Still wondering about fiberglass targa top

radcon · radcon's Garage

Has anyone heard anymore about the fiberglass targa top that was the topic of several threads a few months ago? I would still be interested in getting one if they have worked out most of the bugs.

Planter91C2 · 11-13-2001, 02:32 PM

i concur, it really doesn't seem like it would be that hard to make. there is a pretty good interest in it. what's the problem?

JAE · 11-13-2001, 07:09 PM

I saw one last week and agree with conclusions in the previous thread- I was not impressed.

JAE
'80 SC Targa

JMPRO · JMPRO's Garage

Daryl,I have spent many hours doing research on making the targa hard top. I have an oem top and can provide the part to make a mold off of . mold cost ,any where from $2-5 thousand ,part cost $3-4 hundred each, rubber-clamps-locating pins-covering,another $2-3 hundred. add packaging mtl. and misc marketing costs and you have a part that costs up to $600 not including prorating the mold cost .Now, you still have to make a profit. Now you can see where this is going, you just wind up with a top that is going to retail for at least $1000 most likely more .The market is not that big and the higher the cost, the smaller the % of buyers willing to step up.I love my hard top and would'nt sell it for anything.

just my 2 cents

Jerry 78 911 SC Targa {80m miles}

R22tech · R22tech's Garage

Wouldn't sell it for anything, huh... If it fits my 85 Targa, I'll pay you $3,000.00 for it. What do ya think?

Saffs · 11-14-2001, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by R22tech
Wouldn't sell it for anything, huh... If it fits my 85 Targa, I'll pay you $3,000.00 for it. What do ya think?

Now, I might be tempted to sell my one for that.

JMPRO · JMPRO's Garage

r22tech

now if you were serious ,i still would'nt sell it for$3m because i can't replace it {at least not very easily}. if you can get 100 of your very good friends who own targas to put $1m each in an escrow account i will build the top. an exact copy of the oem part. i believe the top will fit all targas from 74 on as it does not use the standard targa latches.it has a latch common only to this part. if you have ever seen one on a targa you would wonder why anyone would be satisfied with a stock top, although i have been told that the hard top was standard equip in 75-76 and all the porsche dealers ordered the cars for north america with the soft top because they thought the buyers would like it better.they did untill the soft top started wrinkling and falling apart. if you drove my car you would swear you were in a coupe. one day i will figure out this pic post deal and put up a pic for you.

Jerry 78 911 SC Targa H.T.

Saffs · 11-14-2001, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JMPRO
r22tech

now if you were serious ,i still would'nt sell it for$3m because i can't replace it

Actually, I will sell mine for $3m.

Saffs · 11-14-2001, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JMPRO
r22tech

although i have been told that the hard top was standard equip in 75-76 and all the porsche dealers ordered the cars for north america with the soft top because they thought the buyers would like it better.they did untill the soft top started wrinkling and falling apart. if you drove my car you would swear you were in a coupe. one day i will figure out this pic post deal and put up a pic for you.

That's true, they were standard for '75 - '76. My '75 ROW has one. But, in '75, there were just 233 ROW Targas, so that narrows it down. It certainly is quieter than canvas Targa.

ebradway · ebradway's Garage

I've thought alot about this too. If you could take the folding targa top and take measurements, it should be possible to build a static frame from aluminum or cabon fiber. I need to see if my friend still has his CNC lathe...

This frame could use the standard latches and seals. You then just need to come up with a surface. I'd say it could be done with some screen and bondo. Once you had a decent prototype, it could be used to make a mold.

