Last week I posted my review of the Porsche 911 - Turbo. This week is the Targa build. Having multiple builds is a cool addition to a Creator Expert/18+ type set. As mentioned in the last review, bags one through seven are the same for both vehicles. The differences come after that. For the Targa, you select the parts in bags eight and ten. If you already have the Turbo built like I did, you have to look through the instructions a bit to determine what parts to remove as there are no instructions for how to get from one vehicle to another. This might be a bit of a challenge for non-experienced builders, but if you build sets regularly, it shouldn’t be too hard.
I removed the rear axle, all of the wheels, the engine, the rear wheel cowling, the top of the car from the front wind shield back, and some of the supports for the rear windows of the vehicle.
And here’s what you come up with…
The car is a convertible with a black top that can be removed. The rear windows are slightly different as it uses a bunch of 1x2x5 clear bricks and then a clear rounded wall element of the same length.
The rear wheel cowlings are curved tiles similar to the front of the vehicle versus the curved slope bricks used in the Turbo. Also, the rims are a gray color versus the black in the Turbo.
Here’s a closer view of the front and back of the vehicle. The back replaced the “Turbo” printed piece with a “Targa” printed piece. Another useful function, you can put the convertible top into the trunk in the front. It fits perfectly and doesn’t cause issues with it closing.
The engine compartment in the back looks different. I couldn’t tell you what the real differences are between the two vehicles so I’m not going to try and describe the brick changes using engine terms. I initially removed all of the Turbo engine components when building the Targa, but you don’t have to. So look at the instructions before you tear everything out.
Not separate to this build, but I didn’t call them out in my last review are the license plates. The set comes with an American plate with New York branding (yellow in upper left of my picture). It has Mike Psiaki’s (lead LEGO designer) trademark plate, only it has a 3 versus the 2 in the last vehicle. The bottom left plate is Japanese and has the set number. The two right plates are German with the “S” being Stuttgart, Germany where the Porsche plant is located.
I’m a fan of both builds although I think I may like the Turbo better… not sure why. To display it, I’ll probably have it in the Turbo configuration. Or you can buy two and display both (I don’t plan on that).
If you’re into the LEGO 18+ vehicle line, I recommend this set. The base vehicle and the two alternate builds are worth it. I look forward to seeing what modifications the fan community makes to these.
Happy building!