The first Type 356, designed by Ferdinand Porsche at the age of 72, was constructed in the then home of the Porsche company, an old sawmill in Gmund in Austria, in 1948. This first prototype, which now resides in the Porsche museum in Stuttgart, had a weight saving tubular frame and aluminium body designed by Erwin Komenda. It had a Volkswagen engine and gearbox but switched to make this a mid-engined car.

A second car was built in the same year, with a pressed steel chassis and floor pan and with the engine and gearbox in the rear position. as in existing VWs. This was the configuration Porsche used for the seventeen year production life of the 356. Because of Porsche's links with VW the first production cars made use of a number of Volkswagen parts, but as the model developed these were replaced with parts of Porsche's own design.

The 356's soft lines keep this a classic

The first thing to strike you about the 356, whether it be a coupé or convertible, is its stunning good looks. In our opinion, the soft curves, combined with that uncomplicated, purposeful tech makes this the finest of all the production Porsches.

If you own a 356 you can be satisfied that you possess the original Porsche sports car. It is the Porsche designed by Ferdinand Porsche himself. You will have something relatively uncomplicated. It will be simple to maintain and run. It will be, moreover, an investment far better than dull cash in the bank.

A 911 may be bigger, faster and more comfortable but when you get into your 356, settle down comfortably in your low leather seat, grip the steering wheel and peer through that narrow screen, all the while listening to the throbbing of that flat four aircooled engine behind you, that you know you are the owner of the real deal.

Dr Porsche left a true legacy, and not only to his children

All images Magneto

Gary Irwin's 1959 Porsche 356 was imported to UK in June 1999, when the bodywork restored and refinished by Andy Barry of Southend. The car was originally Ruby Red but was refinished by Andy in Aetna Blue, an original Porsche colour dating from 1961.

The interior is complete with stock seats, which were originally re-trimmed in the UK in tan leather. The original front seats were replaced with reproduction alloy Speedster buckets.

Fine detailing was made by Richard King of Karmann Konnection, who fitted original restored wipers and rear reflectors, reproduction bonnet straps and headlight grilles - as well as wood rimmed steering wheel.

The 1600cc engine (not original) was serviced and fitted with twin Weber 40mm IDF carburettors and the exhaust was left standard.

Finding a loving home with Gary in January 2002, it is used regularly for travelling to work and for longer trips like Le Mans Classic.

On purchasing the car the new owner immediately replaced the two tone wheels with reproduction 356 style 5.5" steels which improved its look.

During his eight years of ownership he has systematically renovated and improved the running gear. First the gearbox was rebuilt by Jez Parsons of Carerra Performance after a bolt loosened in the gearbox, disabling the drive. Fortunately no internal damage was done.

After a faltering trip down to La Sarthe, Gary sourced a Porsche 912 engine and had this more reliable lump fitted to the car, reusing the original ancillaries including the Weber carbs. When the previous engine was stripped it was found that the barrels were different sizes between the left and right side.

When the opportunity arose Gary had the replacement engine fitted with a lightened and balanced crankshaft, flywheel and rods, new 1720cc barrels and pistons as well as reworked cylinder heads. The Weber 40 IDFs were reworked to suit the engine too.

During this time the car continued to work with 6 volt electrics but Gary found as the car improved so it became more and more difficult to start. Invariably the battery needed replacing after each winter lay off. Gary intended to upgrade to a 12 volt dynamo system but he came across a very neat British made alternator conversion kit. This looks very original, utilising an easily sourced Bosch alternator, and makes the car an easy starter every time.

They call it an outlaw. And that's why we like it. But it has nothing to do with legality. It has everything to do with orthodoxy.

When the concours-fetishists denigrate cars who don't take originality to be the quintessence of car culture, what they're really doing is being wholly unimaginative. For them, as it was is as it should be. The fact that a car rolled out of a factory in a certain form half a century or more ago, means that this must be how a car should stay. Forever, goes the thinking, this product of a hugely complex industrial process must be an end-point in itself.

It's impossible, it is reckoned, to improve on an original, and to extend that it must be impossible to think about a simulacra being anything but a fake - that a copy could not possibly surpass an original. So when people like Emory began to to create customised Porsche 356s some time in the early 1980s, it got up a few peoples' noses.

The purity of the 356 form surely couldn't possibly be improved upon, could it? How wrong could one be? The fact is that the very purity, the lasting lecacy of Porsche's flowing, unsullied design itself that creates that uniquely perfect context upon which a creative imagination can weave its magic.

Subtle Stancing. Cleaned type and badge-work. Race-style modifications like leather hood straps, emboldened steels or other alloys - only enhance the beauty of Ferdinand Porsche's clean design. Purity of form allows for and accommodates flourishes of human imagination - and the integrity of the 356's admittedly brilliant design and engineering can of course be augmented by the inclusion of up-to-date parts and accessories which, funnily enough, flow relatively easily into these almost seventy year old cars.

And, this, after all, is the age of the hybrid. Not only in terms of the proliferation of AFVs, but in terms of the cross-fertilisation of all thngs. In a world where communication is instant, where we can express ourselves to the entire world, sharing aesthetics, values and influences - it is impossible to think that originality will continue to be the sort of value traded by many of us.

So let's celebrate the Outlaw as the realm of the here and the now. Let's celebrate the fact that imaginaton and technology CAN actually create something of lasting value. Lets leave the originals to the age in which they were created.