I have a 87 328 gts. I want to refinish the targa top. What do they use? Seems like a vinyl material? Thanks Steve
It's a pattern in the fiberglass molding. It can't really be redone really. I have seen a very light sanding with a satin black paint job look ok. Go a search, many threads on the same topic.
Could you simply clean it thoroughly? The top on my '86 looks very good with just cleaning using a mild dish soap and a soft nail brush - advice I received from an restoration upholsterer. Cleaning it made a noticeable improvement. I have tried some "back to black" but can't say that it improved over just cleaning it. I have not tried it, but another member of this forum, who has a mobile detailing business and had an '85 QV, suggested using olive oil: a few thin coats , excess rubbed off between applications. Apparently, he was given this advice / trick by another detailer. I had seen his car on a couple of occasions and the top looked really good. Sounds weird, but he got nice results. As I say, I haven't tried it because my targa top looks very good with just simple cleaning. Jon
I have had the car stripped & refinished & they put satin finish on the roof & louvers. I don't like what the roof looks like. Thought about painting it the same as the car 'Gringo" but I'm going to sell it and want it to be as original as possible. It is a one owner & was all original. When it's done I will be advertising on this site.
Mine was (is) starting to 'gray', and I've used paste black shoe polish on it, and it seemed to bring it back to black very nicely. Probably needs another dose here pretty soon. -Matt Sent from my LGLS990 using Tapatalk
If the texture has been sanded off thats an irreversible piece of vandalism. The only way to restore would be to find another roof. As mentioned already, there is no covering, they used black pigmented fibreglass gelcoat and the pattern would have been in the original mold. They do look good in body color though although not original.
I have used Mothers Back to Black with good results on both the Targa Top and the Basket Handle spoiler. PDG
You can find the right color. Its almost a flat black. I think my body shop used something out of the SEM line. And your 81 is possibly showing its age at this point so you may not want it to match if its faded over the years. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I may have mentioned this in an earlier thread, but mine was really shabby looking when I purchased the car. Someone had painted it previously with no prep work, and it was peeling. I took it to a local "soda blaster", he very carefully removed the poor paint job, leaving the gelcoat untouched. I took it home, scrubbed and rinsed it numerous times, and repainted it satin black. To me it turned out very nice. The grain is still there and it looks like all the pictures I've seen of what it's supposed to look like. The key for me was the soda blast guy and good paint prep. good luck
I too have used black shoe polish. It takes a lot of polish and a lot of elbow grease, but the result was good. Less evasive than other options too.
I'm not a fan of the body color painted look (especially with the black rain channels), and if painted it's destined to get chipped around the edges at some point. I imagine that's why Ferrari (and Porsche) originally went with something unpainted. Are new targa tops available through Ferrari Classiche?
The finish is different on 328s. Or maybe it changed during the 328 run. The 308s had the kind of leather finish, but the 328s have a duller finish with a finer sand-like "grain" on the surface.
