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1958 Porsche 356 A 'Golde' Sunroof / Outlaw Coupe

    The term ‘Outlaw’ has been given to modified Porsche 356 models and dates back, as far as we understand, to the mid 1950’s when the legendary George Barris kustom (sic) shop in Los Angeles started personalizing and modifying customer 356’s. The purists were somewhat horrified at the idea, and maybe some still are, but over time the Outlaw versions have gained their own following and a cult status.

    This is one such example; the Porsche Certificate of Authenticity (PoA) confirms that vin # 104257 was a 1958 356A/1600 Reutter Coupe completed on July 18, 1958 and dispatched with (ultra-rare) ‘Golde’ Sunroof, Sealed Beam Headlights and USA Bumpers.

    Although we do not have the early history, in 1989 the 356 was acquired by George Bryan of Springfield, Virginia, a well-respected and long term owner of multiple 356’s who recalls it fondly and who built this one in the early nineties into an Outlaw having purchased it from a Mr. Brad Urmston of New Jersey. As he recently told us, 104257 was an extremely straight and sound ‘Golde’ manual sunroof coupe; the conversion by him took some 300 to 350 hours of effort and included fitting a hotter Porsche 912 engine, as still fitted now, together with BBAB (Speedster) gear ratios for the gearbox and also fitting disc brakes from a 1964/5 356 C with dual master cylinders. For the interior he fitted reclining racing seats, GT door trim, Plexi rear side windows etc and a GT fuel tank. When it was finished it was awarded the Outlaw Badge by Gary Emory which was a quite superb achievement and the car still sports a window sticker as testimony. He later sold the car to Michael Branning, trustee and currently President of the Porsche 356 Registry.

    Since then and under later ownership with Andrew Carduner the car went to Rod Emory’s shop for a refresh (Rod Emory Motorsports are rightly regarded as the Outlaw specialists) circa 1999/2000 and which included, according to an email exchange on file (dated 6/9/2016) with Mr. Emory himself - pulling the engine and fixing a few leaks, running it in the dyno, adding an alternator and then reinstalling all. Also adding a M&K stainless exhaust and redoing the fuel tank. Cosmetically Emory also added the GT fender mirrors, repainted the wheels, added fog lights while for the interior he redid it all with customer-supplied leather, changed out the steering wheel, added the rear luggage straps and added some Coco floor mats over rubber tunnel material and which have subsequently been changed out for the current floor carpeting. In 2012 it had a full repaint at Emory Motorsports.

    The condition today is quite lovely; deep black paintwork which is complemented by the cabin trimmed with fabulous dark tan ‘baseball mitt’ leather seats, dash padding and door trim, the whole ensemble set off with a wood rimmed steering wheel and pair of TAG Heuer rally stopwatches mounted on the passenger side of the black painted dash.

    The hunkered down look is completely Outlaw, with neat touches such as the chrome headlight grilles, front fog lights, aforementioned black fender mirrors and an extra touch including the pair of period rally badges on the single rear deck lid: a 1958 Nürburgring DKWV Pfingst Rallye and 1958 ADAC / Automobil-Club Maikammer Weinrallye badge. The car sits on steel 5½J wheels all shod with Pirelli P6000 195/60R 15 speed rated 88H tires.

    In 2001 the car was featured in the October issue of Grassroots Motorsports magazine.

    The Outlaw has huge eyeball appeal wherever it has been, often eclipsing rather grander cars that it might be standing next to!

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