I'm in the process of putting my daughters 71' fastback on the road and she has been driving our 160hp lancer with all the mod cons. Now she is concerned about whether the fastie will have enough grunt to keep up with traffic especially being an auto. She wants to keep it air-cooled and fairly original so an engine swap is out of the question but seeing as the engine needs rebuilding would a set of 044 heads, mild cam and say twin 40mm webers spice it up without spending big dollars on upsizing the engine? Do the carbs need modifying to work with the auto? Or should I tell her to adjust her driving style to suit the 40year old car and deal with it.......what do you reckon?
Any advice is appreciated.

I think that upgrade is a great idea. Maybe a good exhaust and a little lowering.

tell her to adjust her driving style to suit the 40year old car and deal with it.
or , you drive to the conditions
.or Dont waste money on tricking up a vw , just buy her a hyundai

no need i been driving my 71 auto notch as a daily for 2 years, no drama keeping up with traffic at all

Yeah, I reckon it should go OK when rebuilt with all new parts. When she gets off her P's she can get a turbo 2332 put in and smoke those hyundai's

yeah but then those Hyundai's will smoke the vw for reliability if you go down that path.

what you need is a type 4 engine conversion, still air cooled and has much greater performance potential and if done right the first time the reliability can be in the 200,000km + range.

She would total it before the engine dies or needs looking at.

Ha ha vlad I'm not game to tell her that ! Like most teenagers she thinks she is a better driver than most and the thought of her writing this car off in a prang is my ultimate nightmare because I'm doing all the work on the damn thing. She wants a show stopper but I think maybe the best bet is to have an alternative daily driver (she is fond of audi tt convertibles) and keep the fastie for good.