A little bit of Italy in middle of nowhere

KEEN TEAM: The crew are Marty Loughnan with Lulu (back), Allan Carter and Alex Carter (with Roo).PHOTO/LIN FERGUSON 100815WCLFREG02

IN THE middle of nowhere there is somewhere.

The only clue is a sign saying "Lancia" on the left, travelling north on State Highway One near Mangaweka.

Set on farmland with roosters crowing, spring bulbs sprouting, chickens scratching and old car bodies crammed in a yard is the Carteroni workshop.

Carteroni are the Lancia specialists, housing a classic collection of Lancia cars.

Nearly 18 years ago, owners Allan and Alex Carter started a routine car maintenance and servicing business that grew into classic car restoration. As their bread and butter they also have a large contract servicing quad bikes in the Taihape/Ruapehu district.

Their Italian-influenced name, Carteroni, was coined by their brother-in-law, who told them their Lancia Beta Coupe looked like an Italian Ford Escort and named them the Carteronis, which was perfect because the couple love Italian classic cars.

Japanese cars were perfect as a means of transport, said Allan. "But there's no excitement along the way."

As the business grew, living next to the huge workshop with their two daughters in Allan's dad's old farmhouse became untenable, he said. "You imagine living next door to a noisy workshop. It just didn't work."

Allan has worked all over the world, starting as an apprentice in automotive engineering at Commercial Motors in Palmerston North, the then BMW, Nissan and Renault dealer.

He has worked for BMW dealers in London (Hexagon BMW) and Manchester (Williams BMW) and in 1994 he worked at Team McMillan BMW in Auckland.

He also serviced rally cars domestically, then internationally in the Asia Pacific Rally Series, which took him all over Southeast Asia.

While still involved with the Asia Pacific series, Allan moved back to his family home near Mangaweka, and worked at Wilson Motors in Hunterville, where he became friends with his now mentor Bruce Wilson and met a female Lancia Beta enthusiast, now wife Alex.

They continued to grow the business, attracted more clients with their specialist restoration work and racecar preparation, and joined forces with the Lancia Register of New Zealand.

Five years ago they raised the profile of the Lancia restoration business with their 037 Recreation project and the development of Motorsport Recreations.

So if you drool over the Lancia Rally 037 but haven't the time or the nous to build it yourself, head for Carteroni, Allan said.

"We involve the client in the whole process until the car roars into life. It's all about what the customer wants."

In 2010 the couple managed to entice A grade mechanic Marty (now known as Marteroni) Loughnan to move from Auckland and come on board to help with the 037 Recreation build.

"We knew Marty and his car, a Stratos Lancia [a sports and rally car]. It was hard, but we got him down here."

The Italian connection is uppermost at Carteroni.

On the rear of Marty's dark green Punto Fiat is written "Guiseppe". The full name, Marty said, was Guiseppe Verdi, named after one of Italy's most acclaimed composers of operas, such as La Traviata, Rigoletto, and Aida.

"Yeah, I love opera," he said.