As a guy who owns an old car or two, I'd suggest you join a VW forum if you are seriously considering buying one. I know that the VW Vortex is a great site for watercooled VW's and I know that they have an aircooled section. I've just never been in it.
If your purpose is truly 'just to drive around', it's very possible you'll really enjoy owning one. They are rather robust, pretty simple, and in-expensive. I don't know how the aircooled VW crowd is, but for most other cars they tend to fall into two camps: Purists and Non-Purist. Being a guy who used to work in a restoration shop, I really respect original and properly restored cars. Being one of the guys who did mechanical work in the shop I can also appreciate fixes, updates, and modifications that make the cars work / perform better than when they were new. Personally, I draw the line at 'easily reversible' for my classic car. For my mass produced economy car (but becoming rarer and rarer) MkII Jetta, I'm not as finicky. What I'm trying to get across is you need to decide where you stand
before you start spending money on the car.
I seriously suggest you look into a 123Ignition distributor. Yes, there are tons of kits out there to eliminate the points. There are also a bunch of places that will rebuild the distributor. But, getting a brand new solid state distributor (which still uses a stock cap and rotor) for around $400 was a no-brainer for me (they might be even cheaper for VW's). A buddy of mine bought a Mallory distributor and didn't think to carry a spare cap and rotor in his car. Without getting into details, I'll say that he
always carries a spare cap and rotor now. Here's a video of the 123Ignition on Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1PFb46gKlc
I want to point out that it is almost always cheaper to buy a finished car rather than buying one and having all the work done yourself. Of course, there is some pleasure that I get from working on my old car that would be hard to equal. Of course, driving the car more and working on it less would be pretty damn sweet too. So, I'll suggest you consider buying a car that is done or close to it if you can afford to do so. Some people want to get into the car for $1,000 and then do the work themselves, but I don't typically suggest it.
If you join a owners group / website / forums, there are usually people that will help you out by checking out a car BEFORE you buy it. It isn't uncommon for someone to join our group just to ask if someone can check out a car they saw for sale that is halfway across the country. Some people want a preliminary check before they spend the money and time to see the car themselves and others want someone who owns the same car to look at it with them so that they can point out typical problem areas.
Please be sure to look into classic car insurance rates, historic registration / plates, and a place to keep it BEFORE you buy it. FWIW: Parking a car on grass / dirt is a BAD idea.
Good luck and please post back with pictures!
BTW: @ Kaido, I've read about that $50 paint job before. I'm not sure if you realize how much work it entails. Please realize that there is a LOT of sanding / wet sanding that needs to be done (IOW: It is VERY labor intensive). If you don't own a car with curves, you might not understand how much work could be necessary to get the results that he did. I don't dislike the concept, but, it just isn't feasible / practical for a lot of cars. Frankly, I don't see a huge savings compared to a DIY spray job if you already own a compressor.
Didn't the Super Beetles have a 'semi-auto'? IIRC, my buddies grandma had a Super Beetle and you pushed down on the stick to engage the clutch (there was no clutch pedal). IIRC, that car was a 1973, but that was a lot of years, memories, and brain cells ago.