1987 Porsche 911 Carrera Targa - A childhood dream
I have loved cars ever since I was a kid, due to 2 reasons: Back in 2014 when we got Netflix, I found this show called Top Gear and believe it or not, I watched it all in about a week. It was my favourite show. The mannerisms of Jeremy Clarkson have turned into my mannerisms, and not only did I learn a lot more about British culture in general, I learned so much about cars. Rewatching it now as an almost-adult, I feel like there’s a whole other layer to the show that I was never old enough to understand, and it makes rewatching it almost just as fun as seeing it for the first time.
The second reason I have fallen in love with cars is this car right below. This exact one.
It’s my grandpa’s. He got it the year I was born. An 87 Targa. It’s very special for a couple of reasons. It’s his second Porsche, the first one was a white 79 Targa pushing 300 horsepower with a racing clutch, this one is only around 230 hp, but it was never about the speed. The entire engine was rebuilt, it has a custom muffler system with dual exhaust pipes, and the classic Fuchs wheels were machine polished from the matte black factory finish to chrome, which looks SO much better. My grandpa always says that “wheels make the car,” and they certainly do on this one! Never show him a car with black wheels. Not a good idea.
I remember being a kid and hearing this thing pull into the garage. It is quite loud and sounds completely different from any other Targa you’ll hear, partly because of the exhaust but partly because it has a different cam. The engine itself only has about 25 thousand miles on it, while the rest of the car has around 150 thousand miles. But despite the fact that the car is 35 years old and that it’s got more miles than most Camrys, it drives like it just walked off the showroom floor. I would always be so excited to go out in rides with him because it was the only car in the family with a proper manual transmission & also the only interesting one- my dad’s 2004 Toyota Sienna XLE Limited, as top of the line it is, never really did it for me. It was and still is so different from any other car I had seen or experienced. It really isn’t super fast either, but honestly I never cared. The experience of just sitting in it with the engine merely idling was enough to get me going. All you feel is everything. Every part jiggles and vibrates because that engine just loves to make itself apparent.
And speaking of the engine, it is super super interesting. Porsche continued to make air cooled engines all the way up to 1998, and that is crazy since they were so behind the curve of the technology available back then. Water cooled engines could have more power, be more efficient, cheaper, everything, but Porsche stuck with it for some reason, and I think I know why.
They have an insane amount of character. The idle, the noise, the engineering, it’s all so interesting. It takes nearly 12 quarts of oil!! TWELVE! (11.75 to be exact). That is absolutely NUTS. Most cars take 3-5 quarts but this one takes literally 3-4 times that. Oil is used to cool almost every part of the engine. It also has a very low centre of gravity, and because it’s over the rear wheels instead of in the middle, it handles like no other car. Only a Porsche handles the way it does, largely due to the engine placement, but also because they are boffins.
Let’s talk about what makes this car a Targa- the Targa roof design. Hardtop versions of this car existed, and also cabriolet versions that had no glass in the back and no roll bar with cool ‘Targa’ lettering. The Targa came about because it technically doesn’t classify as a convertible, and in the 60s and 70s it was feared that the Department of Transportation would ban convertibles for safety reasons. So Porsche came up with the Targa. It still protects your head in the act of a rollover, since that black bar across the top is extremely strong. Porsche danced around regulations and looked awesome in the process. Targa is a word coined by Porsche from the iconic Targa Florio endurance race that Porsche won a staggering 11 times. In fact, they did the most winning in the entire history of the race, with Alfa Romeo just behind.
The greatest part is that the roof can easily be stored in the frunk. Just one person can get it done in about… maybe 3 minutes? It may not be the fastest or easiest solution, but give them a break. If you came here for convenience, get a Cabriolet. You’re just not ready for the Targa lifestyle. Another plus is that this car actually has backseats. They’re ideal for people without heads or legs. I actually can fit back there, trust me, it’s possible.
The engine and the Targa top are both unique. But little details are super unique as well. Like how the key hole is on the left side of the steering wheel, a nod to classic Porsche racing cars that had it there so the drivers at Le Mans could get the key in as they were still getting in the car. Granted this isn’t the most unique thing, since pretty much every Porsche ever does is. But it’s still very cool!
