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Cabriolets have so many options to like: Top up, Top down, Removable hardtop on. I love my cab. Agreed the coupe has a great line but when you live at the Jersey Shore you want to put the top down and drive along the ocean and smell that salt water air and feel the ocean breeze in 90 degrees sunny days.
you aren’t the only one. I very firmly believe that the only open roof cars that men should drive are: Targas, T-tops, or a huge drop boat type car (caddy, Lincoln, etc).
i mean, if you have one, it’s cool, just don’t come trying to talk to me about how “oaky this Chardonnay is”, and “my god these pantyhose sure do ride up!”
Lol, what a dumb **** conversation. Started out with the ubber intelligent comment of I hate convertible and morphed into a conversation about man hood by those obviously lacking a whole lot of something in that area. Hilarious, but pathetic . . .
Cabriolets have so many options to like: Top up, Top down, Removable hardtop on. I love my cab. Agreed the coupe has a great line but when you live at the Jersey Shore you want to put the top down and drive along the ocean and smell that salt water air and feel the ocean breeze in 90 degrees sunny days.
Classic. All the tastiest looking pop tops in the RL 997 world keep showing up here. That alone makes this thread win-win!
T
I want to show this thread to my first year intro. to philosophy students when we talk about value theory/aesthetics but the thread is too long and convoluted now.
One thing I find interesting is, I have a friend that I have known since the 6th grade. We are in our 40s now. Since we got our licenses, we also both have car ADD. Neither of us have owned a single car for over 5 years but both of us have owned multiples of the same model personally, and sometimes together at the same time. I have never optioned a sunroof, t-tops, a targa, a convertible, or any other thing other than a hard top on any car from a 50 chevy to my current C2S. When I do have a sunroof, I barely open it fully even though I have lived my whole life in California. On the other hand, my good friend has always, at minimum, had a sunroof (which he basically keeps open 24/7 when he has one) but he has mainly optioned convertibles including everything from the big red shark caddy from Fear and Loathing in Last Vegas (yeah, white leather too, 6 cigarette lighters BTW) to those weird turbo Mercury Capri convertibles in the 90s (which he owned two of)...when he has had them, the top is ALWAYS down unless it is raining essentially.
When I look at Porsche's 911 offerings, even though there are so many models, they totally make sense to me. My only gripe is how hard it is to find an "affordable" 911 with no sunroof at all...but I totally get the hardtop/sunroof/targa/cabrio options. It really just matters on what you want and how you will use it. If the discussion went into specific uses, then we could get more normative but I totally get someone who lives near the beach driving down PCH with the top down (cue No Man's Land).
I love the look of a wide-body 911. Virtually any model looks better as a wide body, pre-74 fakes excepted. I love driving with the top down.
I love driving 911s; they are special cars!
Fortunately, Porsche gives us the best of both worlds.
That said, I love the looks of all 911s, cabs, coupes, and targas, especially the 997.2 C4S, and of course the mighty 930. But, I drive my Porsche more than I look at it. For me a sports car should have a manual transmission and a convertible top. Maybe it goes back to the British cars I had in college and my 20's; three Austin Healeys and two MGs. Never got the XKE or Cobra I might have been able to afford back then, but hindsight's 20/20. But, now that I can afford a 911, and was fortunate enough to find an immaculate, low-mileage 997.2 C4S with sport chrono and a six-speed, I love that mine was built as a cabriolet. It is a blast to drive, very open and free; big smile on my face the whole time I'm behind the wheel. Especially on sunny days, there is nothing I would rather be driving. I love parking with the top down and appreciating it as I return from an errand. I love the sun and the fresh air. I love the sound of the engine. I love the open-air race to 7000 RPM; it's all different with the top down.
I guess some think a 911 should not be a cabriolet, but why not, who is it hurting? Maybe you just hate them for some irrational reason; maybe you secretly wish they were cool in your circle so you could have one without shame. 911 Cabriolets are making me and others very happy. I love driving my Porsche about 4000 miles per year; it's all I can squeeze in between winters. I don't have to work anymore (thanks, Dad, for all that great advice!) so my 997.2 C4S Cab is my nice weather daily about six months per year. My all weather daily picks up even fewer miles.
Who could hate a car like this?
Yeah, I know it needs spacers, I took these photos to document the appearance before my 7mm and 18mm H&Rs arrive. Maybe it should be lowered, but I don't want to disable the Sport PASM with coil-overs. It feels great on the road and I've only ever scraped one curb; the first day right after I bought it, turning around in a Los Angeles driveway; dammit.
Cabriolets have so many options to like: Top up, Top down, Removable hardtop on. I love my cab. Agreed the coupe has a great line but when you live at the Jersey Shore you want to put the top down and drive along the ocean and smell that salt water air and feel the ocean breeze in 90 degrees sunny days.
Wish there was a folding hard top convertible on the Porsche lineup. My wife has a Benz SLK & it's nice to be able to pop the top when the weather's glorious, but have a coupe the remainder of the time...T
No matter how creative the Porsche engineers are, I don't think they could get a folding roof into a 911s trunk, unless they're going to move the engine. Having owned a Boxster, I doubt they could make a folding hardtop to work with a mid-engine layout, either.
If they could pull it off, It would be interesting to see the top fold over the windshield and drop into the trunk.
The torsional rigidity of the cab (despite improvements) is way less than half of the coupes, almost a third. While the numbers are clear (cab 11,699 Nm/deg and coupe 30,359 Nm/deg) what isn't clear is do the numbers make a difference?
This paper for lightweight Formula SAE racers indicates that 1900-2100 Nm/deg is optimum with diminishing returns for 'stiffer' vehicles. Of course a 911 cab is heavier and perhaps capable of greater forces.
05-09-2018, 11:44 PM
Folding hardtop on a 911
