Porsche Targa - Halfway House Or Classic Genius Car Design?

Classic Car A 1968 Porsche 911 Targa Sports Car

Quite simply, for this week at least, I've found my new favourite classic car. The beautiful motor vehicle that you see here is from a rather nice site called theaircooledguys.com, and this is a 1968 Porsche 911 Targa with Sportomatic transmission.

It was in 1967 that Porsche first introduced the Targa into the 911 range. Combining beauty with protection, the Targa had a roll bar with a stainless steel exterior coating. The car combined the best of a hard top and a soft top, but only seemingly came about because Porsche suspected that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) might be on the verge of banning fully open convertibles in the United States. Porsche certainly didn't want to fall foul of the lucrative US market.

Targa means “shield” in Italian, and came from Targa Florio, which was a road automobile endurance race which took place in the picturesque mountains of Sicily. Originating in 1906, and with the proud claim to be the oldest sports car race event, it was discontinued in 1977.

Porsche Targa - Italian Car Classic Made In Germany

Originally with a removable plastic rear window along with the removable roof-top panel, the Targa soon included the far more aesthetically pleasing option of an all-around glass rear window from 1968.

Sourcing a Targa for less than your house is a tricky business though, so like me, I guess the majority of you will develop a longing that can probably never be fulfilled. Although later models can be cheaper (you can, with some deft searching, pick up a 1979 Porsche 911 Targa Sportomatic for around £14,000), you might be expected to part with upwards of £25,000 for a nice late 1960's 911 version depending on condition.

Car marketing is a curious and amusing folly; when I was working for Nissan I attended many launch meetings where the vehicle in question's target audience was amusingly displayed in a bubble in a hastily put together Powerpoint presentation. Single, male, middle class, kids have grown up and looking to spend newly found spare cash after being promoted to manager in the company they joined from school. Rubbish, I always thought, generally speaking, though I do understand the need to pigeonhole. The amount that gets spent on advertising for magazines, internet and TV generates it's own pressure to be pointed in a relevant direction.

So how do you market an automobile like the Targa, sitting somewhat uncomfortably between the Cabriolet and the Coupe? Well, the 911 version takes up approximately 10 per cent of the total 911 sales and the sliding roof technology developed for the 993 certainly has enhanced this type of car's everyday practicality.

For me though, the appeal is in exactly what makes it an awkward model to market – the fact that it is in theory the best of both worlds, with the roof down (or off), there is arguably less wind buffeting than in the full cabrio' at speed, and anyone who has converted a Beetle to a cabriolet, will understand the extra strengthening that is required around the sills. The Targa retains a lot of the Coupe's rigidity.

By the way, if you're wondering what a Sportomatic is well I'll tell you. But when it's described in simplistic terms, it does make you wonder why all cars are not Sportomatics; just like anyone crawling round the M25 on their way home from work might wonder why we don't all drive automatics over here like most of America does.

Sportomatic is not an automatic transmission - it's more an automatic clutch. You have the pleasure of using a stick-shift style gearbox, but without the hassle of developing a Popeye leg if you drive in a city, as there is no clutch. Nissan have a similar concept in their CVT equipped vehicles, which incidentally, topped sales globally of 1 million in 2007..

If you're in the market for an old Porsche Targa, but can't afford a 911, do remember the 912 (you can read more about this 911 bodied motor here), which is essentially a 911 with a 356 engine (and rumoured in some quarters to have higher suspension purely so that it didn't handle quite as well as the 911) - but for much less money. If you get lucky, you can get your classic high performance sports car insuranceand enjoy our traditional two weeks of summer, without feeling like you're driving a tent for the rest of the year.

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