FS: 71 Karmann Ghia with Auto Trans in AZ

does it have the clutch cable tube in the frame?

The question is, does it have ASS or a real automatic? Some ASS cars were converted to real auto transaxles because of clutchphobia. Hydraulic clutch with concentric bearing is best fix, though.

Were not all the VW automatics simply auto-clutch systems - a tiny clutch plate that engaged the rest?

Hydraulic clutches are very good, but it is still not a trivial exchange from auto to stick.

(and what this to do with Focomat IIa? :)) Welcome to Vows.

AFAIK Air-Cooled Type IIIs and IVs had full automatics. Not too sure of the Vans/Busses, but I would guess that they had full automatics also. Of course even the full automatics had clutch plates in them. ;-)

IIRC Type Is had semi-automatic (automatic sticks) where you had to select the next gear with the shifter but did not have a clutch pedal. Still had to disengage the clutch through electrical, pneumatic and mechanical means. I find the manual transmission a more simplistic design. ;-)

later, dave (One out of many daves)

The ASS (Automatic Stick Shift) was a three speed manual transaxle that had a torque converter and a clutch that was automatically activated. It was and is quite troublesome, as were most of the semiautomatic schemes used by Detroit in the forties and Europeans in the fifties and sixties.

Conversion to full manual is not terribly challenging but does take time, if you are paying shop rates by the hour it is therefore expensive. Partly to avoid running a clutch cable, partly also because many people prefer an automatic trans-particularly in hilly Northern California, a VW aircooled stronghold-conversion to the Type II/IV automatic has been done. I've seen them in Beetles.

IMO hydraulic clutch is the best conversion, simply because I consider the stock clutch cable arrangement a weak point.

As far as your Focomat goes, if it gives you good results I'm certainly not against you using it! The same applies to the guy out there with an original ASS car who _likes_ it.