More than 70-percent of all Porsches ever built are still on the road and while that's an impressive fact in it of itself, some are still gathering rust in an old barn somewhere as we speak.

This was the case of the very first Germany-delivered Porsche 911 S Targa, which somehow found its way to the U.S. in the late 1960s. There, the Neunelfer spent about 40 years abandoned in a garage before being born again through a full restoration carried out by Porsche Classic.

Soft-window versions of the 911 Targa S are quite rare. In fact, Porsche built just 925 units with the 2.0-liter S engine between 1966 and 1968. The first of the bunch was delivered to Porsche dealer Hülpert in Dortmund on January 24, 1967.

The dealer used the 911 Targa as demo car before selling it to a customer in the United States, where it spent almost four decades in a closed garage in Long Beach, New York, until 2016.

Despite being in a "wretched state", the 911 Targa was complete and retained all of its original features, including the leather seats, halogen fog lamps, and Blaupunkt Köln radio. This was right about when Porsche's Classic Factory Restoration arm came into play and worked together with the new owner to restore the vehicle, which required a process that spanned over three years.

1,000 hours of work were spent on body work alone. Only then the Targa was hand-painted in the original Polo Red it wore when it left the factory. On top of the paint layer now sits a special protective coating with a slight matting effect because, guess what, the owner has every intention of driving the Targa. I mean, what better way to celebrate such an iconic sports car than use it for what it was designed in the first place?

The 1967 Porsche 911 Targa S used a 2.0-liter boxer-six with 160 horsepower and 179 Newton-meters (132 pound-feet) on tap. The Targa tipped the scales at just over 1,000 kilos (2,204 pounds) and could go from naught to 100 kph (62 mph) in 7.6 seconds on to a top speed of 225 kph (140 mph).

1967 Porsche 911 Targa S specifications

Power went to the rear wheels through a five-speed manual gearbox. Back in 1967, the base price for the 911 Targa S was 25,880 German marks.