Peter Casati – Gonz to his ever-growing, cult-like following – is a bloke we’ve long admired via the internet but somehow never nailed down for a proper chat. He’s the brilliant and slightly warped mind behind the eponymous Gonzlab, an eclectic fabrication shop that turns out gorgeous architectural designs in steel, brass and glass – not to mention killer bits for cars.

First published in the March 2025 issue of Street Machine

He also knows how to put on a bitchin’ open day, recently inviting “sports fans, speed freaks and donk frothers” (his words) to enjoy a morning of DJ vinyl, gourmet pizza and awesome coffee at the Gonzlab headquarters in Heidelberg, inner-north Melbourne. They all rolled up in some rad cars to soak up the sunshine and check out Gonz’s epic long-term project, ‘The Liberator’ – a heavily chopped and stretched ZA Fairlane packing a wild Rolls-Royce V12!

These 1650ci (27-litre) overhead-cam engines took RAF Spitfires to war-winning feats in supercharged Merlin form, and pushed Commonwealth tanks through most of the 20th century under the Meteor name. Huge plane engines have been used to make shit go really fast almost since their inception, from Malcolm and Donald Campbell’s record-breaking land-speed racers to the Rolls-Royce Spey-powered ThrustSSC, which cracked the sound barrier in 1997.

Gonz is building the monster for a land-speed mission at Lake Gairdner, where he’ll shoot for 300mph, despite having never even laid eyes on a salt flat and with no plans to change that until he’s belting across it. Employing some self-taught engineering brilliance, a network of good mates, and sheer bloody-mindedness, Gonz has seen the Liberator develop into something far greater than a mere project car – and not just because it’s physically enormous. Settle in, because it’s a story only he can tell!

Did Gonzlab start as an automotive or an architectural thing?

Architectural is just to make money – I don’t give a f**k about that at all [laughs]. It’s going good, though! The shop was predominantly automotive; I got out of that because it’s hard to find panel beaters, and the architectural work’s more profitable.

Brass looks to be your favourite medium there?

That’s all the rage at the moment: brass fabrication and cladding. I started welding brass when I was really young, making fittings for my motors. Through that, it slowly developed into what I do now. My main thing is mechanical problem-solving. We get tricky stuff we have to nut out and make fit. Making this fit into that is my thing!

Is that “the riddle of steel”? You have that phrase plastered everywhere here.

That’s from Conan the Barbarian, man! The whole quest of that movie was to learn about the riddle of steel; the god I pray to is Crom.

You’ve previously dabbled in hospitality, too.

I had a cafe and a deli, all off the fumes of an oily rag – no inheritances here, just hustling. Really, I built them and the brewery so I could fund this project. I sold it all for enough money to buy the Liberator’s motor, basically!

But cars have always been your main thing?

Forever! I started with my two petrolhead brothers, Chris and Paul. At 16, I bought my first car, an XR Falcon. I did all the bodywork and started playing with the motor. Then I got an XA coupe and went a bit further. I never had a trade or anything; I started working full-time at panel shops when I was 14. We lied to my school and said we were moving to Perth so that Dad could pull me out of school. I got a job just down the road from Diamond Creek Tech. My brother picked me up in a ZB Fairlane on the last day; the principal said, “Glad to see the back of you, Mr. Casati.” My brother tripped when he heard that and just fried the tyres right outside the principal’s office!

And that led into engineering work?

Engineering started for me with old family friends. The Williams family had a lathe in their garage, and I started mucking around, making sh*t for pushbikes and that. I got a bit of skill there, and then some more through bicycles and building the gravity bike [a specialised pushbike designed for downhill speed]. I started getting parts made at a shop called Woollard Engineering, just around the corner from here. Ken Woollard asked what I was building, so I brought the bike in. From that, he gave me a job, so I cut my teeth doing engineering in West Heidelberg with Ken. No schooling, TAFE courses or university degrees – just hands-on work with real people.

Tell us about ‘The Borough Shaker’, your flamed, blown ZA Fairlane streeter.

I’ve had it on the road for 20 years. I started working on it under my mum and dad’s carport in Greensborough, and that’s where the name comes from. We used to all do engine swaps together – I’d take a day off work and Mum would be on the crane! It’s had about 19 motors in it. I was working for [renowned Aussie painter and pinstriper] Mat Egan as his painter when I did the flames; he designed them, and I painted and pinstriped them. All the other artwork was done by Mat recently. I bought it all banged up and left it that way. Everyone was tripping when I first did that, and now it’s all the rage!

Nineteen engine swaps? That’s mental!

It all comes from the early days of running mid-12s and getting the thirst. I’d wreck shit, pull it out, swap cams, heads; I made my own methanol injection from a washer bottle and a little copper jet! I get a real thrill from pushing something to its outer limits, and I enjoy the rebuild process, always. I learn my craft by blowing sh*t up.

How did the Liberator Fairlane come into your life?

