Considering sanding my targa top smooth and painting it to match the car.

Bodyman says don't do it ... when you push on the center of the top, it depresses pretty easily and quite a bit - he says the paint will start flaking almost immediately.

Is it possible that later targa tops have more meat or are better reinforced than my 72 ???

Would appreciate some comments from those that have done it - is it working and did you do any additional reinforcing ( with fiberglass, etc. ) ... thanx.

I don't know the answer to your question about targa tops but....

There are flex additives you can put in paint for flexible body parts.

I've had two done; it doesn't take a lot of sanding to get it smooth. A couple of grades of light wet-dry paper and a runing hose is what I used. It didn't take more than 15 minutes !

The only place I've had any problems with my painted top is directly above where the latches grab toward the rear. The downward pressure of the latch has made a small crack. Other than that, the top had to have a *very light* coat of bondo at a couple of spots to level it.

Ed,
Mine has been done for ~1 year now....8-10 AXs, 5-6 track days and towed to and from events for about 2K miles.
this is what is still looks like. Mine was hand sanded and then a thin skim coat to level out any irregular areas.

Your body or paint man is just lazy, Jason is right, just add a flex agent to the paint and you will never have any problems.

The only place you would need a light layer of bondo would be where the glass is showing through the factory gelcoat.

Another option you could go with is to have it regelcoated. You can have the gelcoat matched to your paint color.

I have painted almost every top on all my cars, I prefer it over the black heat magnet factory color.

I think the point might be that his top is not right.... maybe hairline crack or something. Mine (73) doesn't push in at all.

Mine's been done for 19 years- no problems.

Block down the texture and prime with catalyzed primer- block and block and block...

Find another used one to smooth and have both.

DH

Tops vary a lot in strength, and not just by year. I've had some that pushed in very easily, and others that I couldn't push in at all. Fortunately 914 tops are plentiful. (the only part that doesn't rust!) Find a stronger one and modify it instead.

What did you guys do with the color in the inside?
Say at the back area.

Bob

here you go. Inside is still stock black with head liner...

I like the the area under the rear of the top where the reinforcing ribs are located be painted black or left as the factory finish.

Just my taste- anything goes.

DH

Mine's been fine but it was tough to do since it was black w/cc. Had to resand it about 20 times but it finally came out good. I put flex agent in the pait to be on the safe side.