Emory Porsche melting hearts with blend of retro luxury

The 1958 Porsche 356 Emory Special. Components for the Porsches are either made in the shop on 1960s-era machines or sourced from Porsche deadstock and vintage suppliers. Courtesy Drew Phillips, Emory Motorsports

The 1958 Porsche 356 Emory Special. Components for the Porsches are either made in the shop on 1960s-era machines or sourced from Porsche deadstock and vintage suppliers. Courtesy Drew Phillips, Emory Motorsports

The 1958 Porsche 356 Emory Special. Components for the Porsches are either made in the shop on 1960s-era machines or sourced from Porsche deadstock and vintage suppliers. Courtesy Drew Phillips, Emory Motorsports

The 1958 Porsche 356 Emory Special. Components for the Porsches are either made in the shop on 1960s-era machines or sourced from Porsche deadstock and vintage suppliers. Courtesy Drew Phillips, Emory Motorsports

The 1958 Porsche 356 Emory Special. Components for the Porsches are either made in the shop on 1960s-era machines or sourced from Porsche deadstock and vintage suppliers. Courtesy Drew Phillips, Emory Motorsports (Must be credited)

To enjoy certain objects of luxury today, you must be willing to pay enough so that it hurts and be willing to endure a waiting period stretched taut between the moment of desire and the moment you acquire the object that prompts it.

So it is when you finally drive your own Emory Porsche Outlaw.

To get to that moment, you must order it at least a year in advance, since the waiting list is full of drivers richer and more famous than you.

And you need a spare $250,000 to $500,000 or so to afford it.

Selections on the particulars of the interior trim and the hue of the exterior paint must happen over a period of weeks, usually requiring a pilgrimage to Burbank, California, for an audience with Rod Emory.

The cars are his wards; he gave them his name, plus the additional moniker “Outlaw” to The Infidel status started years ago with the gleaming Porsches he would rework, along with his father and grandfather, at their shops in southern California. They would customise, kit out and otherwise renovate these beloved classics.

Keepers of the Porsche flame, it seems, did not take well to the Emorys’ enthusiasm for non-original additions such as disc brakes (rather than drum), four-cylinder engines sourced from 911s, overhead cams, lowered suspensions, and such modern amenities as seat belts.

“Early on, people gave us a hard time,” Mr Emory, 41, says. “We’d go to car shows, and they would make us park out in the dirt.”

Now, of course, the 356s are in high demand. The young head of a prominent national hamburger chain drives one. So do dozens of entrepreneurial Hollywood types gone big.

You can get one too. As long as you are among the chosen six or seven people a year.

An Emory Porsche retains the same petite glossed curves that melted hearts in the 1950s and ‘60s, but underneath the retro body it oozes the benefits of modern technology.

The rear-engine, air-cooled, 200-horsepower cars won’t break any speed records – they still have old bones under those unibodies, after all. They don’t exactly drive like new Caymans. But jump in one and you might think you’re in a 911 circa 1985.

Q&A

So what do previous buyers say about the reworked Porsches?

“It just looks like a nice old Porsche, but when you jump on the freeway and you’re doing 100 miles an hour, it’s just, wow,” says John Linfesty, a real estate specialist in Santa Monica, California. He bought a 1958 Porsche 356A from Mr Emory last year.

Why not just buy a new Porsche?

According to Mr Emory the people who go to him love the classic shape and design of a Porsche 356, or an early 911, but they want it to have more power and more performance. Plus, he says, they want to be able to put some special little touch on it “that’s going to set it apart from the rest”.

Where does he source the cars from?

He finds metal shells, in varying parts of disarray, in barns, on Craigslist, at auctions, in fields. People call him if they see a car he might like; they might sell him an untouched 356 for anywhere from $25,000 to $30,000. Exceptional examples can cost $70,000 to $100,000 in their raw form.

What happens next?

Once in the shop, a team of eight disassemble it completely, separating out the outer body shell and the innards. They blast down the shell to remove all paint and impurities, repair the rust, reinforce the chassis, paint and polish it, and reassemble the metalwork to the body. Simultaneously, shop mechanics will build the engine and transmission, then plate the hardware specifically to the demands of the client. The process takes 18 months.

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