ZAs have always been my favourite shape; I just can’t stray from it – I’m so locked into it. I bought it for a girlfriend at the time, about 18 years ago. She wasn’t really into it, so I put it aside and thought I’d eventually build it into a land-speed car. It was just gonna be “get it on the road and let it rip”, and then a twin-engined car. But I’d always liked Merlin engines! I rode BMX with Dave Scott – we’re still very close pals to this day – and his uncle, Les Scott, was the co-pilot of ‘The Aggressor’, which was an Unlimited Hydroplane boat with a Merlin V12. It crashed at Lake Eildon in 1972; Les was made a paraplegic and lost the use of one arm, but Dave Tenny, the driver-builder, came out unscathed. Les died maybe five years ago, and Dave is still alive. The Aggressor never lost a race, apparently, and it’s been restored now. It’s wild, man. Real daredevils, those bastards!

Finding one of these V12s can’t have been easy.

I started this massive social media campaign to find one; it went worldwide, and dudes were telling me about motors buried in backyards and guys with halves of motors here and there. Deni Dave [Downie, owner of the ‘Cannonball’ ZF Fairlane and amateur Aussie muscle historian] is an automotive super-sleuth, and he got involved instantly. He was sending me Google Maps photos of houses with planes in the backyard and sh*t! He made contact between me and Joe Cottam, and the engine came from Joe’s ‘Riverina Screamer’ tractor. Joe called me when he was building a new motor; he needed to buy tool-steel conrods from Sweden for it, so he sold this Meteor to me for exactly what he needed to buy those rods! We became friends and I screwed the new engine together with him.

Is it a combination of tank and plane engine bits?

It’s a Meteor block, but there’s a lot of Merlin in it: the intake, rotation, firing order, and, I believe, the crankshaft. That’s why it still spins in reverse, which was a blessing in the end. The Meteor spins the right way, but with this one spinning backwards, I only needed two gears for the Z-drive – otherwise, it would’ve been a bigger offset and more complex. Joe Cottam pieced all this together, made the quad-cam assembly, got rid of the finger followers and went with buckets so he could run higher valve-spring pressures and more boost. Instead of a 2600rpm redline, it’s now four grand! I’ve capped it at three, so it’s geared for 300mph at 3000rpm. Whether the body shape can do that speed, we’ll find out!

The Riverina Screamer ran twin turbos, but it seems a Vortech is more your style.

I’m a blower dude, 100 per cent. It’s all about sound and feel and how it looks for me, as much as speed. I want to see the pipes and flames and hear the whine of the blower – I don’t want to quieten it down with turbos, even though they’re a much smarter design!

You mentioned the Z-drive; what exactly is it, and why do you need it?

It’s actually a GP Hydroplane component. It’s designed to step up the drive of the motor, and in my case, reverse the rotation of the motor. It also offsets the transmission, which is no big deal. I offset it to the Aussie driver’s side; otherwise I’d get one really short axle and one really long axle, because one side of a diff is naturally shorter. I’ll sit on the left now, right between the front and back doors.

Where does the Liberator name come from?

From my father, Umberto Casati – Albert, for the Anglo-Saxons. Dad was a partisan as a 16-year-old in WWII, in the Italian Liberation Army against the fascists. I called him ‘Umberto the Liberator’. He was in the artillery around Friuli – a vicious time. A 16-year-old today doesn’t know how to pull his dick let alone fire a cannon!

There’s almost a bit of Rod Hadfeld’s ‘Final Objective’ to the car, with the Rolls engine and war motif. I heard he visited recently.

I’ve got almost every Street Machine mag and every story on that build! Recently, Ron came down with Norm Hardinge and Animal [dry lakes racer Steve Charlton], and he loved it; he said he’d never seen a Meteor like this in his whole life. He shook my hand and thanked me for having him – that was pretty special. Norm’s a sponsor, too, with Aussie Desert Cooler.

What’s next on the Liberator to-do list?

I’ll model my own chassis rails from plyboard and sit ’em in there. That’s how I work – I need to touch and feel. All this sh*t on the computer is not me at all! I’ll get the rails rolled out of RHS, work the front end off that, and do all the tube work.

What are you doing aero-wise to help the car hit 300mph?

It’s gonna have a flat air dam across the front that angles a bit to the sides; apparently that’s the go. I’ve been talking to Mat Lagoon, who does a lot of land-speed stuff and a bit of NASCAR; I’ve got a lot of NASCAR bits for the front end. The bonnet we’ll work out once we’ve finished all the piping, and I’ll get onto Monash Uni to see if they want to do some wind-tunnel modelling bullsh*t. I still want it to look like a ZA Fairlane – it’ll have the badge and the grille, and I’ll work with the shape I’ve got.

Have there been any points where you’ve wanted to give up on it?

Nah! I’ve been chipping away a little bit at a time – collect a bit, find a pump, find an oil cooler, and now I’m sponsored by VPW. My priority is my work and paying my bills, my staff and my mortgage, but I’ve put everything I can into it. I fantasise about being in that driver’s seat and starting it for the first time, let alone driving it and feeling the motor.

