The Spartan Outlaw Coupe

Porsche 356a 1957 Coupe

The Porsche 356 is an iconic and classic car. One that I have wanted since a little boy. I love the look of it, the shape, the sound. It's vintage.

I decided this year (2016) was the year that I would get one. However, there were a lot of considerations to take in to account. Original 356's are 60 years old, incredibly expensive (easily in to six figures for a really decent one), no modern amenities, hard to find original parts.

I wanted a car I could drive every day without too many issues but still have the 356 experience. This led me to look at replica cars. In the UK there are only two or three companies that provide a good quality car. A basic stock car can easily be £25000 (now nearer £50k+ as of 2020) as a turnkey, less if built yourself, but with all the modifications planned it is likely to be well in excess of £60,000, so it needs to be planned and budgeted right.

I like the idea of the replica as whilst it is based on a 1973 donor chassis it can be uprated with modern suspension, brakes, engine etc. making it a good safe daily driver.

There are two ways to go with a replica and that is the purist route or the outlaw route. Purists will build a car to be an exact replica of the original to the last detail where as an outlaw is more concerned with being different, building a car for speed or modifying it from the factory stock.

Ive chosen to go in between with a car that looks mostly original but with a slight outlaw twist. However, I intend to replace a lot of the stock reproduction parts with Porsche parts. So best of both worlds.

This blog / website is to document the journey for myself and for anyone who may be interested or thinking of doing something similar themselves. Im no expert so it should be interesting.

The car will be based on a 1957 356A Carrera GT model with Emory Motorsport styling.