The people behind the
Rebel Autoworx x Carteroni project
Kenyan born, English public school educated, high performance athlete and jet-ski racer, Ryan Wilson has a background that sets him apart, but it’s his shared love of the 037 and
Group B cars that has made Rebel Autoworx x Carteroni a reality.
Ryan’s journey to Rebel Autoworx didn’t start in a boardroom — it began barefoot on a coastal farm in Kenya, where diesel fumes and broken machinery were as much a part of childhood as heat and dust. By the time he was six, he was driving the family’s WWII Willys Jeep across farm tracks, rattling through gears with more enthusiasm than accuracy and learning the kind of mechanical honesty no manual can teach.
The wild edges of Tsavo and the legendary Safari Rally were formative in Ryan’s journey. One car in particular seared itself into his memory: a Lancia 037 flying over a crest, dust billowing behind. “The 037 taught me about defiance. To a wide-eyed farm kid, the 037 wasn’t just a car. It was proof that soul mattered. It was a symbol that if you stayed true to what’s real and raw,
you could triumph against the odds. I carry that lesson with me to this day.”
A stint at English boarding school at age 13 was a jarring culture clash for Ryan — but that led him down another track, this time as a top junior 400m runner in the British youth team. That led to a career in high performance sport which eventually landed him in New Zealand. Another gear change, this time in business focus, as founder of coworking business Generator, building it into the country’s largest coworking brand. After selling the company, he drifted — losing his purpose, nearly losing himself. He clawed his way back through grease, grit, and machines that fought back.
His turning point came in a shed, under a work lamp, building a 1280hp jetski that “tried its best to kill him”. It didn’t. Instead, it gave him back the fire he thought he’d lost. That was the spark that became Rebel Autoworx.
Today, Ryan leads Rebel with the same instinct that guided him along Kenyan farm tracks: listen to the machine, trust your hands, respect the past, and build forward. As the founder of the Rebel x Carteroni collaboration, he’s striving to conserve an analogue sensation in a
digital world, chasing the purity of raw engineering, and remembering that legends aren’t remembered for their convenience, but for their courage. “I’ve found my tribe and my purpose, working with my hands — covered in oil and dust. We’re building more than cars — we’re building a bridge between eras, a statement that the old-school spirit still has plenty of fight left.”
Ryan Wilson | Founder Rebel Autoworx
Allan, or Mr Carteroni as he is also known, is the co-founder of Carteroni, a Lancia specialist business established in 1997. After completing his mechanic apprenticeship, he worked as a BMW technician at his local dealership in NZ, before heading off to the big leagues at BMW’s UK dealerships. Once back home however, it wasn’t long until he was off overseas again - this time as a rally mechanic for private teams in the Asia-Pacific rally series.
In a lucky moment of fate, back in New Zealand Allan encountered the 037 Stradale on a magazine cover, and took a ride in a Beta Volumex, sealing his connection to the Lancia world. In the years following, Allan started his own automotive repair business with his partner Alex. After the pair bought their first Lancia, Carteroni morphed from a roving mechanic service conducted out of a white Ford Transit to NZ’s go-to business for Lancia Beta restoration and repair, effectively combining the team’s love for Lancia with Allan’s skillset.
However, Allan wasn’t content to just focus on repairing and restoring Lancia Betas - the 037 continued to flit through his mind. At last, in 2009, Allan started research and development of his own Lancia 037. The Corsa spec car would be built to resemble the original as closely as possible. By 2013, the first Carteroni 037, chassis number 001, was on the road. Since then, Allan has built 037s for clients all over the world - France, America, Poland, and Australia.
Allan’s ambition has always been to design an 037 that doesn’t have to rely on an increasingly rare Beta Montecarlo donor tub to form the chassis. Now as the technical lead for Rebel Autoworx’s 037 projects, he gets to develop and build a tubular centre tub design chassis and more, with his ultimate 037 engineering challenge manifesting in the Rebel 037 AWD project. Most days, you’ll find him in the shed, or with Alex out up a South Island creek hunting for gold.
