Target: Targa

In the darkness of the night, the light. A Porsche 911 Targa, red, on the empty streets. Urban cinema.

It’s not the high-rev chase that pushes the adrenaline. It’s more the amplification of subtle sensations, contrasts dissolving in the twilight, the colors and sounds of the night, a sense of relief defining the mood, an evaporation of all that is unpleasant, reconciliation with the world. And the question: Form. What is that?

The 911 has been delivering good, reliable, and comprehensible answers to that question for decades. It is entirely legitimate to single out the Targa in this respect. The clean 911 line without a spoiler, learned and strongly accentuated by the Targa roll bar, open roof, gentle curves, broad shoulders, a horizontal light strip at the rear. The ABCs of getting to know a sports car. It’s the idea of facing the world and its everyday demands best with a lot of charisma, a healthy dose of technical audacity, and a certain open-mindedness. Few cars embody that better than the 911 Targa. For exactly 60 years now, it has been evoking deep, honest, revolutionary thoughts like almost no other. Great material: the rise and fall of a hero, a catharsis spanning three generations, and the all-radiating comeback. That’s the Targa story. It’s epic.

At this point, a little historical digression is unavoidable. The 1960s, USA. A huge, crucial market—even for Porsche. But new safety regulations for cars, particularly in rollover scenarios, made it virtually impossible to offer a convertible with a soft top. What to do? Driving the 911 only with the windows rolled down? At best, a sunroof? In California? Well… No! Without hesitation, Porsche presented the 911 Targa at the 1965 IAA: a rigid roll bar for rollover protection, massive, stable, a roof made of aluminum and leather, plus a fabric top with a plastic rear window.

For a short time, from 1987 to 1989, there was even a Turbo Targa. Its success: modest. Then came the 993, marking a paradigm shift. The distinctive roll bar was no longer required. The Targa got a large panoramic glass roof that could be opened. “More light!” to quote Goethe’s last words. In hindsight, it must be said: that was a misunderstanding. Both Goethe’s final words and the Porsche Targa. The 996 and 997 held onto the panoramic glass roof concept. They weren’t hits either. In retrospect, Porsche here got a bit lost across three generations—or rather ignored a success factor that only later revealed its full significance: design.

Clarity returned with the 991 generation in 2014. The roll bar was back! And more distinctive than ever. World premiere at the Detroit Motor Show. “Imagine meeting your first love again. And she’s become even more beautiful.” That was the slogan Porsche itself used to advertise the new Targa. The 991 Targa thus marked a turning point of realization: technically necessary and creative solutions can give rise to features that, from a storytelling perspective, unfold their power through design—to the point where the technical necessity may disappear, but the design remains. In other words, technology legitimized the design, then the design emancipated itself from the technology and became a sculptural entity in its own right.

Let’s call it the highest form of form, because design that originates in technology is distinct from pure sculpture, which can surrender entirely to the laws of beauty without any functionality. Pure sculpture has no obligations. But a car does. And the 911 especially. To conclude: where design ultimately detaches itself from its underlying technical necessity but endures nonetheless—such as the Targa roll bar—there lies the ultimate proof that design is the legitimate number-one reason to buy.

One is tempted to invoke the old Greek philosopher here and speak of the Platonic ideal. Plato spoke of “forms” as eternal, perfect examples of worldly things. Plato would likely have driven a Targa. And he would have appreciated the roof mechanism at least as much as the form itself. This is not the technical flattery of the luxurious eccentricity of an expensive sports car. No, it is theater as such. Pure spectacle. A festival that, in 19 seconds, tells you almost everything about the conditio humana—those particular characteristics of human nature that set us apart from other life forms. Only humans can come up with something like this.

The punchline? It’s the reversal of the Targa roll bar’s story. Because the sophisticated technology behind this spectacular folding roof mechanism had to be developed above all to make the design possible.