Alltrack World

Ok, my wife had a 1972 or 1974 Ghia with the lame-a** automatic. I considered it to be DANGEROUSLY slow under accelleration from a stop. You could be trying to get across an intersection and get run over by a bus. Does anyone know if this was "normal" for the automatic transmissions, or did she have a dog? Other than being sluggish, are these transmissions troublesome, or are they pretty reliable. I would love to get her a similar vintage Bug or Ghia, but she really does not want a manual transmission. Any info or suggestions are appreciated.

Yours may have had some issues. My sister had a similar beetle with the auto-stick and I don't remember it being that slow. A friend that lives close by now has an auto-stick ghia and it isn't dangerously slow either. Unless it's going to be her daily driver, convince her to drive a stick!

The Auto stick was actually a manual transmission with both a torque converter and a clutch that was disengaged via an electric switch operated by the gearshift lever. So to accelerate quickly you would have to be in 1st gear and shift to 2 and third like you would a stick. If you were lazy, you could leave it in 2nd gear for around town and shift to 3rd on the road but it didn't accelerate from a stop very quickly. Even the engine had a special double oil pump to operate the torque converter.
I would bet they are pretty rare, as multiple and complex adjustments were needed to keep it operating.

My ex-wife had a 72 Ghia with the auto stick in California - I remember it being OK around town. It was no barn burner on the freeway - I would check the electrical connections and make sure the oil pump is working properly for the torque converter.

There's plenty of them still on the road and parts are available incredibly.