Spectre Type 10 is a 230-hp, $180,000 mid-engined Mini restomod

Restomodded classic Minis are nothing new, right? A number of reworks swap the original 1.3-liter engine, Honda's VTEC K20 four-cylinder being such a popular replacement that Mini Mania makes a complete swap kit, but the 1.0-liter Ford EcoBoost gets love, too. Some mods replace the engine and move it behind the front seats, a popular option when using the four-cylinder from a Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle. Some restomods don't do any of that, but just overhaul everything and charge a lot for it, like the David Brown Automotive Mini Remastered that costs around $100,000. As caught by Carscoops, Spectre Vehicle Design out of Vancouver, Canada has done all of the above with its Type 10 Mini restomod, raising the bar for conversions into another dimension.

There will only be ten of the Launch Edition Type 10s, and about the only original part left from an original donor hatchback will be the bodyshell. These will be sourced in the same state as the buyer's residence in order to ease the process of vehicle registration. Into that bodyshell, the small Canadian team of enthusiasts has placed a Honda K20 mill with a Haltec engine management system behind the front seats. Shifted through a six-speed gearbox, we're told VTEC kicks in with 230 horsepower at the rear wheels, shunted through a limited-slip differential. In a vehicle reported to weigh 1,700 pounds wet, we're talking serious shove.

Committed to keeping the Mini's ten-inch wheels, Spectre designed a new trailing arm suspension to make the package work. Those wheels are three-piece, six-inch-wide, CNC'd aluminum units with staggered offsets and directional spokes to usher hot air away from the four-piston disc brakes. 

The cabin looks like a Japanese-infused Mid-Century modern living room, given a touch of carbon fiber and Monica Bellucci. Creative Director Marco Lii patterned the seating aesthetic off a genkan, the foyer area in a Japanese home where one removes ones shoes. The genkan floor is often recessed in relation to a home's main floor, and so it is here in the Type 10. There's a tatami-like mat on the cabin floor, the two interior seats placed on a dais a level above that. The copious light wood and leather interior with chrome accents is understated and gorgeous, everything so well integrated that it takes a moment to recognize the full-cabin roll cage wrapped in stitched leather. The padded center armrest on thin chromed legs looks like a piece in a high-end furniture store. The metal instrument panel gives way to a concave, football-shaped piece carved from Canadian white ash, held in place by a steel bracket cut into shapes that pay homage to Spanish artist Antoni Gaudi. Three Smiths gauges line up in the center, tachometer on the left, large speedo and fuel gauge in the center, water temperature on the right. The photo car gets the optional fixed-back carbon seat from Tillett, its leather padding inspired by a picture that Lii saw of Monica Bellucci in a black, one-piece swimsuit with a belly button cutout. 

Lii said the Type 10 has been imagined to "give the Mini its due," and he wants these launch edition cars to "set the tone for what our company is going to be about aesthetically." All that hand-formed art won't come cheap, the Type 10 said to cost $180,000, although we're not sure if that's in Canadian or U.S. denomination. We'll find out more when the first example of the Type 10 debuts during this week's festivities in Monterey. Until then, you can watch what went into the new standard for exotic Mini restomods in Spectre's six-episode series on the Type 10's creation. 

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