I've had, like others, both air cooled and water cooled versions of Porsche replicas and one CMC Gazelle. While satisfied with the air cool engines I was never happy with the high-revs needed to move out, valve rattle & adjustments, carburetor sync'ing and oil stained garage floors. The lack of A/C while living in Florida made stop and go traffic nearly unbearable. The main appeal of 356 based replicas is appearance and the attention they attract. Secondary to appearance are comfort and performance. Depending where, when and how long a person drives, A/C and comfortable seats need to considered. A long cruise in sweltering weather and on unforgiving seats can soon turn your car into a "garage queen". Last comment on air-cooled engines, unless one installs an actual Porsche engine with available OEM parts, finding air-cooled VW mechanics and genuine OEM parts might be more difficult than anticipated. There's no need to go into the poor quality of the Chinese replacement parts. As far as the sound of carburetors sucking air, I've seen them installed on Subys. Test drive before you decide...
I'm just saying