Evolution of the Porsche Targa

The legendary Porsche 911 was launched in 1963 as a Coupe, and its silhouette has famously never significantly changed. However, almost as soon as Porsche released its 911 Coupe, it sought to offer an open-topped version, for those who preferred their Porsche sports car experience mixed with a little fresh-air motoring.

The Targa variant duly arrived as a production model in 1966 and has been virtually ever-present in the 911 lineup since, although its design has evolved in that time. 

Allow Lee Sibley from 9Werks to recall the story for you. 

The plan, at first, was to ditch the 911 Coupe’s roof, plus its B- and C-pillars, and offer a Cabriolet, however, Porsche found during its early studies this solution was not possible due to issues with rigidity. Instead, Porsche engineers would make a roll-hoop where the B-pillar was, which would form part of the car’s structure and, crucially, protect occupants if the car rolled over. 

The Zuffenhausen company was going to call this new 911 model the ‘Safety Cabriolet’, but eventually named it after the famous Targa Florio race around Sicily, which Porsche would win outright on multiple occasions. The Targa would feature the same engine and spec as its Coupe equivalent and was available on the T, E and top-of-the-range S models of 911 and the four-cylinder 912. 

Its design incorporated a removable top above the driver and front passenger seats. The top consisted of a roof skin and interior nylon lining around a metal frame, which folded to allow the roof to be stowed neatly in the 911’s front boot. A neat solution!

To put the roof back on, you simply needed to unfold it, place the rear on two pins protruding from the top of the roll-hoop, and likewise slot the hood’s front hooks into position joining the A-pillar. Two locking handles are then required (usually kept in the glove box), with a 90-degree twist of each to secure the roof. This all sounds easy, but in reality, affixing the roof to the car is a two-person job, due to its size and fairly hefty weight.

Very early Targa models actually featured a zip-up rear canvas with clear plastic screen aft of the B- pillar, these are known as ‘soft window’ Targas and are exceedingly rare. This was replaced by a wrap-around glass screen – which was also heated – from 1967, offering excellent visibility and reducing wind noise in the cabin. The removable roof above the driver’s head remained.

This ‘roll hoop’ 911 Targa design stayed in production alongside its Coupe brethren through the ‘long-bonnet’ era (1965-73), the G-body era (1974-89), and the 964 generation, finally bowing out in 1993. Incidentally, the 911 Cabriolet arrived in 1982, but still the Targa lived on as one of two open-topped 911 variants. 

Although the mechanics pretty much stayed the same throughout this extraordinary period, there were minor tweaks to its appearance – for example, the roll hoops gained three vertical gills on each side in 1967, while the roll bar’s finish was altered from brushed steel to matt black in the mid-’70s. We offer a replacement 911 Targa roll bar on our website here. 

Incidentally, while G-body Targas are fairly commonplace, 964 Targas are rare due to their short production window. For the 964 generation, a Targa body was available with both rear- and all-wheel-drive chassis.

While the traditional Targa offered a brilliant compromise for allowing open-topped 911 motoring, the keyword really was “compromise”. Targa models suffer from severe wind noise coming into the cabin at anything above 35mph when the roof is stowed, and when the roof was on, it wasn’t exactly known for being watertight – particularly now these cars have been around for decades. A new roof skin and lining will need to have been acquired at some point, as the original roof skin cracks and gets misshapen, meaning the skin doesn’t run flush to the top of the windscreen.  Shop for replacement 911 Targa rubber seals here. 

Many early Targas also lost their locking handles along the way, though replacements are cheap enough.

The Targa ‘solution’ also didn’t solve the issues with rigidity in the comprehensive manner we’d expect today. For example, we wouldn’t advise opening your Targa’s doors while the car is in the air on a two-poster ramp!

However, they are a great-looking 911 and a nice way to experience some wind-in-the-hair moments when out on the road in the summer season. An unapologetic fair-weather 911, values of used examples were priced accordingly, and until ten years ago a classic Targa was one of the most ‘unloved’ in the 911 marketplace. That would change with the arrival of the 991, which we’ll come to later.

