Removing the targa bar - structually sound?
 

Just pondering an idea for down the road, is it possible to safely remove the targa bar, targa top, and rear window and keep the structural integrity of the chassis?

Reason I'm pondering it is because the PO removed the targa bar, then did a poor job of welding it back on - so I question its safety. There's no interior trim, seatbelts need to be replaced - so maybe thinking of full convertible. Just toying the idea.

The Targas are torsionally inferior to a coupe. This is why many believe Targas are donor cars for coupes. The Targa roll bar is there as a safety device in case of roll over. It provides nearly ZERO for torsional or longitudinal stiffness of the chassis. Leave it off if you want.

I believe Targas incorporated supplemental stiffeners in the rocker panels or elsewhere to provide a little torsional enhancemet so your Targa will probably be close to factory acceptable stiffness without the roll bar.

Stan Townes acquired a 67 coupe that rolled over and converted it to a Speedster style car; check it out for inspiration:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/5439317-post4.html

Paul Abbott
Performance Oriented

now THATS a sunny day car, as my daughter calls my targa. would like to see it with the lid down. interesting lines, i like it better than a cab.

there was also a guy that converted his targa to a coupe. if the targa's had some extra strengthening, a conversion like that would make for a good rain gutter delete. a LOT of work though

Someone over in Singapore converted it to a convertible. It's seem alright, looks factory drives fine but i wont convert mine. I decided not buy it after checking and realising it was a conversion. That was ten years ago. dont know if it's still around.

There have been quite a few targas converted to Cabs.

The targa bar does nothing for fore/aft ridgidity anyway, which is what's really needed.

In fact it really does very little at all, except in a rollover.

They have the same structural reinforcing, so it should be fine.

As someone said, you can also cut a roof off a doner and weld it on. That would make a very stiff body.