Even compared to other Porsches of the same decade, it stands out. It’s not every day you see a Targa with the whale tail and a dual exhaust. And that steering wheel is SO much cooler than the stock one. The modifications done only further enhance the intensity of the standard car, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. As a kid however, I didn’t really know much about this car. I knew it was red, and I knew it was loud. I didn’t understand how engines worked or why this particular 911 was different from the rest of its brethren, but I still appreciated it so much. Now that I understand all the work that went into this car, I only love it more. I love it so much I’ve even given it a name. Dieter.
Dieter the Porsche.
It’s a brilliant, sophisticated, German name. I think it fits it brilliantly. I have a habit of naming cars.
Would you believe me if I told you my grandpa actually taught me how to drive manual on this car? I wouldn’t believe me either, but it’s true. In 2020, when I was 15 and a half and had my temporary license, (which here in Wisconsin means you can drive as long as someone 21 or older is in the passenger seat) he begun the process of teaching me how to drive. It felt illegal. It should be. No person should just be allowed to hop into a manual car without knowing how to drive, let alone one worth so much, but I guess there is only one way to learn.
I stalled, a lot. I burned up that clutch. I stopped at a stop sign and stalled & then proceeded to let about 10 cars behind me just go around. It was extremely embarrassing, especially in a car as flashy as this bright Guards Red Targa. I started from 3rd sometimes instead of 1st, I went from 2nd to 5th a lot, and did I mention hills? He had me start on a hill. He had me just sit with just the clutch and throttle on a STEEP hill, something not brilliant for the transmission to begin with. And let’s not forget the car I’m driving, a vintage Porsche. My childhood in one car. The reason I love cars. Quite a lot of pressure if you ask me. Of course I don’t want to break the thing, but I wanted to be able to fluently drive it so badly since if you can drive this thing like a boss, no manual gearbox will be even half as hard.
You see the thing is, the clutch is about 19 miles long and floor mounted. That means the clutch flows into the floor instead of swinging like a normal pedal. The breaking point is at the very end of that 19 mile stretch, so getting off the line quickly is super difficult. Despite this, the throttle is very easy to control because it ACTUALLY has a throttle. Not some plastic pedal sending a signal to the throttle bodies, it has a real cable throttle you can physically pull in the back to rev the engine. It’s bloody fantastic. The brakes literally feel like they’re made out of a wooden barrel. They do their job, but it takes some serious might to get the pedal down. The driving position is odd to say the least. The steering wheel is in the perfect spot, but the pedals are slightly adjacent to the right since the wheel well gets in the way. Also, the shifter can rub up against your leg in lower gears, and there is no lockout on reverse, so you better be careful. 1st is never to be downshifted in because of something relating to synchros which are a concept I don’t understand. Because of this, my grandpa always taught me that 2nd gear is your “utility gear.” 1st is just to get you moving while 2nd and 3rd are much taller. And when shifting into 3rd, you really need to make sure you don’t move it over to the right too far, since it’s very easy to accidentally go straight into 5th, which is the final gear in this transmission. In 1987 they upgraded the trans to the one Dieter has, it’s much more reliable and easier to use than the last generation. It is the most engaging transmission I have ever operated. It’s like the engine has written a 5 paragraph long essay about every single thing that is going on. You feel the gears moving when you shift. You feel the cable being pulled to get the throttle to open when you push on the pedal. It’s absolutely phenomenal. There is no layer of electronics helping you out, there is nothing in-between you and the car. You’re not driving, you’re actually actively operating a MACHINE. Even in my 20 year old MINI Cooper I can feel a layer of electronics limiting me from everything the car is doing, but in here, there is nothing.
I love driving this car so much. It makes it special because it’s been in the family for as long as I have, and hopefully I’ll be the one caring for it one day. It’s got such a connection and I truly believe that I wouldn’t have become such a petrolhead if it weren’t for this car. It’ll always be the one thing I can’t agree with Jeremy Clarkson on, the Porsche 911 is genuinely the perfect sports car.