First though, the 993-generation 911 would arrive, with the Targa variant debuting in late 1995. The reshaped 993 Targa would form an alternative look for the 911 Targa, spanning twenty years through the 993, 996 and 997 generations. Ditching the roll-bar look, the Targa switched to a design which sought to offer open-air Porsche motoring while staying loyal to the Coupe’s silhouette.

Penned by Steven Murkett, the Coupe’s tin top was swapped for a glass roof which with the aid of electronics, slid right back to open up the cabin spectacularly. Twinned with the large glass rear screen, the 993 Targa was just as bright and airy as its predecessors, while doing away with the wind buffeting which plagued that original design. In truth, the Targa’s side-profile did differ slightly to the Coupe, with a new rear three-quarter window coming to a sharp point, rather than having the Coupe’s smoothed profile. Fancy one? Read our 993 Buyers Guide here. 

The 993 Targa was offered in rear-drive form only, the same as the 996 generation which followed after the turn of the millennium. For the 996-generation though, the glass roof design would evolve to offer an opening rear hatch, adding further practicality to the 911 Targa model. 

While the concept was highly praised, these days many glass-roof Targas of the 993 and 996-generation are known to give out the odd rattle when in motion, so a test drive of any car before buying is advised. Solving these rattles can be both complex and costly – buying from reputable dealers on the 9WERKS Marketplace will help you find a good example. You should note there is also a maintenance schedule which diligent owners will need to adhere to.

This ‘glass roof’ Targa design would follow into both the 997.1 and 997.2 generations, though by now the Targa was available only in all-wheel-drive, and has remained so to the present day. Porsche 997 Targas are rare, again due to a short production window (two years for each), and tend to be exceedingly well-specced, with lavish and rare options from Porsche Exclusiv.

Check out our 997 Buying Guide here. 

2015 would see a radical new design. The 991 Targa brought back the now-iconic ‘roll hoop’ design, and through some clever and complex kinematics, it automated the entire roof removal process. At the touch (and hold) of a button, the 991 Targa’s glass clamshell tilts back, while the roof folds and stows in the back, flipping up and past the roll hoop.

A design as outrageous as it is flamboyant, the clever roof system captured the imaginations of the buying public, to the extent it even flipped perceptions of the classic ‘roll hoop’ Targas, the values of which promptly overtook classic Cabriolets. Since then, a classic Targa has been far from an unloved classic Porsche.

Porsche’s innovative electronic Targa roof system has stayed through both generations of 991 and 992, and will celebrate its tenth birthday in 2025. In that time, while the roof system has stayed the same, the Targa model itself has switched to turbocharged engines, in line with the rest of the Carrera range, as well as PDK-only transmission and, now, hybridisation with the 992 GTS Targa, underlining the 911 Targa’s status as the ultimate boulevard cruiser.

Away from the 911, Porsche has used the removal ‘Targa’ roof on two of its other sports car icons. The first was the 914. This joint venture between Porsche and VW, in production from 1969-1976, featured a manually removable mid-section of the roof, made from fibreglass. Read our 914 Buyers Guide here. 

The same concept was also reignited in the early 2000s, this time for one of Porsche’s most exotic creations. The Carrera GT also utilised a manually removable roof section above the car's two seats, which again was to be stowed in the front boot, however, it was made from lightweight carbon fibre and split into two parts to be stored neatly. Whilst the Carrera GT’s removable roof was never officially named ‘Targa’, it followed the famous Porsche principle of a quick and easy removable hard-top which gave customers the best of both worlds: Coupe looks with the roof on, and fresh-air motoring when stowed. The name, like the model itself, has become an icon, the Targa an important piece of not just 911 history, but for Porsche sports cars in general. 

Our thanks to friend and Porsche journalist Lee Sibley for summing up beautifully what might just be the ideal Porsche for the British Summer, where there is a 50% chance of rain at any given point. 

If you found this enjoyable and informative, Lee has previously penned a guide to becoming a racing driver and how to pick a specialist Porsche workshop. 

Andy