Open goal

Porsche's early quest for a drop-top 911 spawned the innovative targa, and the solution has endured - and evolved - ever since

- CHARLIE CALDERWOOD

The persistent (and ultimately unfounded) rumours that cabriolets would be banned in the USA in the aftermath of Ralph Nader’s landmark 1965 book Unsafe at Any Speed crops up in the story of virtually every European sports coupé and cabriolet designed in the late 1960s and early ’70s, to the extent that it has become a cliché. It’s true of some cars, the Triumph Stag and TR7 for instance, but while it’s often cited as a factor in the story of the 911 targa, the origins of Porsche’s segment-bending roof option are far more complex – and the Stuttgart outfit has reinvented it three times over.

You only need to look at the timing to see that the American safety story doesn't fully explain things, because Porsche’s first targa styling prototype was built in June 1964. That’s more than a year before Nader's book was released in November 1965, and nine months before the first Senate subcommittee began investigating the safety of automotive designs.

Ferry Porsche was pushing for an open version of the 911 from the start, having always had a personal preference for cabriolets, and Karmann built a full convertible prototype in 1964. That model struggled with the question of where to stow the roof in a rear-engined car. Ferry wanted to avoid the pram-style hood resting on the rear deck, à la Beetle Cabriolet, so it featured a new compartment at the rear. The solution resulted in a remarkably sleek silhouette, but it robbed significant space from the engine bay. That led Porsche to Ferry’s other idea: a hoop across the middle of the cabin in the B-pillar position, to hold two separate panels. Still clinging to his dream of a streamlined roofless model, Ferry suggested this rollover bar could be collapsible at first.