The Second Coming…

Now that’s a bunch of bullshit right there, isn’t it? In the past 17 years, I’ve deleted no less than 500 posts about rear-engined German cars. And now, here I am, leading with a photo of  a Porsche. Apparently, my hypocrisy really does know no bounds.

Despite what many disgruntled Volkswagen fans might tell you, I actually have a deep seated passion for Porsche. I always have… To me, the brand’s loyalty to ultimate function over form is matched only by the frugal ingenuity of early Fords. They were (and in some cases, still are) cars built with such purpose that it’s easy for me to compare them in my mind to our beloved American hot rods.

But, save your hate mail… That’s not what this thread is about.

Instead, this thread is about Neil Emory and his legacy. When I look at Neil’s work along with his partner’s, Clayton Jensen, I see the purest of automotive design. These two metal men, under the banner of Valley Custom Shop, created some of the best shapes of the 1940’s, and 50’s. They did it by removing more than they added. They did it with restraint. They did it with an eye for grace and elegance. They weren’t customizers so much as they were coach builders.

The proof, as they say, is in the pudding:

Neil and Clayton sold Valley Custom in 1960 and once they were out, they seemed to stay out. You didn’t see Neil hocking t-shirts at some cheap car show or Clayton producing badly lit DVD instructionals later in life. Frankly, you just didn’t hear much at all about either. Neil passed away quietly in 2004. And Clayton, well hell… I don’t know what became of him. Both were as seemingly quiet and subdued as the cars they created. From the public’s perceptive, they just seemed to disappear once their mark was made.

Or so I thought…

This weekend I was farting about on the internet when I came across Emory Motorsports – an Outlaw Porsche shop ran by Neil Emory’s grandson – Rod Emory. Again, the proof is in the pudding:

It’s always cool to see vocations travel from one family generation to another, but what really fascinates me here is that you can literally see Neil’s work in his grandson’s. Rod just seems to have the same eye for stance and line and… form. If Neil had been building early Porsches, I don’t know that they would be all that different from what you see above. To me, that’s incredible… and worth the hate mail I’ll get for featuring a Porsche on The Jalopy Journal.

Anyway, you can see more here.