What's in the issue

From the early days of Porsche production, open-top motoring has been a fixture of the manufacturer’s product portfolio. Even so, it took twenty years for a cabrio variant of the 911 to make it to dealer showrooms. Until then, Targas ruled the roost.

Forgetting its VW-Porsche joint parentage for a moment, one of the most significant air-cooled cars to wear the Stuttgart crest is the Targa-topped 914. Prior to the 944, this was the brand’s biggest-selling sports car, introducing a mid-engine layout to Porsche production for the first time since 356 no.1. Used to devastating effect at the racetrack, it worked brilliantly in the boxy two-seater, which is why it seems odd it took Zuffenhausen so long to revisit the idea of a mid-engine roadster. Almost twenty years, in fact. Is there a theme developing?

Introduced when the company’s finances were in dire straits, the Boxster brought Porsche back from the brink of bankruptcy, presenting a new era of design and manufacturing, one streamlining the firm’s assembly procedures and leading it to become the most financially successful car maker on a per unit basis. Thirty years on, we pay tribute to each generation of this topless glamour model.