New Targa coming

[kentviking]

....not an official one though...

got chatting to some chap at the Silverstone meet (a non-PHer)...said he was a Vegantune shareholder, and his car is about to be used as a guinea pig for a targa M12.

He said that they (Vegantune) didn't think it would require too much effort and if it is possible to do for only a modest outlay then they could be offering it to the public (read sub £5k)

Could attract some disillusioned GTC waiters back to the fold?!

[paulcundy]

Dear Vegantune,
I looked into this a while back. The idea I had was to cut out a square in the roof that matched the width of the space between the rear engine bay walls. The Targa top is removed and then clipped/snapped/screwed/ or in some way fastened to to lie in line with the line of the top of the engine bay walls, rather like the in fill Lee has on the M14 mule.

I went as far as getting quotes from a couple of body shops but gave up when they came in.

Your purchasing power is far greater so good luck and lets see what you come up with.

A Targa topped M12. That really would confuse people "ins't it a Lotus?"

Regards
Paul C

[joust]

Surely the roll cage at the top will spoil the effect???

A targa shouldn't have anything above the door windows when the targa is removed IMHO.

J

[paulcundy]

joust said:

Surely the roll cage at the top will spoil the effect??? A targa shouldn't have anything above the door windows when the targa is removed IMHO. J

True but you could have a "hole" in the middle. This means that the door closure against the top of the window would be maintained, a big plus point if leaking is to be avoided.

I suppose my idea was more of a big sunroof than a true Targa.

Regards
Paul C

[Mr Noble]

Then why not just fit a big panoramic sliding "Renault Espace" style sunroof. Would get the same effect and cost a fraction and be easy to fit and have no housing issues for the panel.

I put a sunroof into my Austin Metro 1.0L (MG lookalike :0) And it took me all of 20 minutes and cost £4 from a scrap yard.

GN

[paulcundy]

joust said:

Surely the roll cage at the top will spoil the effect??? A targa shouldn't have anything above the door windows when the targa is removed IMHO. J

And imagine what would happen to the stiffness of the chassis is you took out the top roll cage side bars.
Hmm bouncy bouncy flexy flexy.
Regards
Paul C

[Mr Noble]

Quite a few cars seem to manage to get very close to the same rigidity of the coupe in the topless version.

ie, Zonda, 360, 430, DB9(not too good!) etc.

Maybe I shouldn't mention this for fear of causing more unsubstanciated chap on here, not to mention upsetting Simon H more than I already have with my banter!!

But,

When I was playing in the Noble M14 mule at Britcar I noticed that the chassis has an extra bar along the bottom of the door opening that you have to climb out over like on the elise. This is presumably to add more stiffness, but would it not be more useful for adding extra stiffness to a chassis that was going to have the roof chopped off?

Just a thought.

GN

[m12_nathan]

I can't even imagine what the resale value would be on a car with it's roof chopped out!

Lee knows what he is doing, the coupe is designed to handle, if a targa comes along then let Lee worry about making it stiffer. In the mean while if you want a convertible get a Boxster