Targa Progress Pics #1 - "un-pimping" the window trim

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Okay, last few weeks have been long. Lots of waiting for various parts to show up and also waiting to actually have time to install them on my '74 as I begin on the long journey to return this 911 to respectability and true-to-its-heritage original beauty.

I've determined that the P.O. (not sure which one, there have been several) really created a lot of work for me on this car. While it's in fundamentally good mechanical and cosmetic condition, there are lots of "weird" things that have been done to it over the years. As the car originally came from the factory, the window trim, door handles, mirrors, etc. were chrome and the original paint color was Mexico Blue. At some point, someone had the bright idea to respray the car to the current black color, and most of the chrome bits were painted over. Additionally the mirrors were changed to the later "flag style" (these will be changed later), they painted the targa bar, etc.

I swear, people with spray guns do more harm than good - almost as a universal truth. While the quality of the repaint isn't bad on its own, there are obvious "half-assed" aspects, like overspray on rubber seals, trim pieces, etc. in certain areas. *sigh* More for me to fix. But first things first, my first step was to remove the paint from the pieces that SHOULD be chrome, per the original factory specs (I also did some "fix-it" stuff on a few items, but more on that later. . . )

Some would say the color/material choice was done to make the car look more modern - I personally think it just confuses things and makes it more of a "hodgepodge" rather than a period-correct '74, which is what I'm going for. So I started by taking the doors apart and and un-pimping the window trim by removing the paint to expose the chrome underneath (also replaced the dry-rotted window seals, etc.) Here are pics of the progress:


The passenger's side vent window - some of the flaking-off paint was gently scraped away with a razor blade leaving it as you see here. You can see the felt window track (30+ years old) failing and the rubber seal (probably also original) in poor condition.



Close-up of the pivot point on the outside of the vent window - you can see the contrast between the chrome & painted areas and also how some idiot painted over not only the chrome window trim, but portions of the rubber window seal.




Starting disassembly - the two phillips-head screws at the base are removed as well as the two small phillips-head screws at the top of the vent window, allowing the assembly to be gently pulled apart - the condition (poor) of the rubber seal is becoming more obvious.




Front section is removed now - the rubber seal tore in two (that's how dry-rotted it was). Note the orientation of the seal and the position of the drain (lines up with a hole on the metal track for drainage)




Close-up of the pivot assembly (note to others: the shim is cupped and the hollow part faces the metal as shown)



All the rubber pieces were removed and the pieces taken down to bare metal with aircraft stripper, then polished up. As Haynes would say, "installation is oppose of removal". The felt track pieces were also replaced. Replaced the black painted door handles with nice shiny new chrome ones too (note to others: new door handles do NOT accept earlier lock cylinders, they're slightly longer with a plastic cap on the end and as such, won't work - just to make things more difficult for us guys). Swapping out the individual wafers is necessary if you don't want to have multiple keys.

The "new and improved" look:



This will go better with the original Mexico Blue color when I eventually return the car to its original paint scheme also. . .

The trim pieces around the windshield and back window are next, followed by the targa bar.

[crashr]

Hey Jeff,

I had a question for you regarding the trim peices. I have a 75' 911S Targa and some of my parts are black and some chrome, although I am not sure if that was done by the factory or not. What I do know is the front and rear window frames are chrom. The window trim is chrome (although it appears to be turning a purple color; Not sure if this can be rechromed or not?) However the door handles and vent windows appear to be black (also my targa bar was black). Can you tell me is this the factory color it was sent out?