Raise the roof

摘要

Trends come and go in all walks of life, not least in the world of cars. Case in point: the Porsche Targa. The Targa name harks back to 1965, when fears that US safety regulations would put a ban on convertibles led Porsche to launch a "safety cabriolet" in the form of a 911 with a removable roof panel supported by a sturdy rollover hoop. Early "soft window" models had a fold-down rear section, but this was soon replaced with a solid, wraparound rear window, introducing a design that remained largely unchanged until 1993. The Targa nameplate was inspired by a run of Porsche victories in Sicily's historic Targa Florio road race, and Porsche subsequently patented the name to avoid it being used by other manufacturers.