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Originally Posted by mike sampsel
No argument here I see a pic of Porsche Turbo from my '76 buyers guide of road and track magazine with black windshield trim.
But turbos are not targa.
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I have all of the tests that R&T did of the turbo in that era and they all had black trim. No surprise, as black was standard on the turbo. I looked at a test they did of a '78 coupe and it had black trim, as well. Other tests (eg. Autotest) in 1978 were of coupes with black trim.
I did find two tests of '78 targas, one in Car and the other in Motor, and they both had black trim. The photos aren't good enough to reproduce here, but you can see that all of the trim is definitely black. Most other tests from that era showed cars (coupes and targas) with bright trim, but there were a couple european tests of '78 coupes with black trim.
I did find a picture of a mid-year targa with black trim. Best guess is that it was a '74 or '75, but it was a later photo (not taken in the time frame it was built) so I can't say it was original. Likely, though...
Quote:
Originally Posted by mike sampsel
Additional information you do not have makes the faded statement less likely. The trim directly behind the one in the photo under the rear targa window rubber is black and not faded at all and not painted either. Very unlikely the same material is exposed the same way and one fades and the other does not.
Perhaps both sides trims on the doors were swapped for this piece before I got it for the non black aluminum version? But the other information leads me to believe it is not faded.
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There's no question the door top trim in your photo is black. Bright trim can't be mistaken for black. It starts out as highly polished aluminum and the clear anodizing dulls it a little bit. It never gets as dull as raw, oxidized aluminum. I have seen black trim that gets as faded as raw aluminum, which is to say there's no black left. Still, you can't mistake it for bright trim.
I think Porsche had some problems with their anodized pieces for a while. I've seen too many faded pieces from that time frame. Porsche bought those pieces from suppliers. There's nothing that says the same supplier supplied all of the different trim pieces. Plus, if you've ever fooled around with anodizing, it's hard to maintain a given color from batch to batch. I won't get into the technical reasons why, just take my word for it. Black is a color that is hard to do right. I've seen new pieces that are jet black, some that have a purple cast to them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mike sampsel
Just so I am clear, all the points you make are based on recollection of Porsche factory documentation you sold off sometime ago?
It is also curious about the big disparity in fade rates of the material.
All the targa emblems I found for 78's are shinny not black. Mine faded quickly as it was shinny in 84 when I got it.
I wonder if any of the 80's emblems faded ... humm ?
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My recollections include more than just the factory documentation. I used to have a collection of original brochures, technical books, paint and interior sample books and other things that dealers kept for ordering the cars. I also had a huge library, with about 4-5,000 books and about that many magazines from that era. I also have owned Porsches for almost 40 years, so some of it is from firsthand use, attending PCA and other Porsche-related functions, visiting the Porsche factory, etc.
I never had a a '78 targa, but I did buy an '80, back in the day. I have a picture of it, taken in the winter of 1982, shortly after I received my '83 coupe. It's not a big photo, but you can already see that the targa badge is a couple shades lighter than the roll hoop.
Hope this helps,
JR