Pre Purchase Inspection 1971 Targa

[Fixer]

Hey race fans,

Trevor at Sportcar Digest contacted me [honored by this] to do a PPI on a 1971 911T targa. All went well with the usual pros and cons.
They are most concerned with the body and hidden corrosion. I found some things but my concern was the amount of flex.

I never owned a Targa, I know flex is to be expected when on the lift but this seems excessive to me. The car is solid with original
floor pans, solid rocker sections and the wheel houses were also solid. Panel gaps looked great but once on the lift the passenger side
opened up to a full 10 mm and the door was really stuck. Driver's side opened up to about 7.5 mm and the door opened easier.

They flex from new but what are some targa owner's thoughts on this amount?? I have my concerns because it's been 'restored'..

Astrid now wants a targa, i'm not sold on the idea.

EDIT: pics removed..

[Jim Morris]

Yup, they do open up. Door that was stuck was probably because the lock flange was jammed tight against the outside wall of the striker, actually preventing the gap from opening further! The closer together the fore and aft lift posts are on the undercarriage, the more it opens, and the ones in the picture don't seem to be extended as far toward the front and rear of the car as they could be. If you looked, you probably would have seen a big gap at the rear of the targa roof too; even bigger than at the door/rear quarter. Fortunately, you no doubt saw that it all closed up back to normal when it came down. The big hazard is when they are left on the lift for days or weeks. Doesn't Astrid deserve a targa if she wants one, especially if she is not going racing?

[Richardnew]

I would be more concerned about rust. Targas generally have more rust than coupes and coupes generally have a bunch of rust.



I lived in Philadelphia for about 20 years and I think that was where my rust started. It just got worse here in FL.

Richard Newton
My Rust Project

[moito]

stress cracks on a 70T targa
and a 79 targa(460000km)

[moito]

one more....i don`t restore targas(anymore)

[Fixer]

Thanks for the replies. When i rode shotgun in a buddies 1970 T targa that i worked on recently i put my finger between the windshield frame and door frame and felt the flex as we went down the road. He has a very nice example that's solid. I am not allowed to remove the fresh undercoating on this car to inspect for stress fractures but suspect..

This car i inspected seems solid but 6.5mm flex on passenger's side seems like a lot and something Porsche Engineers would not accept as OK.

The car does not have records to confirm the miles [Dealer sale] and there's no way to do a car fax due to age, it shows a little more than 50K miles and is being advertised that way. Motor was rebuilt an the car repainted with thick filler detected in multiple areas where corrosion sets in with road use. This is not normally needed after 50K miles.. I'd sooner recommend buying one at this price with dead original paint.
This car was obviously recently 'restored' but by who and how are anyone's guess..

EDIT: 3/4 of the car looks decent with nice paint but the driver's side rear quarter was repaired by someone else after the fact [a real hack job] it probably was hit. I think the hack job was done by a Porsche shop in DE, which is where the current Dealer/Owner picked it up [they do a lot of dealings] But he wouldn't tell me who did the lousy repair. It's a shame because it's otherwise a decent example.

I would suspect 150K or even 250K based on this amount of body flex and other factors. Asking price: very high! I advised they keep looking, for this price you can get a beautiful example if patient. I asked my buddy Mike with the 1970 T Targa because they were interested in his at $80K and he declined. It was left to him by his Father who passed away.

[Fixer]

"I lived in Philadelphia for about 20 years and I think that was where my rust started. It just got worse here in FL"

Richard Newton
My Rust Project[/QUOTE]

I hear you Richard, the first non-rusty, vintage car i bought out West [a BMW 2002tii] to restore was an incredible experience. I've since bought a few more German cars from out west with only a few quarter sized rust holes here and there. It makes a restoration so pleasurable.
Here in our area there are no old cars left in the salvage yards, not because they've been crushed, they've simply rusted away to nothing.

[Fixer]

Doesn't Astrid deserve a targa if she wants one, especially if she is not going racing?

She sure does Jim and nice points you made regarding targa body flex. We were more interested in a Boxster, next choice would be a nice 914. I know she'd like a Boxster with Tiptronic much better though. I'd like to have a solid 914.

[doigthom]

Don't know how much difference this makes but the targa had extra reinforcement sections added. I thing you need to do more when adding a new floor. These pieces go on each side in the front joining the fender walls to the inner rockers. This was exclusive to targa and cabriolet bodies through '89. The '67 my metal man is working on has really botched crap in there after somebody replaced the floor. Appropriate part is really hard to find and has been superseded with a revision several time. If you check in with your dealer there are approximately nine pieces left in the world and they are all the latest iteration. I'm guessing that the floor has to be welded in first and then this gusset welded in to join the inner fender, the rocker and the floor. Picture of one (I think from MOITO):



and the one I purchased:



Did notice that Eric Linden recently posted a picture of sheet metal being sold by Freisenger and you can see a piece there.

[dhopkins]

I live in Philadelphia and have never had rust problems
on any of my Porsches. I recently bought a totally solid
1970 911T targa in black and overall excellent condition
from a car broker near Chicago on eBay. In my 4 months of ownership
I have not discovered any surprises. I got it for $60k.
Don
1970 triple-black 911T targa
2006 Cayman S

PS I would include photos but I could not get
attachment function to work.