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Rod Emory's 1960 Porsche 356 RSR is the 356's final form

Built for Momo, the 356 RSR features bits of many of Porsche's best race and street cars and is basically the coolest thing ever.

Kyle Hyatt Former news and features editor
Kyle Hyatt (he/him/his) hails originally from the Pacific Northwest, but has long called Los Angeles home. He's had a lifelong obsession with cars and motorcycles (both old and new).
Kyle Hyatt

If you're even casually into air-cooled Porsches, then you probably have heard the name Rod Emory. His shop Emory Motorsports in LA is the home of some of the world's most beautiful restored and hot-rodded 356s. His latest car is arguably one of his craziest yet.

The 356 RSR is an exercise in exactly how far you can take a car from its original form if you have the right skills and equipment. Rod has both. The 356 RSR takes the familiar shape of Herr Dr. Porsche's little bathtub on wheels and slathers it in race car touches from models like the 935 and the original RSRs.

This car started life as a 1960 356B, and like most of the vehicles that come to Rod's shop, it was a rusted out, unloved barn find. Most people wouldn't bother saving it, but at Emory, these kinds of cars are called to a higher purpose. Immediately, most of the car's Swiss cheese bodywork was removed and replaced with hand-beaten aluminum panels, stretched and shaped to provide cooling and aero.

The engine is another Emory exclusive. It's a four-cylinder 911 engine. That means it's a specially-cast engine case and custom crank that uses pistons, cylinders, etc. from the 964 and 993 models' 3.6-liter engine. Then he took that and whacked two giant turbos onto the back of it, just like Porsche's famed fire-spitting 935 race cars.

This car is a masterclass in fabrication and Porsche history and likely drives even better than it looks.

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