Stellera Design's VTEC-swapped Mk III Mini Melds JDM and British Engineering Beautifully

But that's never stopped people around the world from trying. But rarely have we found an example so well executed than what Stellara Design just came up with.

Based out of North Vancouver, British Columbia, Stellara Design's claim to fame is taking the standard original Mini form factor we all know and love and turn it into something profoundly more powerful and capable than what it was when it was manufactured by British Leyland way back when. Through retrofitting classic Minis with semi-modern drivetrains and adding extra layers of refinement wherever possible, Stellara winds up with a radically different vehicle than the side of British beef the classic Mini has been historically.

Gone is whichever of the anemic Austin A-series four-cylinder engines this Mini left the factory wearing. Though still fantastic, peppy little engines, it's hard to say we haven't come leaps and bounds in the engine department since motors like this one were commonplace. In its place in the rear hatch of this restomod is a two-liter Honda K20Z3 four-cylinder engine jetting 230 horsepower to the tires and around 164 lb-ft of torque out of an engine barely 700 ccs larger than the biggest A-series motor ever fitted to a classic Mini from the factory.

All this power is fed to a six-speed manual transmission as if anyone would be caught dead driving a restored Mini with an automatic transmission. Such a transgression would land you six months in jail if the gods and goddesses who control petrolhead heaven had their way with things. But don't get it twisted; what Stellara Design now calls the Type 10 is so much more than just a drivetrain swap. With the classic Mini's interior gutted essentially down to the floorboards, Stellara was free to fit what remained with enough high-quality materials and tasteful trim pieces to win a couple of concourse competitions.

The wicked-looking, leather-clad bucket seats, seemingly out of a picture book of what people thought the future would look like in the 1960s alone is enough to entice. The solid chrome gear stick and polished wood on the dashboard and speedometer cluster are just added Canadian gravy on top of the Anglo-Japanese automotive hardware, permeating every square inch of the Type 10 custom Mini. As far as restomods are concerned, the Type 10 might be the pound-for-pound coolest one we've seen yet in 2024 so. So step your game up, everybody else.