I think a minimal change to fix the FTBFS is (changing it to not call upstream's distclean might be saner, though):
diff -r -u o/autofs-5.0.6/debian/clean n/autofs-5.0.6/debian/clean --- o/autofs-5.0.6/debian/clean 2012-04-23 17:18:20.000000000 +0200 +++ n/autofs-5.0.6/debian/clean 2012-06-01 16:56:51.315205416 +0200 @@ -2,4 +2,5 @@ config.log config.status include/config.h -#configure +include/config.h.in +configure diff -r -u o/autofs-5.0.6/debian/rules n/autofs-5.0.6/debian/rules --- o/autofs-5.0.6/debian/rules 2012-04-23 17:13:10.000000000 +0200 +++ n/autofs-5.0.6/debian/rules 2012-06-01 16:56:38.607148473 +0200 @@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ dh $@ override_dh_auto_configure: - #autoconf --force + $(MAKE) configure dh_auto_configure -- \ --enable-forced-shutdown \ --enable-ignore-busy \ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org