Hello, I am Rod Emory and building vintage Porsche Outlaws has been my life’s work.
My wife, Amy, and I started Emory Motorsports in 1996 with a few simple goals: to build the most iconic, yet personalized Porsche 356s on the planet and to deliver a customer experience unlike any other in the Porsche marketplace.
Over the years we’ve built over 170 Porsche 356 and 911 ‘Outlaws,’ as they have come to be known. We’ve also restored and cared for several significant Porsche works cars including a 904-6, a 906, two 908s, a Pooper and Porsche’s first works Le Mans entry and class winner, a Gmund SL from 1949.
Each car comes together as if we were building it for ourselves, yet each one is tailored to the owner’s specific tastes and requirements.
We are not in the stock restoration business, but each original Porsche we build is restored to ‘factory-plus’ standards, from its metal unibody and exterior to its mechanicals and interior.
We only build cars to order and there are a few essential categories: 356 Outlaw, Emory Special and Emory RS.
Our Cars
Emory Outlaw
The first and original category is the Emory Outlaw. Its body and chassis are all steel, just the way it left the factory in Germany. We perform a concours-quality restoration to the metal while stiffening the chassis in preparation for its modified 911 suspension and proprietary Emory-Rothsport 4-cylinder engine. Its styling cues are rally- or race-inspired, but the body shape remains stock in appearance. Within this category we can “Outlaw” the Coupe, Speedster or Roadster models. Every Outlaw is outfitted with an Emory-Rothsport Outlaw-4 engine as standard equipment.
Click here for detail page links and an image gallery of Emory Outlaws
Emory Special
Next comes the Emory Special, which is a one-off creation, tastefully bespoke to an owner’s wishes and with Rod Emory’s signature eye for aesthetic enhancement. An Emory Special is a car whose specific design will never be expressed the same way again; it is unique. A Special benefits from all of our standard restoration excellence, but with body modifications that will set this car apart from its Outlaw brethren. The changes are proportional, subtle and unless you are fluent in the design language of Porsche, you’d be hard pressed to identify exactly what has been done. Every Special is outfitted with an Emory-Rothsport Outlaw-4 engine as standard equipment.
The highest echelon of the Outlaw line is the Emory RS, a very special cross-breeding of Porsche DNA from the Type 356 and 964 models. An Outlaw 356 already handles far better than its stock counterparts, but an Emory RS is built for ultimate performance in a vintage package. Imagine the essential chassis and suspension pick-up points from a ’90s Porsche 911 artfully blended into the chassis and body of a 356 which is then tastefully modified to set its aesthetic quotient a notch above. Every RS is outfitted with an Emory-Rothsport Outlaw-4 engine as standard equipment.
Every so often, we will take on an interesting early 911 project. About one car in ten that we build is a clever take on Porsche’s longest running sports car model. We’ve been building 911s for 25 years and we include some of the 911 DNA in the 356 Outlaws that comprise the bulk of our work.
Building an Outlaw takes time. Each car has a unique back story and properly restoring each 356’s underpinnings requires the patience of skilled craftspeople who have learned the specialized art of car restoration.
Each “build” follows the same well planned course and is why our cars are as revered as they are. Yes, they photograph well, but the lasting value is in the quality of work and components used to build anEmory Outlaw.
Every car we build is a customer car. Our process begins when you decide that you must have an Emory Outlaw in your stable. The initial consultation will help you determine what body style of car (open or coupe), what model year and what level of Outlaw you desire (Outlaw, Special or RS). Then, we’ll cover the topics of exterior trim, wheels, colors & finishes; interior features, seating style, colors & materials. We will prepare some visuals to help you understand what the finished car might look like.
Upon agreement of the build spec, your deposit will set the process in motion. We will source the donor car, disassemble and strip it to bare metal and properly store the vehicle in our shop until your build slot opens.
Once the build commences, we launch into the labor intensive task of restoring and modifying the chassis and body’s sheet metal, adding key strengthening reinforcements along the way. Once the metalwork is complete, the build continues to finer and finer stages of body work and then a concours-quality paint job. After this, the car really begins to hint at its final form and the fun of final assembly kicks in.
Depending on the designation (Outlaw/Special/RS) you have selected, the build timeline typically takes 12-18 months from the time we begin the metalwork. Project funding is divided into monthly payments during the build and the final payment is due upon delivery of the car. We will send regular project updates to help you understand where your car is in the process.
Clients often visit our shop in advance of a build to get an intimate understanding of our process and why we do what we do. If you think you would like to discuss a build, use the links below to make contact with owner-builder Rod Emory.
Provenance
The Emory family history of car customizing encompasses three generations, beginning with Neil Emory and Valley Custom Shop in Burbank, CA in 1948. Valley Custom Shop created some of hot rodding’s most revered cars because of the keen sense of proportion and tasteful modification, giving American cars the panache they desperately needed. Even the SoCal Streamliner (below), which set land speed records on the dry lakes, had its body styled and fabricated by Valley Custom Shop.
The design gene was passed from Neil Emory to his son Gary. In the ’60s Gary and his dad started working for Chick Iverson Porsche, launching the family’s long association with the Porsche brand and forever cementing the future path of the latest generation to get the gene.
Gary Emory’s Parts Obsolete business is still widely known in Porsche circles as the go-to place for hard-to-find parts. For more than 40 years it has been a valuable resource in the restoration of the iconic 356 and other early Porsche models.
In the ’60s, Gary Emory styled and created the original “Baja Bug,” a modified soft-top VW Beetle with definite off-road chops. In the ’70s Gary fashioned a wide-bodied, race-inspired car from an early 911, in which he and his wife brought his newborn son home from the hospital at a high rate of speed.
The latest recipient of the design gene is Rod Emory, whose Emory Motorsports business has been generating “Outlaw” Porsche 356s for more than 20 years.
Special Projects
Occasionally, we will do a “stock” restoration on a significant works competition car, including 906-011, 906-036, 908/3-007 and 908-010. The 356/2-063 “Gmund SL” is a special case in point. There is perhaps no more significant car in Porsche’s history as a manufacturer because of its status as the progenitor of Porsche Motorsport. The 1951 Le Mans 24 entry of #46 conspicuously marked Porsche’s entrance onto the world stage of motorsport. On their first outing at such a high level, the werks 1,100 cc 356 SL won its class and beat the rest of the 1,500 cc cars, too. When the car came into our care, we assumed the daunting task of restoring the entire roof, dash and inner structure to the car, returning it to its most significant identity as a Le Mans winner.
