Emory’s Porsche 356 RSR is his most radical outlaw yet

Rod Emory is known for his wicked Porsche 356 customs that meld the best of Porsche’s deep parts bin with custom, hand-formed bodywork. His latest creation, the Porsche 356 RSR, combines a 1960 Porsche 356B coupe with custom bodywork and the suspension of a 964 to make, as Emory says, “an homage to the Porsche works 935 cars of the 1970s.”

A rendering, started in 2012 by Greg Macey, led MOMO CEO Henrique Cisneros to approach Emory and turn the concept into reality. Avedis Djinguelian evolved the design and made drawings that helped focus the construction, leading to the final result you see now. It was a four-year process.

Any purists out there worried that a pristine, numbers-matching car gave the ultimate sacrifice so that this fire-breathing hot rod Porsche could exist can officially back off the ledge. The donor car was a 1960 365B coupe with a solid roof and not much else. It was stripped and new aluminum bodywork was hand-formed for the nose, tail, and hood. Porsche 911 rocker panels were incorporated into the custom chassis. Shortened 3.34 inches, they helped form a new wheelbase that splits the difference between 356 and 911.

Suspension pickup points are all 964 911, and the four-cylinder engine is yet another amalgam of 356 and 911. The Emory-Rothsport Outlaw-4 engine takes several generations of 911 engines and incorporates them into a new aluminum engine casting that’s based on a Porsche 3.6-liter six-cylinder design. The result is a 2.4-liter four-cylinder with tremendous potential for power, especially when it’s force-fed by way of twin turbochargers which, in addition to upping the dyno-proven horsepower to 393, act as the engine’s only mufflers.

As the Porsche works 935 was fitted with MOMO centerlock wheels, it was only appropriate that a new set was whipped up for the RSR. They wear Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R tires on the 17×7 fronts and 17×8 rears and work in concert with a specially-tuned suspension with KW adjustable coilovers to ensure the 1950-pound coupe makes the most of its power.

You’ll find more MOMO race products inside, including the steering wheel, shift knob, six-point harnesses, and billet pads on the Tilton pedals. The custom seats, modeled after the 911 RSR, also feature MOMO logos in the fire-retardant Spanish Red Veltex upholstery.

“People had strong reactions when we debuted the 356 RSR at Luftgekühlt in May,” Rod Emory says. “It was too over the top, even for some of the forgiving purists—something we’re used to after being branded Outlaws by the period-correct owners decades ago—but the car definitely attracted a lot of attention and now serves as a benchmark for what we can do with Porsche’s extremely flexible platforms.”

Emory has built more than 100 Porsche customs, and each one proves that hot-rodding isn’t tied steadfast to V-8s and straight-line speed. This RSR is just the latest example and we probably won’t have to wait until next year’s Luftgekühlt to be surprised with another amazing creation.