New Stupid Question O' the Day...

[nvr2mny]

Our '68 912 Targa has grab handles (for lack of a better word) on the backside of the Targa bar, on the interior of course. Is that was these are? It has the rear glass window with defrost, but no rear seats. I thought I read somewhere if ordered with the glass window that in '68 it would have come with the rear seats? Any way to tell if it came as a SWT vs rear glass once converted? I appreciate the depth of knowledge here and the willingness to share.

[JT912]

Are these handles at the top of the bar? Chrome? This link shows the soft window parts. Maybe your car started out as a softie. early soft window targa upgrade possible

[nvr2mny]

John, Yes the handles are at the top of the bar on the back (towards the rear of the bar) and are not chrome but upholstered. Waiting on the COA from Porsche to see if it was a softie from the beginning. Thanks, I'll check out the link.

[Rick Becker]

Very interesting that the levers are upholstered. If that's factory, it would be extremely rare, please post a photo of them here!

As of January 1968 due to government safety concerns, the factory installed the rear storage compartments rather than seats and started calling the soft window Targa "Version I". Back seats were still offered with the "Version II" hard window. So the production date for your Targa sounds like January or later. Here's a link to an image from a Porsche brochure showing both setups:

The Targa, Versions I and II in EngrBecker | Drive+

Here's the view of the levers from the factory owner's booklet, when back seats were still installed with the SWT. Interesting that Figure 12 and step 1 show and describe a "protection cover" to place over the rear seats, since the seats will fold upright and snap to the window boot when that is installed. Anyone have or seen one of these covers?