1972 911T Targa Interior

[camarilla]

Hi all,

I am refreshing the interior on a 1972 911T Targa (with comfort equipment if that matters) and have a few questions I hope some of the pros here could help me with:
After taking the door panels off I noticed that the door bolsters and the upper trim strip on the rear seat side panels do not seem to be correct and/or have aged badly. The vinyl is very shiny. Also, after looking at the back, it seems like vinyl was just covered over the items. I was under the impression that they were originally covered in vacuum formed / molded vinyl from factory, is that correct? If so, where could I get them redone correctly?

1) Door top bolsters (901 555 083 00 and 901 555 084 00):



2) Rear seat upper trim strip



3) Lastly, my driver side door handle is shot. I recall there being a thread explaining the process of restoring them with a vice grip and epoxy. I cannot for the life of me find it, could someone point me to it?


More generally speaking, beyond the coarser vinyl, it seems 1972/1973 interior pieces also are fabricated from different backing material, is that correct and if so does anybody have any more info on this?

[RickWhite]

Just a guess...but do you know your production date? I have a June '71 production MY71 targa and the garnish rails are the same as yours, and indeed the vinyl is VERY shiny, likely from years of use and cleaning. It is notably less veiny than the dashboard. I can't say with 100% confidence, but given everything in my interior save the head unit was original, I'm pretty confident they were original. So maybe it makes sense if you have an early production '72?

As for repairing the armrests...you may want to check Wonda Fix out. I had good results with the dash, which is a similar construction. Key is you need a flexible epoxy. Two other pieces of advice are to use heat when setting it (heat gun on low, or a hair dryer, or the sun) and set up whatever jig you use with clamps for a long time - don't clamp directly on the vinyl, I have all sorts of clamping pieces coated with packing tape for woodworking with epoxy (it doesn't stick to the shiny side of packing tape, which is important when epoxying slabs, ala Nakashima); and leave it for months. I don't drive my targa from November until late March, so everything just sat in my garage apart and clamped for that period. I also used wood glue syringes to ensure all the epoxy got deep into the gashes and cleaned out gently beforehand with alcohol q-tips (the griots ones for the detailers). Most everything has held up well and I drive it frequently (5k miles this year) and leave it out parked in the sun reasonably frequently too).

[camarilla]

I sure do, February 1972 is the production date! So not too early.

You’re probably right about the shininess being an after effect from wear and cleaning. You are correct, it’s definitely less grainy than the dash face. I can’t comment on the dashboard as I have a 1974-1976 replacement dash (another item that will need to be addressed).

Also I forgot to mention that my driver knee pad needs to be redone as well. Is Just Dashes the only place that can do the molding correctly?

[camarilla]

Well, I checked the door bolster on my ‘72 coupe, and as I suspected the door bolster vinyl is molded.

Does anybody know anyone who can replicate this?

[camarilla]

Ok based on my research Just Dashes is the only shop in town that can recover the door bolster (and knee pads) per the vacuum molding process. Knee pad recovery quote was $1,000. Not cheap

[66S]

A Turkish company is making repro knee gaurds , dashes and Sun visors at a very competitive price. Probably not original quality but you can also say that about the Porsche Classic parts.

[camarilla]

A Turkish company is making repro knee gaurds , dashes and Sun visors at a very competitive price. Probably not original quality but you can also say that about the Porsche Classic parts.

Yes thank you for that tip, I had ordered a set of knee guards a few weeks ago from Turkey but wasn’t happy with how the vinyl looked like unfortunately. Ended up sending it back.

I liked the price but not the vinyl!

Top is the original bottom is the Turkish repro