1963 Porsche 356 “Outlaw”

In the early ’70s, Gary Emory was working at Chick Iverson’s VW/Porsche dealership. But as time went on he was literally shocked to see NOS 356 parts being tossed into dumpsters in favor of aftermarket bits. There was no use for the originals.

Not on his watch!

Gary had a plan; he left Iverson’s and bought up all the old 356 stock from the seven U.S. distributors. Within a few years, he opened his own company, Parts Obsolete.

Emory had customers who would take nothing less than the perfect piece of new old stock to put on their precious 100-point concours competitors. Then there were the guys who loved their cars but didn’t have the wherewithal for every little NOS detail. He worked with them all. Gary had done the concours scene and now just wanted to have fun with a 356. He wanted to drive. Emory wanted to show the guys who drove their cars that they didn’t have to be show queens to make them happy.

Gary built a car in 30 days to let his customers know you didn’t have to go crazy to have fun. The build included Emory’s own personal touches. He built the car for himself, but someone came through his shop, fell in love and had to have it, so off it went. Gary started again; he got hold of a car with multiple layers of paint, but when it was stripped down to bare metal it revealed a very clean straight Porsche.

Gary went to work; he louvered the engine cover, put leather straps on the front and took away the chrome on the hood and removed the bumper guards, he added a Carrera valance to the backend and changed out some of the glass for plexiglass. A wooden steering wheel and Speedster seats and a sunroof rounded out the build. Nothing crazy, nothing over the top, but people started talking. “It’s a shame what you’re doing to these cars, aw man Gary, You’re an outlaw.” The name stuck. This was the Genesis of the Emory Outlaw.

Given the chance to take the 356 on a field trip, I decided to head for a PCA Club Racing event at Lime Rock Park.

It’s all in the details, put yourself in the Speedster seat, grab the leather strap to lower the window, pump the gas a few times, turn the key and the engine wakes right up.

The gauges Emory used were early Carrera units so the redline is at 6000, not 4500 and the speedometer has 80 MPH at TDC.

The gauges are backed up by a 1720-cc, 912 block with a hot cam and a big bore kit.

Give the Outlaw’s motor a few minutes to warm up and it’s go time.

The wheel seems a bit large, but in a short time it feels like an old friend.

The faired-in side mirror, though bitchin, does not let you know too much about what is happening off to your left, so you have to place your trust in the rearview mirror and the kindness of strangers to keep you out of harm’s way.

Rolling on the gas and taking the motor up to redline you are rewarded with a wonderful growl and you keep up, if not pass boring modern traffic.

But alone on a rural Connecticut road that’s fun time, you drift through turns and run through the gears and the Outlaw does all the right things and makes all the right sounds. It’s light and nimble and does everything you tell it to do. There is nothing soft about the little 356, it’s a hard core sports car, but it doesn’t do you major harm, you are just as happy when you arrive as when you started your journey (or maybe it’s just adrenaline.)

Driving into the paddock at Lime Rock, the Outlaw causes a sensation amongst the 911 Cup cars and full-race Caymans. There was just one other 356 at the track that day and it probably felt it was the prettiest at the dance, that is until the Outlaw arrived.

Thank you, Bob Torre Jr., Randy Elber and R&R Restorations for letting me live outlaw for a few days.

Specifications

Length	157.9 in.
Width	65.7 in.
Height	51.8 in.
Wheelbase	82.7 in.
Front track	51.4 in.
Rear track	50.1 in.
Weight	2039 lbs.
Engine	Boxer-4
Carburetors	2 Zenith 32 NDIX
Displacement	1582-cc 96.6 cu.in. (Outlaw 1720-cc)
Bore	82.5 mm/ Outlaw bigger
Stroke	74 mm
Compression	8.5 : 1
Horsepower	74hp @ 5200rpm (Outlaw More)
Torque	91 ft-lb @ 3600 rpm (Outlaw More)