Allan Carter - Engineer | Carteroni co-founder & Technical Lead for Rebel Autoworx 037 Line
The organisational mastermind and co-founder of Carteroni, Alex, aka Mrs Carteroni, is a powerhouse who keeps any project she’s part of moving forward. Alex fell in love with Lancias as a teenager while on a cross-country road trip in a family friend’s Lancia Beta Coupe IE. That chance first encounter ended up sparking a deep connection to, and appreciation of, Lancias - for their style, Italian flair, and driving feel. After the founding of Carteroni in ‘97, Alex made a decision that changed Carteroni from a regular vehicle repair provider to the iconic Lancia business it became, by purchasing the first Lancia for Carteroni’s collection. When it comes down to it, Alex is the OG Lancia fan and collector at Carteroni.
On her own initiative, Alex made efforts to modernise and enrich the business, using the early internet to connect with the wider Lancia community - arranging a website to sell parts through and update readers on Carteroni’s work, writing newsletters, organising trips to car shows, and creating the Giro dei Vulcani Lancia rally. Thanks to her clever networking efforts, Carteroni quickly developed a recognition in NZ’s wider Lancia and Italian classic car community.
Alex is now the overall project manager for the R&D and manufacturing side of Rebel’s 037 project. Her current favourite Lancia is her own stylish red Flavia 2000 HF, which you may spot her roaring about in when she isn’t out riding her -equally stylish- horse, Jack.
Alex Gorringe - Organisation Overlord | Carteroni co-founder & Technical Project Manager for the Rebel Autoworx 037 Line
Eldest daughter of the Carteroni Duo, Connie has been an 037 fan since she was a toddler, having been, in her words, excellently brainwashed by her Lancia enthusiast parents. Quite unlike most little girls growing up in the 2000s, for her 8th birthday she insisted on a full 037 theme, complete with an 037 cake and party games: pin-the-wheel-on-the-037 as the highlight. A few years later, her biggest dream became reality, when in 2013, the first Carteroni 037 was completed.
As a life-long 037 fan who had the great luck to end up experiencing her dream car in real life, Connie uniquely appreciates what it means for other 037 fans when they get to have the same opportunity. As far as the ‘don’t meet your heroes’ saying goes, Connie reports that if the 037 is your hero car, and you’re able to get behind the wheel, you won’t be disappointed.
A copywriter and media creator by trade, Connie has been telling 037 stories her whole life, and now writes and films content that chronicles the Rebel Autoworx and Rebel x Carteroni stories.
Connie Carter - the storyteller | Rebel Autoworx x Carteroni Content Creator
Nephew of the Carteronis, William has been a rally-addict ever since he got his drivers licence. Following a grassroots start in a mix of Japanese rally machines, William has become a regular feature in the North Island’s rally scene, both as a competitor, and event organiser for his local car club. A decisive driver with a technical eye and sharp natural instincts, William has shown he can keep the pressure on for those driving against him, despite currently competing in a much older Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6.
As fate would have it, William’s rally focus would soon align with a motorsports project closer to home. With the Rebel x Carteroni project in need of a competitive driver to test 037 prototypes, (and having been promised a drive in the Carteroni 037 for many years as a birthday gift) in 2025 William got the chance to get behind the wheel of an 037 - and it wasn’t just the Carteronis and Ryan who were impressed. In William’s hands, the car gave onlookers a taste of true Group B action, some of which you can see on this very website, particularly the slow motion Scandi flick on our homepage.
After what could be called the world’s fastest job interview - which involved Ryan, a gravel road, and a rally car - William was signed on as the test driver for Rebel’s 037 development program. You can expect to see him embodying the style of Group B’s legendary drivers as he takes 037s onto the gravel for test shakedowns and competitions.
