Targa top, ortarga for short, is a semi-convertiblecar body style with a removable roof section and a full-widthroll bar behind the seats. The term was first used on the 1966Porsche 911 Targa,[1] and it remains a registered trademark ofPorsche AG.[2]
The rear window is normally fixed, but on some targa models, it is a removable plastic foldable window, making it a convertible-type vehicle. Any piece of normally fixed metal or trim, which rises up from one side, over the roof, and down the other side, is sometimes called a targa band, targa bar, or wrap-over band.
Targa tops are different from "T-tops", which have a solid, nonremovable bar running between the top of the windscreen and the rear roll bar, and generally have two separate roof panels above the seats that fit between the window and central T-bar.
The word targa first came into use from the 1965 Porsche 911 Targa, though it was not the first to use the removable roof panel system. Such systems had existed since at least the 1930s on cars such as theHispano-Suiza H6B Dubonnet Xenia.[3]The 1957 limited-productionFiat 1200 "Wonderful" byVignale, designed byGiovanni Michelotti, was the first known post war use of such a removable roof panel system. The laterTriumph TR4 from 1961, another Michelotti design, also featured a similar system, defined by Triumph as asurrey top.[4] The 1964SAAB Catherina prototype[5] and the 1965Toyota Sports 800[6] both used similar systems before the 1967 Porsche 911 Targa.
The targa-style roof opening became popular in the 1960s and 1970s, when fears arose that theDepartment of Transportation (DOT) in the United States wouldban convertibles, due to concerns over the safety of occupants when a car overturns.[7] As a result, manufacturers adopted targa tops or T-tops. As Porsche helped to popularize this body style, they took out a trademark for the "Targa" name and manufacturers sought for alternative names for their removable tops. Porsche got the name "Targa" from theTarga Florio, the road race inSicily, where Porsche was very successful.[8]Targa means "plate" (or placard) in Italian.[8]
Targa and T-top numbers have slowly declined as manufacturers discontinued them in favour of full convertibles withretractable hardtops and folding metal roofs such as theMercedes-Benz SLK, and by better structural engineering with pop-uproll-over bars behind the seats and front roll-over bars incorporated into the frontwindscreen.
In 1996, a retractable glass roof debuted in thePorsche 993 Targa, a design continued on the996 and997 Targa. The glass roof retracted underneath the rear window, revealing a large opening. A shade was there to help prevent thegreenhouse effect of the closed roof. This system was a complete redesign, as previous Targa models had a removable roof section and a wideB-pillar functioning as a roll bar. The new glass roof design allowed the 993 Targa to retain nearly the same side-on profile as the other 911 Carrera variants, and eliminated the inconvenience of storing the removed top of the old system. The Targa had the body of the Cabriolet with the Targa glass roof replacing the fabric roof. The 911 Targa continued with the all-new 996 model, and gained a lifting hatchback glass window.[9] This, in turn, was used on the later 997 model of 911.
With the introduction and production of the latest two generations of 911, the Types991 and992, Porsche decided to take the Targa in a different direction from that of the previous water-cooled Type 996/997 cars. The latest Targas were introduced in 2013 and 2019, and unlike the Type 993/996/997 Targas, the newer cars have somewhat returned to their earliest Targa roots by using a solid roof panel spanning over the front seats.[10] Unlike the manual lift-out panels of earlier 911s, though, the Type 991 and Type 992 Targas' roof panels are mechanized for automated lift-away and storage under the rear glass roof, which itself is mechanized to lift up and out of the way as the roof panel is placed into its stowed position. The Type 991 Targa also brought back the styling feature of the Targa bar that was perhaps the most obvious and overt design cue of the air-cooled generation Targas, but unlike the previous Targa hoops, the one used on the Type 991 is in sections, where the horizontal span member is a physically separate piece that itself is mechanized to lift off of its vertical supports to allow the solid roof panel and its motorized components to slide rearwards as the panel is being stored within the car.
Ferrari introduced a hybrid variation of the targa roof and folding metal roof with the 180° rotating roof featured on the 2005Ferrari Superamerica designed byLeonardo Fioravanti,[11] which was previewed on hisAlfa Romeo Vola concept in 2000.[12] The concept was also used in the 2010Renault Wind.[13]
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The dictionary definition oftarga at Wiktionary