Martin Peryagh air-cooled inspired ‘Wickerdackel’ Typ 19 Volkswagen Golf Mk2

Martin Peryagh air-cooled inspired ‘Wickerdackel’ Typ 19 Volkswagen Golf Mk2

If you’re building a car to a certain theme, then if we had any advice it’s to choose a theme and stick to it! Well, Martin Peryagh certain did just that when building his air-cooled inspired ‘Wickerdackel’ Typ 19 Mk2 back in 2009. What a build!


  • YEAR: 2009
  • ISSUE: NOVEMBER
  • OWNER: MARTIN PERYAGH
  • WORDS: NEIL HUNT
  • PHOTOS: JAMES LIPMAN

While the Mk2 world had gone mad for 1.8T 20v conversions at the time, thankfully there were still people like Martin who gained his second-generation kicks from a totally different angle. However, while unusual, putting an air-cooled spin on a Mk2 Golf wasn’t totally original. Long term readers may well remember Martin (yes, another one) Neuhauser’s ‘Wicker Man’ Mk2 from PVW 8/02, which also had something of an air-cooled theme. We’d spotted the car at 2002’s Worthersee event and managed to bag a bunch of photos so we could show the rest of you. Despite the gold-plated Oettinger 16v motor under the hood (I kid you not) and the wicker seats, the wicker car was built with a bit of tongue in cheek. There was nothing ironic or flippant about Martin Peryagh’s creation. Having spoken to Martin a number of times before we saw the car we couldn’t believe how serious he was about getting the ‘theme’ spot on.

Where do we start? Well, externally chrome was order of the day with a seven-slatted grille, small bumpers, Porsche 944 door handles, window surround and wipers all featuring the shiny stuff. It was parts like the Porsche 356B ‘nipple’ hub caps, Karmann Ghia rear number plate light and beach buggy light buckets that really set the car off. We just loved the Skoda Cinnamon brown paint coating the 1986 three-door, non-sunroof shell… even if it was left-hand drive!

The smoothed engine bay was pretty spare, but what detail the 1.3-litre 8v motor did have was special. We just loved the hub cap air filter cover, gold plated oil cap and custom copper hot rod style brake lines. Inside is where the air-cooled attention to detail went off the scale. A full retrim in mushroom vinyl and tweed on the seats, headlining, rear seat backs, boot side panels and tailgate and door card panels. It was the small parts, like the one-off billet winder handles, EMPI lock pulls and chrome door release handles, that we loved, plus the wicker door pockets, under-dash tray and rear parcel shelf that really screamed old-skool! Obviously the Flat 4 banjo steering wheel looked like it had come straight out of a Beetle, then there was the Type 2 switches and pre-66 ivory knobs. The car was literally awash with small, but awesome details, which made this such a classic and memorable feature. Where did it end up? Well, read on to find out…

“We loved the Skoda Cinnamon brown paint coating the 1986 three-door, non-sunroof shell…”

WHERE IS IT NOW?

We got wind that PVW regular and water-cooled scene veteran (we can call you that, right, Mark? — Ed) Mark Ikeda had owned the car at some stage, so we reached out to him to fi nd out the car’s whereabouts. Apparently, Mark had bought the car off another VW scene regular, Danny Allen. “I drove the car for a while, but the bodywork had not aged well and the whole car developed small micro dots all over the shell,” he said. In the end, as the car featured so many good NOS parts, he ended up using them on his own project or sold them on to others. “The roof rails, rubber seals, Porsche handles, clear glass and US small bumpers we all used on my cars.” Mark claimed it was cheaper to buy this car complete for the parts than buying each part individually. “Sadly, I was unable to sell the shell due to its condition, the colour and it being left-hand drive, so it got scrapped. I did feel bad, as so much work went into the smooth bay.” At least it didn’t die in vain though, hey?

+ POINTS

The whole theme was simply spot on

— POINTS

If anything, we feel the Karmann Ghia rear plate light didn’t quite flow

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