But I would bet even a static frame for a Targa would sell nicely! You could stretch the standard vinyl over it and put extra padding underneath. Almost as good as a hard top, and fairly inexpensive.

antares · antares's Garage

What a fool. I had a O.E.M. hard top on my 1975 Targa that I just sold this past summer. Thought I was going to get a coupe and then wound up with another targa, this time a Ruf wide body, but with the raggy soft top. My 75 was a heavy top and would not fit with ease in the front. I usually carried just behind the front seats. It sealed very well and did not allow the windshield to tweak like the soft top does. The latchs were like my 62 Austin Healy top. The wind shield has a peg insert and the top had a hook type latch at each visor area. It was rubber seal all the way around with rain gutters on the outside. It had two rubber nipples that inserted into the targa roll bar. The latch on the windshield leading edge would catch and then you would pull and snap it into place. you could adjust the pull tightness as well. If you are going to build one the fiber glass work would not be hard but getting the front wind shield inner sealing lip and the raised parts that fit over the inner door window areas would be the most tricky. I am good at fiber glassing and by the looks of things may make one myself. But a copy would be nice since I am just going on memory alone and god knows how well that works!

fintstone · fintstone's Garage

Have any of you looked at the one piece targa tops the guy makes and sells on EBay for $299? The pix look pretty good. Why don't one of you guys buy one and tell me how you like it before I have to decide?

Joeaksa · 11-14-2001, 10:21 PM

Fintstone,

I took the plunge and bought one of the tops. It has several problems and do not expect it to work right out of the box.

One, the mounts that come with it keep you from stowing the sun visors, so this has to be worked out. Took me a half a day to fix this but it was not that big of a deal.

Second the top started to raise above 60 mph in the center, allowing some air in the car and making me worry about its staying on the car at higher speed. The seller told several of us that he had stiffened it up and it should not do this, but several of us had the same problem. He now is putting braces and another fastener in the center and its supposed to be better. I have not heard from anyone who has gotten a new model top so cannot tell you if its better now.

Some of the guys have had problems with the rubber gaskets, however mine are working fine. I agree that its much better in the winter and summer than the stock targa top. I have an extra stock top that is in poor condition and may end up taking the latches off of it and mating them to the "hard top" and feel that this will make it work lots better.

The seller is not trying to make a mint but do something that we all wanted, and feel that he wanted one as well. I cannot get down on him for these shortcomings, but it needed to be debugged a bit more. I like my top but I like to tinker with stuff. This is not a Porsche quality top, but its also not a Pcar quality price.

Hope this helps...

fintstone · fintstone's Garage

Thanks for the info. Just saw an ad in Excellence for them. $299 + S&H. They look good in the picture. If anyone else is interested, it lists his email as sundialent@home.com

fintstone · fintstone's Garage

There is a site listing factory (used I imagine) fiberglass and saratoga tops for sale at $1200.
I purchased some hard-to-find targa parts I needed from this guy and was happy with his service. He also has some good repair and alignment tips on his website.

http://www.carsinc-nj.com/

JMPRO · JMPRO's Garage

Yes the carsinc web site has hard tops listed ,but he never has any for sale and does'nt know when he ever will.I have heard that all targas sold in northern europe in 75-76 had the hard top ,so if you know anyone in sweden you might call them and put out a search. i'll take 100 please.
All the ideas noted here have been researched to death and the one factor that keeps coming up is volume, if you don't have it you can't make a top and sell it at what most people consider a reasonable price. I paid $1200.00 for mine and have deemed it to be a very good price for the need it fulfils, in looks and service.
Someone find out who made the oem for porsche and buy the tooling ,that would knock down the set up cost and maybe make this thing workable.
BTW can you believe the price of gas,saw a sign for 99.9 cents gal . If i was paying $2.00 a gal just a few months ago what changed ? The gas co. are ripping us off and don't even care that we know it . rant- rant- rant
Jerry 911 SC targa

Oldporsche · 11-16-2001, 10:49 AM

I currently own one of those 75 targas with a factory hardtop. I took delivery of a new '76 targa in late '75. I do remember that the car could be delivered with a factory hard top. This top is able to be stored under the front hood of the car. The accessory became unavailable in 1977. The brake booster was in the way of storing it.

It probably was again a matter of volume and demand, even to be carried as an accessory.

Yes, I believe the front locking mechanisms are shared with the cabrolet.

The car itself will accept a folding top.

Good luck,
David Duffield