You’re about six years in so far, with a little while to go, by the looks.

I lost a lot of time through moving shops and a divorce. Then there was an earthquake, the car fell in, I fell in, there were thunderstorms, lightning, locusts. Now I’m back in full swing! I’m talking about the rear end with John Lang now; he’s a pro street legend of Melbourne. A great bloke, and very helpful even with the Borough Shaker, getting that thing hooking up on the drag strip.

It’s a great vibe here today; I believe you’ve done a few of these open days?

I had one when I first got the motor, and then another once I got the body shape done. We’ll do another when I get the body off the jig. Then I’ll start the car here, but I’ll make sure it starts beforehand – I don’t want everyone to see me cry!

Shake the room

Gonz’s hot ZA Fairlane streeter known as the ‘The Borough Shaker’ has run a best of 10.60 at Heathcote Park, with 500hp at the treads from a blown Windsor. “I was headed for a 10.50, but I fucked up,” Gonz explained. “I did a three-cog burnout, and there was a smoking-hot bird on the startline distracting me and I took off in third gear! I cooked the forward clutch drum, and there went my 10.50.

“We rebuilt the ’box, and it made an extra 70hp at the wheels, just from better efficiency in the driveline. We might be looking at 10.40 or 10.30 now, but we’ll shoot for the nines next year.”

Primal scream

The V12 in The Liberator was originally developed by Berrigan, NSW maniac Joe Cottam for his ‘Riverina Screamer’ tractor-pull beast. Aside from the custom quad-cam arrangement and a pair of turbos, it ran direct-port EFI with a MoTeC ECU and a Spitfire-style Merlin throttlebody, tuned by MoTeC’s Mark McCoy. In that guise, it made 2200hp and 3300lb-ft of torque.

Gonz had initially wanted an all-Merlin combo for his Fairlane, but if there’s one thing he loves more than supercharged V12s, it’s wild Aussie engineering of yore, so he couldn’t say no when Joe personally offered him the heavily reworked Meteor. Mark McCoy will continue to be head tuner for the combo in The Liberator.

Uncle chop

This chopped, stretched XW/XY Falcon hybrid appeared in the March 1998 issue of Street Machine, owned by Mick Ryan, who was planning to power the beast with two Windsor V8s. It was still kicking around when Gonz bought what would become the similarly styled Liberator, which has led quite a few people to put two and two together to get five. But rest assured, The Liberator has always been a ZA Fairlane.

“After I stretched this, that XY came into circulation on Marketplace!” Gonz said. “This car is chopped 5in and stretched 12in. A mate of mine who’s now passed, Mick Chizz, did a computerisation with a big chop and Thunderbird scoop, and I was looking at the picture and thought I’d scale the car to that as best I could, as a tribute to him.”

Zed’s not dead

“It’s my own design,” said Gonz of The Liberator’s Z-drive. “I had a computer dork computerise the case, and then we got it CNC-machined by Reidspeed; I did a barter for some steel doors for his house!

“The actual gears were drawn by me and made by a company called Coljen Gear Cutting & Machining, and the transmission adapter was again by me and machined by Laundromat Fabrication – it was all local mates chopping each other out and making shit happen. It’s going into a Transmission Specialists Turbo 400 that’s been specced for the job.”

Gonzlab’s open day

1. Gonz knows how to foster a cool vibe for his Gonzlab open days, with a live DJ and some of the best pizza you’ll ever taste. “I’ve done fundraisers, promo things, food things. I’m a mad wog cook, and I’ve got into a partnership with Primo Street Pizza. We’re going to do an alcohol truck, because I’m an alcoholic,” Gonz laughed.

2. Lee’s full-rego, all-engineered EK runs a Sniper-injected 350. With a/c, a Rod Shop front end, and a cool tubbed stance with an 8in rear wheel, it’s a great streeter. “I tried to make it ‘less is more’,” Lee explained. The factory-pink EK now wears a Chev-borrowed green, with retrimmed HR buckets inside for an era-correct vibe.

3. Prime real-estate went to James Kanaris’s Mandarin Red Quey. The 540ci BBC and twin 88mm blow-through combo has so far sent it to 7.86@182mph at Heathcote. “We’re still leaving in second gear and I’m just touching 25psi of boost, so there’s still plenty more in it,” James added. It’s also racked up plenty of street miles since 2019.

4. Built for the Hardass 1000, Matt VK’s ’56 Bel Air rolled in with attitude to spare. It’s tubbed and ’bagged, with a 410ci Chev and Muncie four-speed. “It’s a whole lot of lack of traction due to some terrible crossply tyres,” Matt grinned. “I’ve got a chopped single-spinner as well – it’s whatever goes for me!”

5. Tony rocked up in his schmick HQ ute, with 400ci of ProCharged, Kanaris-built power. “We’re still finishing off the dyno tune, but there’s plenty there,” he laughed. Tony treated the ute to a five-year resto after buying it from a farmer, and recently switched from a 355 stroker. “It’s all street duties for this car, in the rain and dry!”