OUR STORY

My Rebel Autoworx story began under the Kenyan sun, behind the wheel of a battered World War II Willys Jeep — barely tall enough to reach the pedals, grinding gears down the farm tracks and feeling every rock and rut through the wheel. No GPS — just dirt roads, instinct, and a few closed gates to remember. That Jeep taught me the language of motion, the satisfaction of solving problems with your hands, and the thrill of mechanical honesty.
 
Growing up in Kilifi, a small town 56 kilometres northeast of Mombasa, Kenya, meant salt air, open horizons, and the hum of old engines. Kilifi sits where the Goshi River meets the sea, known for its white beaches and the 14th-century ruins of Mnarani — a place where history, craft and resilience coexist. Growing up amid that mix of coast, culture and mechanics shaped a lifelong fascination with how things move, how they’re made, and how they endure.
 
In Kenya, speed meant rallying. The Safari Rally was legendary—a test of endurance, nerve, and engineering. I still remember a Lancia 037 flying past me, airborne over a crest and trailing dust like smoke. It wasn’t just fast; it was fearless. That car embodied something deeper: courage over caution, mechanical truth over digital trickery. The 037 proved that when you get the fundamentals right, emotion can beat technology. That idea stuck.
 
Years later, after studies and a career that took me from Kenya to England to New Zealand, that lesson still echoed. I’d worked across different industries — sports science, business, innovation — but I kept coming back to the same desire: to create something real. Something that connected human skill to mechanical purity.
 
Rebel Autoworx was born from that conviction. It began in a small Auckland workshop — concrete floor, oil in the air, classic rock on the radio. The mission was simple: bring back the raw connection between driver and machine. No layers of software, no digital filters — just engineering that puts sensation back in the driver’s hands.
 
Our first project is now taking shape—a modern homage to the Group B legends that defined an era. Codenamed Valkyrie, it’s being engineered as a mid-engine, all-wheel-drive rally car built with 21st-century precision and old-school intent. A hand-built spaceframe chassis, a high-revving Synergy i4 producing 600 turbo-charged horsepower, and a French Sadev SL90 transmission form its foundation. No screens. No driving modes. Just mechanical truth, designed for those who still want to feel it.
 
If you’re wondering if this is a midlife crisis project, it unashamedly is. It is my own search for truth — the need to rediscover the honest freedom of that Kenyan desert drive and to immerse myself in a community of like-minded people: drivers, mechanics and enthusiasts. And to make some incredible cars along the way.
 
The picture of the legendary Lancia 037 — the 1983 Group B World Rally Championship Manufacturers’ Champion — still hangs on our wall, reminding us why we build. It represents rebellion with responsibility — respecting the past by carrying its lessons forward. Every weld, drawing, and decision at Rebel Autoworx follows that same ethos: make it visceral, make it honest, make it last.

We’re not chasing trends or playing dress-up with nostalgia. We’re building it forward—machines that make you feel alive, crafted for people who believe driving should still mean something. We honour the past by building it forward — using real engineering and honest materials to create new legends.
 
We hope you’ll join us on our journey.

Ryan Wilson
FOUNDER