Targa owners (and Cabs) - visor question

[LIRS6]

30 years ago I removed my sun visors as my long torso basically meant that the driver visor, while in the up position, was sticking way too far out, and was in line with the top of my forehead. The nature of the Targa top does not allow the visors to be moved up into the recess of the headliner, as would be the case with a coupe. With shorter daylight these day, I reattached (a new set of) visors, with the predictable same result.

It got me wondering if anyone has successfully cut their visors in order to reduce the depth of them, and if so, how did you re-seal the vinyl exterior?

Jason
'79 Targa

[RDM]

I have exactly the same problem you did (long torso), and solved it exactly the same way (remove visors).

My solution to the second-order problem is ball caps in the door pockets. Also helps to keep the head warm on cold days and unburned on sunny days. See if your half-a-visor can do that!

[LIRS6]

Originally Posted by RDM

My solution to the second-order problem is ball caps in the door pockets. Also helps to keep the head warm on cold days and unburned on sunny days. See if your half-a-visor can do that!

Dru - how does your cap stay on your head while doing 150 KPH on the Autobahn?

Jason

[cabmandone]

You sure you have the right visors? A cab/targa visor has a bend upward in it where the coup visors are just flat. I hate my flat visors in my cab for exactly the reasons you listed. I love my old cab visors (part of the deal when I bought the cab from him) in my brother's targa.

[cabmandone]

For lack of a better picture I pulled these from ebay. They don't look like the factory cab/targa visors IMO but you'll get the idea of where they are supposed to bend.

[LIRS6]

Originally Posted by cabmando

You sure you have the right visors? A cab/targa visor has a bend upward in it where the coup visors are just flat. I hate my flat visors in my cab for exactly the reasons you listed. I love my old cab visors (part of the deal when I bought the cab from him) in my brother's targa.

I still have the original visors, I simply replaced them as they were "tired." The original visors have no bend to them, which is why i removed them 30-odd years ago to begin with, and the new are identical to the old in size etc.

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by LIRS6

I still have the original visors, I simply replaced them as they were "tired." The original visors have no bend to them, which is why i removed them 30-odd years ago to begin with, and the new are identical to the old in size etc.

If you don't have the visor with a bend, you don't have targa/cab visors. I can't say for sure that all targa's came with the cab style visor or straight but when I was researching visors that were proper for my cab, I found that targa's came with the same visor style that my cab had. I know people advertise the straight as being for targa's and cabs. I fell for it and bought an aftermarket pair. But the straight are for a coup and the bent for targa's and cabs.

Something else: If you didn't pitch the original visors, you could send them in to have them recovered and they might be able to put the bend in the frame. I'm not sure that's how the straight and cab style differ in how they are made but I would think it can't be much more than that.

[Lyle O]

Yes, cab visors have a nice bend to them (a curve, really)...see my '87 visor below:

[LIRS6]

Originally Posted by cabmando

If you don't have the visor with a bend, you don't have targa/cab visors.

You have an '85 ... I have a '79 ... anyone out there with a '79 who can affirm that our cars had/have flat visors?

Jason

[RDM]

Originally Posted by LIRS6

You have an '85 ... I have a '79 ... anyone out there with a '79 who can affirm that our cars had/have flat visors?

Jason

My '80 has flat visors... in the garage.

Cap stays on at 200kph.

[theenico]

My 78 has flat visors. They currently resemble sad black balloons though.

[LIRS6]

Originally Posted by RDM

Cap stays on at 200kph.

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by LIRS6

You have an '85 ... I have a '79 ... anyone out there with a '79 who can affirm that our cars had/have flat visors?

Jason

Yep and it's a cab that came with factory visors that were bent. I also said I can't speak to all model years in another post. If you really want to fix your clearance problem, buy visors that are made for the cabriolet and possibly later the targa's. I would have to think there's a reason Sierra Madre advertises it as a cab/targa visor in that ad I took the pic from.

[dobryan]

1977 targa, flat visors.

[LIRS6]

Ok, next will be a project to reduce the depth of my visors - bending them in some fashion will not accomplish much for my needs.

Thread to follow after some thought put to my project.

Jason

[Mark Salvetti]

My 1979 Targa (that I have had since 1992) has the curved visors. At this point, unless people have had their cars for many years, I have to assume a PO replaced the original bent visors with the much more readily available flat ones.

Actually, now that I think about it, when I bought the car it had one flat visor and one bent one. I was able to find another bent visor on eBay.

If you look at 1979 Targas for sale on BAT, most have the bent visors.

Mark

[LIRS6]

Originally Posted by Mark Salvetti

If you look at 1979 Targas for sale on BAT, most have the bent visors.

Mark - between the wrong dash vent and the wrong visors, I think I need to check if my car is really a Porsche

Jason

edit: I looked at BaT, and found both examples on '79's .. flat, and curved. The flat ones looked like crap (as my originals do) - like balloons, as theenico put it. The curved ones looked to be in much better condition - leading me to wonder if they were replacements.

[Mark Salvetti]

Definitely some flat ones on BAT, but my sense was more cars were bent. I didn't check them all though.

I really don't know anymore. I was convinced the visors are supposed to be bent, but looking at some vintage photos and I'm not so sure when the switch to bent happened. I have a 1979 sales brochure, and the Targa photos do appear to show flat visors (but hard to tell). Then again, I have a Road & Track road test of a 1983 cabriolet, and the visors on that car are clearly flat. By then I would have thought they would be bent, and I've seen other period cabriolet photos with bent visors.

Mark

[RedCoupe]

Interesting issue. Wonder when the change to the bent style occurred. My 86 Targa definitely has the bent style, and from the dealer sticker on one of them, they came with the car.

[timmy2]

I believe the visors went to the bent version after ‘83.