Considering the colossal success of the 356
Cabriolet, not to mention sports cars being defined by al fresco motoring
throughout automotive history, it seems impossible to consider the 911
line-up without a convertible. Even so, Porsche waited twenty years to
provide its dealership showroom visitors with a fully retractable roof for
the company’s flagship offering, though an innovative (and subsequently
regularly copied) semi-open-top body style was developed by Zuffenhausen’s
engineering team in the mid-1960s, debuting on the 911 and its four-cylinder
sibling, the 912.
As we know, the 912 was introduced to the Porsche product portfolio on
account of the 911 costing significantly more than the outgoing 356,
resulting in slow sales of the ‘new Porsche for a new era’. The business
wasn’t as cash-rich as it is today, meaning there simply wasn’t the budget to
develop a new entry-level model. The solution was to fit a mildly tweaked
version of the 356’s Type 616 flat-four into the then new 911 body shell. And
so, the 912 was born.
The manufacturer’s financial position also meant no budget was available to
develop a Cabriolet version of the 911, even if rumours regarding changes to
US road safety legislation (suggesting a ban on full drop-tops) were
unfounded. Put simply, an open-top sports car requires a significant amount
of chassis strengthening to achieve structural rigidity. It is therefore
sensible to start with a Cabriolet and develop the equivalent coupe
thereafter. Porsche hadn’t anticipated the need for a 911 with a fully
foldable roof — in coupe form, the Neunelfer didn’t lend itself to the
Cabriolet body style.
A semi-open-top arrangement was the answer. Named after a legendary,
death-defying road race (in which Porsche had excelled), Targa was applied to
both the 911 and 912, living on to the present day and celebrating its
sixtieth anniversary this year. The system has gone through various changes
during the course of six decades, but continues to be a mainstay of the 911
line-up. Here’s to the next sixty years of Targa.
Considering the colossal success of the 356
Cabriolet, not to mention sports cars being defined by al fresco motoring
throughout automotive history, it seems impossible to consider the 911
line-up without a convertible. Even so, Porsche waited twenty years to
provide its dealership showroom visitors with a fully retractable roof for
....