356 Replica Targa Coupe

Here's another take:

Started with a '62 Cab and added Targa bits from a '73. But - danger Will Robinson - they didn't fit at all. The Targa bar and window had to be significantly reshaped and re-proportioned to come anywhere close to the 356. If you used glass for the rear window, it would probably have to be custom. (The angle of the Targa roll bar doesn't match the angle of the A pillar - and would be even farther off for a Speedster windshield.)

Making it look 'right' would take some serious fabrication skills.

@Sacto Mitch posted:

 

Here's another take:

 

Started with a '62 Cab and added Targa bits from a '73. But - danger Will Robinson - they didn't fit at all. The Targa bar and window had to be significantly reshaped and re-proportioned to come anywhere close to the 356. If you used glass for the rear window, it would probably have to be custom. (The angle of the Targa roll bar doesn't match the angle of the A pillar - and would be even farther off for a Speedster windshield.)

Making it look 'right' would take some serious fabrication skills.

 

There, now we're onto something.  Go with a cab, but use a removable hardtop as a base for making the targa top.  There'd be a fair amount if fiberglass fab involved, but that was always part of the plan. Nice rendering, Mitch!

Very nice Mitch.  That definitely looks factory-built.  Love it or hate it, it’s a jaw dropper.  I have briefly studied thermoforming plastic.  That back “glass” could be formed out of polycarbonate (Lexan) from a mock-up.  Not as hard as you would think.  Chris

Have to go vertical or near vertical with the stainless steel bar to match up with the door glass though 😀

Even better, Chris.

@Chris Howard posted:

Have to go vertical or near vertical with the stainless steel bar to match up with the door glass though 😀

So you are installing roll up / power windows?

Does anyone know of a 60’s cabriolet fiberglass body Produced?  The key difference appears to be the rear end length and slope.  No go if I had to spend $65K on a roached out one like the one that sold on BaT last year.  Lol:

https://bringatrailer.com/list...che-356-c-cabriolet/

A friend of mine made a vacuum table with heat lamps to form headlight covers for his replica. It is a Manta Montage, and the headlights are early 70s Can-Am racer lookalike.

I suppose you could do that with a LARGE fiberglass mold for the rear window. The mold had a bunch of evenly-spaced tiny holes that a vacuum was drawn on. The trick is to heat the plexi to Goldilocks temp. Hot enough to form, but not too hot to melt and suck the plexi into the vacuum holes. I remember it taking a while to form, but it was 15 years ago, memory is a little foggy.

Ian Rousseau (Full Custom Garage on MT) did just that to form a bubble top for a custom car.  It worked quite well, but the form must have taken quite a while to build.

Ian Rousseau is one talented, mild mannered dude. 

He sure is.  It's amazing what he can accomplish in what looks like a dirty barn.

@Jerome Smith might be able to help with this.  He does tooling for stuff like this for a living.

Chris, the Intermeccanica's are roadsters with roll up windows and there are some others I'm sure once the hive solves the plexiglass problem they'll chime in on alternative roadster sources. I also seem to recall that someone made a roadster style windshield surround for speedsters, but it was of little interest to me, so I didn't pay close attention. 

Does anyone know of a 60’s cabriolet fiberglass body Produced?

SAW/SAS made cabriolets.  More off than on so don't hold your breath.  Also the Envemo cabriolet (silver one shown). 

I’ve seen that bubble top episode.  Ian has a crazy imagination and now gets paid to play.  Here’s how I would mock up the rear Lexan:

Get the targa bar in place.  Build a wire frame representing the bottom edge of the rear window and attach it to the rear deck.  Stretch ceconite fabric from the targa bar to the wire frame.  Brush on epoxy resin and let it harden.  Then you have the shape of the glass and can make a vacuum forming mold.

I’m leaning toward a sunroof coupe as a first 356 replica.  It would be very unique itself and have great resale value.  There were 356 coupes with sunroofs.  Show me a replica one for sale? 😉  I’ve seen how these builds can drag on and become money pits.  The 356 targa may happen before the grave hopefully.

Would it be easier to begin with a Speedster body and create the Targa system onto that? Just wondering out loud.

Autoevolution blogged this. A modern VW Beetle Targa. 

The rear end. Of course they say they have no intention of reviving the Beetle or building a Targa version. Could be they are just testing the waters.

That is a cool Beetle.  A custom shop should do it if VW doesn’t.  Put the 2.0 liter turbo four out of the Audi S3 in it and it would be a blast.