I have seen different terms used for referring to the different models, and sometimes it gets a little confusing trying to figure out which model people are referring to. For example, I've seen people call the targa top "coupe" or "hatchback". All of the models except for the convertible are coupes, so that doesn't really work. I call it "targa". What is the correct term? I refer to the other two coupe models as FRC (which is the non-Z version of the coupe), and the Z or C5Z. The different terms for the targa are the most confusing...

 

Mine has a targa top, but refer to it as a stock coupe hopefully not for too much longer lol, And this stuff is confusing, this is my first vette coming up on owning it for three years, absolutely love it!

 

The targa roof cars were called coupes before the FRC arrived.
So they remain coupes, but not fixed roof coupes.

coupe=hatchback=targa

frc=fixed roof coupe=hardtop

 

In that small time period that was 1997-1998 if you said "coupe" pretty much everyone knew what you were talking about. That changed in 1999 when the fixed-roof-coupe came along (I believe even the FRC had some nomenclature issues as it was referred to internally as "billy-bob" and I've seen a handful of people call FRC's "billy bobs").

The FRC, Z06, and convertible are all pretty distinctive body styles so I use "targa coupe", "fastback coupe", to describe the targa model

 

And to add a little more confusion you have coupe/targa/hatchback owners becoming members of the FRC by not properly latching their removable tops

 

I'm about 99.9% sure the FRC would never be considered a hatchback.

 

Pretty much sums it up IMO. I still consider the Z06 to be in the FRC category.

 

...or vise versa...

 

 

That's the C5 Spyder (roofless coupe). If the roof had been fixed, it wouldn't fly off...

 

I'm pretty sure the real confusion would be caused by FRC/Z06 owners converting to targa tops.

 

12 degrees here in northern WIS. My top won't come off (Z06) but even if it was a targa/coupe/fastback it wouldn't be coming off until sometime in April, hopefully. Oh, well. It keeps the miles down.

 

Targa would not be a correct term however. IIRC The word targa is a copyright of Porsche so it would not be what Chevy called it.

 

 

This has been known to happen!

 

google is your friend

 

They arent whining. I am just pointing out that "targa" is definitely not the proper term for the removable top coupe.

 

I hope buying a Vette doesn't make me crabby like some of you guys...

 

 

Looked that up, sure enough Porsche has a trademark on the term Targa. Crazy.
So for auto makers and peeps who like Porsche, any other car with a Targa isn't. For the rest of the world, well, everyone I know calls that style top a Targa.