What do you do when a customer requests a 356 capable of driving to East Coast USA ski resorts each winter? If you’re Rod Emory, famed creator of Outlaw Porsches at Emory Motorsports in North Hollywood, California, you fuse together the body of a 1964 Porsche 356C with the all-wheel-drive running gear of a 1990 911 (964) C4. This is the result, thought to be the world’s first all-wheel-drive Porsche 356, named by Emory as the 356 C4S though the owner refers to it as the “AllRad 356”.
The project has taken four years, and started with the laser-scanning of the 1964 body and the 1990 chassis, to compare points of intersection and work out about how to marry the two in the virtual- and real-world. The aim was always to retain the original suspension pick-up points from the 911, but the differences in wheelbase and the rear track between the two Porsche platforms made that quite a challenge. The 356’s wheelbase was retained, which meant reducing the 911’s wheelbase by shortening its center tunnel. The steel body of the 356 then had to be subtly widened to match the 911’s wider rear track.
The engine is pure 356, a 2.4-liter Emory-Rothsport “Outlaw-4” unit, created with renowned engine builder Jeff Gamroth of Rothsport Racing. It uses a four-cylinder cast-aluminum block based on a dry-sump engine design, along with custom billet cam housings, camshafts and crankshafts. Twin-plug cylinder heads are fed by dual Weber 48 IDA carburetors, with exhaust gases leaving via custom headers and a stainless-steel muffler. It uses crank-fire ignition and full-flow lubrication with remote filter and cooler. In contrast, the C4’s G64 five-speed AWD manual gearbox was kept, and now incorporates a rally-style differential bias with independent front-to-rear and side-to-side manual torque control. Suspension is by adjustable KW coil-over shocks and stopping is by standard 964 disc brakes. The custom 16×7 black powder-coated wheels are from Emory Motorsports, shod with 205/60R16 Pirelli Ice Zeros for strong all-weather grip.
At first glance the bodywork looks stock but if you know your 356s you might spot the subtle differences: the widened rear section, a flattened hood with its handle deleted, a louvered deck lid, body-colored rally lights and competition fuel filler (which leads to an 18-gallon GT FuelSafe fuel cell). It’s painted Graphite Blue Metallic, an OE 2016 Porsche color. The customer not only requested the titanium roof rack, which is capable carrying bikes, skis, or other gear on road trips, but he produced some of it through his titanium bicycle manufacturing company, Independent Fabrication.
The interior is fitted out with an RS-style driver’s seat and a Speedster-style passenger seat, both in green leather and with four-point competition harnesses. The rollcage is removable. Other neat touches include the green square-weave carpet with rubber floor mats, MOMO Heritage steering wheel, a 911 shifter with Outlaw shift knob, and Tilton pedal assembly. The car weighs 2150lb, and produces 200bhp. “The Emory 356 C4S is really the first ‘RS’ that we’ve built,” says Rod Emory, “while being the world’s first AWD 356. Our goal was to create a special Porsche that never existed, but should have. The end result is that the 356 C4S really presents the highest performance level possible in a 356.”
Images courtesy of Emory Motorsports
