In a previous post, I discussed both the drawbacks and joys of open-top motoring. One of the chief drawbacks of convertibles is the weight gain that they have versus their coupe cousins. This is due to the fact that additional strengthening is needed to overcome the loss in chassis rigidity after removing the roof. As if this didn’t make the cars heavy enough already, many convertibles have been recently adopting a new obesity-promoting feature called the folding hardtop.
In traditional convertibles, a cloth or vinyl roof is deployed and retracted as necessary. Whether electric or hand operated, these “ragtop” convertibles offer a simple way of shielding yourself from the elements while driving. However, the ragtop also presents some drawbacks. First, ragtops are susceptible to wear and sensitive to build quality. An old or poorly assembled ragtop will often leak water and become a nuisance during nasty weather. Second, ragtops are also ripe targets for vandalism and theft. Without a hard roof, a thief can easily slash the roof and steal whatever you have in your car. This also leads to another problem: if your ragtop becomes torn or slashed, it is very difficult to repair the damage and a costly replacement roof is often the only option. Finally, on a subjective note, a deployed ragtop rather ruins the looks of a car. On every ragtop convertible, from the Ferrari F430 to the Ford Mustang, the raised cloth roof looks like a tent mounted over the driver and passengers. It just doesn’t fit in with the rest of the car aesthetically.
As a result, many manufacturers have now turned to a folding hardtop to address some of these issues. A folding hardtop has no fabric exposed to the elements, making it robust against harsh weather and vandals. In addition to this security, convertibles with folding hardtops generally look as good as their hardtop cousins; indeed I had to look very closely when I first saw a BMW 3-series convertible to distinguish it from the coupe version. However, the folding hardtop mechanism requires a complex network of motors and electronics to articulate the panels so that they fold properly into the trunk. All this equipment is very heavy and potentially unreliable. On this last point, consider the folding hardtop version of the Chrysler Sebring. The Sebring is already a car I wouldn’t touch with a 10 foot pole. It is hateful to drive, poorly built, and terribly unreliable. As a result, I’d rather hail a taxi or ride a bus than drive in a folding hardtop Sebring. If it started raining and I pressed the roof button, there would be a decent chance that the roof would go up part way vertically and then refuse to deploy fully or retract back down. I would therefore have to avoid low crossings with the roof protruding like the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey while opening my door at stop lights to drain the bathtub that used to be the Sebring’s cabin. This also means that if it were to develop issues, the folding hardtop would cost an arm and a leg to repair, given the complex parts needed to make it function. As a result, it seems that open-top motoring is then a compromise at best.
Happily however, there is a solution in the form of the Targa top which was first seen on the Porsche 911T in the mid-1960′s. Throughout the 1970′s, it and its close sibling the T-Top were implemented throughout the auto industry in response to new rollover legislation. The basic Targa design calls for a 
reinforced A pillar, a B pillar with buttresses, and a removable roof section in the middle. The main advantage of a Targa top is that it doesn’t require the complex articulation mechanisms of a power ragtop or folding hardtop. Additionally, Targas don’t suffer as much weight gain as a normal convertible as the B pillar provides a degree of chassis stiffness in addition to its role as an integrated roll bar. The lightweight roof section often lifts out with only a flick of a lever and can usually be specified to be in either cloth or metal form. In the latter case, the Targa presents a security and durability advantage over the ragtop while avoiding the complex articulation mechanisms required by the folding hardtop. Finally, looking at the Ferrari 308 GTS to the right (the same model featured in Magnum PI), one can see that a Targa-equipped car looks great whether the roof is in or not.
It’s easy to see then that the Targa top is the best of both worlds. You get the thrill of having the wind in your hair and hearing the car’s exhaust note even more clearly when the roof’s off. At the same time you also are able to use the car everyday without fear of vandalism, water leaking through a tear in the fabric, or the roof mechanism malfunctioning. Small wonder then that many of today’s high-performance sports cars and supercars like the Lotus Elise, Chevrolet Corvette, and Porsche Carrera GT have Targa tops.
