The latest episode of former late night talk show host Jay Leno’s much-loved car program, Jay Leno’s Garage, walks through the annals of Porsche history in a way that surely any air-cooled aficionado can appreciate.
That’s because featured in this latest instalment of the series is Rod Emory: the youngest member of the Emory Motorsports dynasty, who coined the term “Outlaw” as it applies to the Porsche 356.
Nowadays, of course, the “Outlaw” moniker is worn with pride by many others in the Porsche-modification game, chief among them the esteemed Magnus Walker. Originally, the term was worn like a badge of honor by Emory Motorsports due to the underappreciated, misunderstood nature of what tinkering they were doing with the Porsche 356.
Yes, Porsche “purists” have been around since the marque’s entry into the American market, and most don’t take kindly to modifications of any kind.
But the “Outlaw” and “Special” Porsche 356s shown in this episode of Jay Leno’s Garage take a tactful, reserved approach to modifying the classic German cars, keeping to parts within the same family, at least. For instance, one of the cars shown is fitted with the four-cylinder engine from a Porsche 914; the other is powered by a 911’s flat-6 which has been chopped-up, shortened, and reduced by two cylinders.
While once shunned by the majority of the Porsche-loving community, the antics of Emory Motorsports and their reimagining of the classic Porsche 356 is now celebrated, even legendary. Watch the episode and see if you can’t understand why:
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