By this point it should be pretty well accepted that everyone reading this website knows who Rod Emory is. The guy is a legend in the vintage Porsche community, and has built some truly amazing machinery over the years. The “outlaw” movement owes pretty much everything to Rod and his father, and it’s probably time to pay it back with a charity auction. This 356 coupe sculpture was hand crafted by Emory, and custom painted by artist Felix Holst. It looks like a properly low 356 coupe, but with some oddball bodywork that was never available from the factory, and it’s just the outer few inches of the car, as it has been built with the intention for it to be a wall hanging. This car is offered for bidding right now on Bring A Trailer with no reserve, and all proceeds (including BaT’s cut) will be split in half and donated equally between Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Seattle Children’s. Each charity is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which provides pediatric healthcare services. The auction closes on Thursday, June 23 at 2:15 PM Eastern, so go get your bids in right now to support child health!
All of the parts for this project were sourced from previous Emory projects. According to Rod, the car features components from seven different model years of 356, and don’t quite all match up. Allegedly the door is from a 1956 Speedster, the fender is from a 1963, the rear quarter panel is from two different cars, and the rocker panel is from a 1964. Emory continued, “We put them all together with some Goodyear race tires and some crusty chrome rims!”
Artist Holst says James Dean was a major influence for the design and final style of the sculpture, “The Pegasus…the Dean Jeffries scallops…the number 23…pretty much everything on this car has something to do with James Dean,” says Mr. Holst. “And we’ve even got an Obi-Wan Kenobi quote along the rocker panel. Bonus points to anyone who can figure out the connection between that and James Dean.”
An elegant weapon for a more civilized age, indeed.