship on the spot.

In 2003, a group of young Cubans turned a 1951 Chevy Truck into a boat. The truck's driveshaft was reportedly connected to a propeller that enabled the boat to travel 7 knots (8MPH). It was made buoyant by 55 gallon oil drums.

The U.S. Coast Guard spotted the group and sent them back to Cuba, as well as destroyed the boat. But at least one of the families on board, Luis Grass and his wife and son, made it two years later in a 1959 Buick. Grass was the boat engineer.

Grass then got a job as a detailer at a massive Chevy dealership in Miami. News media interviewed his bosses who had nothing but praise for the man and his work ethic.

Source: NBC News