You might consider some of the 3M style reflective tape as stylized pinstripes when you get things finished up.
It is too bad that you do not have an old Karmann Ghia shell to work from. The doors and all are pretty low profile. They were pretty sharp looking even in stock form, especially when they were new.
You might take a look at this thread about
Chopping a Beetle for some ideas. Keeping a steel body should greatly increase the strength and crash protection of the car as well as its durability over a period of years. That would reduce the frontal area of the body, but the angle of the windshield is still very steep.
Any way you look at it you are facing a great deal of work. There simply will not be much left of the original car once you go through the engine swap.
Have you ever considered fixing this one up to make some money selling it as a pretty much stock vehicle and then getting something that might be more suited for a mileage project?