Thought I'd share something quite rare and I think pretty cool. After 30+ years in the 914 hobby I spent the day assembling an entirely new targa top, all pieces are NOS.

Some interesting details are that the holes for the rear seal and front trim panel are not predrilled. Upon drilling them I found out there is an aluminum frame embedded inside the entire top periphery as well as a foam core.

Rear seals is the NLA original style with embedded metal trips and entirely flocked along the edge.

Top came with the headliner glued in and the side seal rails installed.

The original exterior finish should be of interest since its completely original and has never been in sunlight.

This should be a good reference for other top restorations.

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Very cool! Agree this will be a great reference for folks. Thanks for posting.

I'm happy to send larger photos to any member wanting high res details; we're very limited on this forum for images sizes.

I've been working on these cars for a long time but learned a good deal today assembling this thing, particularly in terms of the structure hiding inside.

Very cool info. Thanks for posting.

Wow. Another one—nice find! And yep, that's the way they're supposed to look.

Interesting that it came unassembled. The one I bought years ago was assembled, but maybe it had been assembled when it was bought and then stashed away. Didn't know about the aluminum, but makes sense.

Wow, that is really cool! Thanks for sharing! Can you share some of the story of how/where/why those neato parts were set aside?

What a great find, thanks for sharing!

That's just awesome. Thanks for sharing!

I’ve just been collecting NOS parts for 914-6 for many years and I finally accumulated enough parts to make up a new early top.

According to my old parts book there wash no part number for a complete top but maybe later that changed?

Thanks for the kind words guys.

Very nice. What is the part number of the block that locates into the rear targa latch ? As you may know the early blocks were wider and shorter. They look like later blocks which will allow sideways movement of the top. It looks like Porsche superceeded the early number twice to use the late block.
@aturboman

The early rear silentblocs are p/n 914 563 033 10 and as you mentioned they are shorter in height than the late ones.

I vote for either the Lapuwali or the Originality forum. This is too good of information to get lost in the garage. Although I think most of us use Google to search anyways.

O&H as a nailed topic please Dave P!


Thanx for this great reference aturboman.

Can you please also post one close-up pic of the texture with a ruler in the frame as a reference for the painters laying down the texture coating.

Thanx!


Tom
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How did you not include this in the 'Holy Grail' thread ?
Well done Robert !
Aluminum structure.....that's a surprise.
Thank you.

Do you have a date code on the targa top itself? There have been other discussions on here about the headliner and when it came into being. My early '70 one did not have the headliner and had no lip on the top door seal.

The top is an early top but a replacement NOS part so I’m sure they all came with headliners at that point; this one was glued in already, but it’s going on a later 1970 6 #1310 which had the headliner.
My #459 car did not have the headliner on its original top.

Interesting thing about the texture is it resembles a “knock down” wall board finish for those of us that live on CA; it’s in almost every house out here.

The side seals are NOS but are the revised style with the lip. I have a nice set of original profile side seals but not new so I has a choice to make on that one. I have never seen any NOS early profile side seals in 30 years of looking for this stuff. I was very lucky to grab an NOS early rear seal.

Thanks Rory I was surprised by the aluminum as well it literally runs around the whole outside of the top.

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^ This is what 914 targa tops are supposed to look like. Texture looks identical to the NOS top I bought, though finish looks a little glossier.

And it does look like a tiny version of knock down sheet rock finish.

In fairness I wiped down the top with a little cleaner just prior to the photos so it had a bit more sheen then when I got it.