The Forgotten Porsche 928 Targa And How It Came To Be

Rainer Buchmann reimagined Porsche’s 928 as early as 1979

When talking about reimagined Porsche sports cars, the first to come to mind are the 911 models. You only need to look at Singer’s lineup of reimagined classic Porsches to see the potential behind a tastefully recreated air-cooled 911. That said, various companies and enthusiasts are looking at other iconic Porsche models, a case in point being the Nardone Porsche 928 resto-mod.

Rainer Buchmann founded BB Auto back in 1974, focusing on modifying Porsche, Mercedes, VW, and on occasions, other vehicles from Volvo, Alfa Romeo, Peugeot, and more. The company has its fair share of modified 911s along with other high-performance vehicles from the 1970s and onwards. The company’s portfolio features other iconic builds such as the Porsche 911 Targa Moonracer, Porsche Turbo Targa Rainbow, and of course, the Porsche 928 Targa.

Porsche was skeptical about the 928 Targa

Porsche is no stranger to the Targa body style. In fact, the first 911 Targa arrived in 1965, just one year after the introduction of the original Porsche 911. The Targa body style is still available on the 911, and it is the heaviest, most cushioned variant of the Porsche sports car.

In the late 1970s, Porsche was skeptical about making a 928 Targa. The reason was structural integrity – the same reason why a 928 Shooting brake never went into mass production. The same goes for the 928 Cabriolet, of which a single prototype exists. BB Auto engineers removed as much weight as possible, which included deleting the 928’s signature, rear hatch. Nowadays, 928 enthusiasts view this as the most controversial decision when doing the Targa conversion.

The fixed roof was replaced by a T-top with two removable panels. Instead of a rear hatch, the 928 Targa features a traditional trunk. Naturally, the engineers also strengthened the car’s bottom section, as with any open-top model, originally conceived as a fixed-head coupe. Another neat feature was the overhead controls, on the side of the T-top – likely less than ideal considering the T-top’s rubber seals could, eventually, leak and cause electrical gremlins. Aside from that, the interior was kept largely in factory state, aside from the seats, which featured rainbow accents in the middle.

The steep price of owning a Porsche 928 Targa

The 928 was positioned above the 911 in the Porsche lineup and was meant to, eventually, replace it completely. In order to perform the conversion, Buchmann required clients to bring their own donor car, pay an additional 35,000 German Deutsch marks, and wait approximately two months for their Porsche 928 to be turned into a Targa. It is unknown how many 928s Buchmann converted into a Targa, but there are likely very few out there.