bobbigham

I'm thinking about two options I have regarding my targa top.

1) having it refurbished, as the headliner is coming loose, but the exterior, and general condition is really still pretty good. Has anyone had this done, and where would be the the best place to send it to to have it redone? I'm thinking there are a few options, one east coast and one west coast.

OR

2) Has anyone tried one of those fiberglass solid targa tops? Do they fit well? I'm thinking about getting one and having it painted guards red to match the car...anyone have a photo of that? Not sure if it would look good or not?

911tracker85

I got one of those about a year ago. I have been satisfied with it, for my purpose. I run my targa at the track a lot. I had my top recovered, lesser grade vinyl. bubbles at speed.

I have had to do a very little bit of grinding / cutting / regluing to get fit to my liking. have not been in heavy rain, only light rain. did not hardly leak, no worse than my reg top.

the place I got mine on eBay, the guy came through but hard to get initial answers. my initial reaction when receiving was disappointment.

when I had time to really look it over, check the fit, figure out what it would take to get the results I wanted, I kept it. been happy with results, and it is much lighter weight. it is hand-laid two layer fiberglass and has a rough, pebbled painted surface in a dull black. inside surface is rough, dull black fiberglass similar to the outside. I suspect I will proabaly repaint in near future, but keep black. it is not something you want for a show car, but for track duty it is great.

as I said, I had a local shop do refurb on my stock top a number of years ago. they did a good job redoing outside and liner both. just the outside stiffness not as good as original.

bobbigham

Regarding the fiberglass lid, did it come with seals/hardware? Can I ask about how much the fiberglass top cost?

Thanks

911tracker85

sorry for delay in reply.

when I bought mine it was $499 w/free shipping. here is a link to a current listing for it

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/PORSC...QQcmdZViewItem

the top (he calls is a 'spare top') is complete. my issue was the fit. I had to pull some of the weather strip back and grind down the fiberglass a bit around the 'vent' window frame on the drivers side. in part because I screwed the top down pretty tight to prevent wind noise and water leak.

(this top has screws that go up through the top of windshield frame and screw into the receivers molded into the top.)

to repeat, this is not a 'show car' solution. but when clean and a good application of vinyl conditioner it looks OK. and for my track activity it is great, and it is light. I finally decided to buy one after I got black flagged in 2007 at a track event before I bought this due to my stock top billowing up so much they thought my top was coming off.

911tracker85

PS, I have seen listings for a solid fiberglass shell that attaches to the stock top frame. don't know where you would find that item. I have seen this on a targa at a Porsche event painted red to match the car. in this case the figerglass shell is smooth. the spare-top I bought has a rough/pebbled finish.

bobbigham

Thanks, I thought I saw an ad one time for one of those smooth ready to paint tops somewhere.

I wonder what a matching red targa top would look like? Funny (as in strange), or cool (as in nice and unique).

I need to get better at photoshop I guess.

wwest

Now that "foldable" clear plastics are available I think the next time (if ever) I need to refurbish my '78's targe top it will be "see-through".

911tracker85

I saw a targa at a PCA event with that smooth hard top painted red, same color as the car. he also painted the targa rollbar red.

It did look good, but I had mixed feelings about the effect.

my 911 targa is white gold, a light champagne gold. I like the contrast of the black top/roll bar and other black accents with the color of my car.

bobbigham

I'm not quite sure how clear would look with the frame and all?

I think a fiberglass top could be smooth and painted to match the car, but leaving the targa bar black, I think it may look good but can't quite picture the full effect yet.

If I could some photo shop kinda work, I may get a better idea.

Thanks for the comments guys.