Hi,

My name is Samuel Blake. I was on the www.ws6zxr.com forums and a guy posted a forum that was something about removing your t-tops and making it a removable whole top. He then posted a pic of your car and I fell in love. That is the most wicked thing I have ever seen on an F-body car EVER!

I did some research and questions and they led me to this forum and told me to search up Targa. I did and I found out that you were the one that did it and got all the info on it and I have seen the pics. However, I was wondering if I may ask you some questions because I would LOVE to make this a winter project and have the car ready for Summer Cruzin'.

I have a '97 Trans Am that I am slowly converting over to the 2002 look <Ram Air nostrals in front, etc>, but I am looking to make my car unique. I think the Targa Top will be my answer.

Here are my questions if you don't mind answering them:

* I saw how it was one large piece of glass. Where do you put it when you remove it? Will it fit in your rear trunk area over the whole trunk space <behind the back seats> or do you leave it home? Or what?

* Do you think that I could save money on it if I didn't go with the carbon fiber finish like you did? All I want is a large piece of tinted glass up there like you have with the T-Top locking mechanisms on each end to lock it into place. Would that work?

* Did you do all of the upholstery work yourself? <Hiding where you cut the upholstery on the back and front where you cut out the t-bar.>

* I am no good at upholstery. I was wondering how much do you think it would cost to have an upholstery shop to clean up the cuts and wrap them with the black top covering that my roof has on it already from the factory and have it look professional?

* Where did you get that piece of glass that covers the whole top? <Can you go and get a custom "bent on the edges" piece of glass like that at a custom glass shop or what?>

* How expensive was the glass cover for the whole top?

* If you do not mind, what are the dimensions <if you have them> of that piece of glass?

* Was it hard detaching the locking mechanisms from the orginal T-Tops and then re-attaching them to the sheet of glass?

* How did you attach the locking mechanisms to the sheet of glass? <glue, or how do they mount / stick to the glass?>

* Where did you get the weather gasket to go over where the t-bar was removed?

* Where the gaskets expensive?

Forgive me if I ask too many questions, but I am DEAD serious about doing this to my car. I just want to do it right. I do not want to screw up anything. I LOVE the hood and the way you customized your blinkers, etc on your front end. You have a talent that way surpasses mine. Again...I down to you.

Thank you for any pointers you might add. Please feel free to tell me anything else I might need to know or might run into while doing this job. I learn very quicky so please do not spare me any knowledge on this. I only wanna do it right. Again I adore your mods. Thank you for your time.

 

I agree with the way that Whistler's car looks...pretty damn sweet...also if I am not mistaken which I very well could be, I believe that he just used the t-tops and found a way to put them together...at least thats what it looked like in one of the pics that was posted

Either way that looks like it is a lot of work and very time consuming, if you do pursue it, good luck and definitely post pics if u get it done

 

The targa top is all carbon fiber. He took the T-top locking mechanisms and molded them onto the one piece of carbon fiber. You can fold down the rear seat and set the top there or just leave it at home.

 

This is a project that i wouldnt attempt unless you have fabrication skills like Whistler. If your serious about doing it, look into a rod and custom shop. I have seen mid 80's buick regals and two door caprices that custon shops did, and they came out phenominal. But the price was over 7,000 dollars. It would be a lot harder on the caprice because of the door frame enclosing the window and the window track being held in the upper part of the door. I think Whistler said he estimated that it would cost like 5,000 dollars to due if i remember correctly.