For all the years that I've been into VWs, I've always said "One day I'll have a......." And today is "One day" and I can't stop smiling
Before anyone gets too jealous, she's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. There's a bit of corrosion in the bodywork and she's had a front end shunt at some stage, that wasn't fixed that well. There's a few end caps missing off the side trims, the windows don't close completely, the fuel gauge doesn't work and neither does the clock. And the white roof is actually "alligator skin" vinyl wrap, but I quite like that and it sort of matches the faux snakeskin seats!
It's VWs semi automatic set up. Not fully auto, but an automatic clutch and torque converter. When you touch the gearstick, it operates a switch that disengages the clutch. Then you select a gear and when you let go, the clutch re-engages. The torque converter means that you can slow and stop while still in gear.
It also means that you can't slip the clutch at all, so it will last for ages. Read a post on a stickshift forum where a guy took his clutch plate out after 100k miles and it still had 70% wear left in it.
Hmmmm... sorry, looks like there is much more than only a bit of... Rust is like an iceberg - you only see 1/7. It's on all critical areas below this old and not original sales livery and it's time for a full restoration. Hope your have fun on welding yourself - this and many other Karmann Ghia gets very expensive and takes lot of time. I have fully restored my Karmann long time ago and have seen many of projects over the past 25 years. Parts were getting very expensive till today and bodywork is complex (no fenders, only one shape; lot of round curves, less fix points, ...) So, good luck to your project!