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This Porsche 356 Is Restomodded With An AWD Powertrain

It’s no secret than I am a major fan of the 356 era in Porsche’s history, so what better way to start the day than with this particularly spectacular resto-mod created by Emory Motorsports.  Taking four years to complete and designed for a client that wished to use his 356 to travel between East coast ski resorts in the deep frays of winter.

Emory Motorsport, have taken the original now widened  1964 356C shell and amalgamated it with the comparatively modern spec of a 1990 964-era Carrera 4S chassis. Not to mention the powertrain of a classic flat four engine and a modern AWD transmission. Sounds easy, right?

Not quite! Both vehicles were laser scanned to determine how to go about the design. Deciding that the 964’s suspension mounting points were best left in place the entire chassis was then shortened to accommodate the considerably shorter 356 donor shell. A monumental task that took countless engineering hours to accomplish! Emory Motorsport then widened the shell by a small margin to accommodate the 964 chassis wider track so that the two now sit seamlessly together. Coupled up with some Kw coil overs she weighs in at a fairly reasonable 975kg. Not bad for German gauge steel of the 60’s.

With the customer yearning for that all-important AWD system that the 964 has, this transmission was kept in place, unfortunately the 3.6litre flat six from the same vehicle was nigh impossible to fit into the short engine bay of the 356 shell. An alternative was needed… Low and behold the flat four, Emory-Rothsport Outlaw 4. Designed by Emory motorsport to bring the best of 3 generations of 911 engines into play, this little boxer is a 2.4 litre block drinking from a dual Weber 48 IDA Carbs. Pushing 200BHP and built totally from scratch it makes for the perfect compromise to the AWD 964 transmission.

One happy client we would assume, what are your thoughts of this magnificent piece of engineering?  Lets us know in the comments below.

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One Comment

  1. Not entirely sure. Part of me thinks it is blasphemy but another part is astounded by the brilliance of it.

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