Ireland Underground: Mini Monster Series - Shane Cahill 1997 Toyota Starlet

We've covered a lot recently about how much insurance has gone up in recent months and years. So with that in mind, it might be worth showcasing what you can do with a lower powered and (You would imagine) easily insured car.

The feature profile here is a Toyota Starlet built by Shane Cahill. Shane found this Starlet parked up at the back of a house about 2 years ago. It was a faded, worn, tired desperately depressing little car in need of some TLC. Step forward young Master Cahill to save the day!

What Shane has since done with this pocket rocket, is show what you can do with a little car and a lot of creativity. As he says himself, there are a couple of Glanza reps in his area, so he didn't want to go down that route. He wanted to stand out, do something a little different. The result is a beautiful little wagon with a Glanza rep rear and original (almost) Starlet front-end.

So what exactly did he do to bring this car back to life?

In the two years since picking it up he has given the car a much needed full respray. It's been lowered on coilovers all round onto a sweet set of cades and fitted a straight through exhaust onto a Janspeed back box. He's fitted yellow spots on the front above a tidy Laguna splittter to keep the car close enough to that original look, but also make it stand out in a crowd.

The rear windows have a dark black tint and he's fitted a Glanza boot, spoiler and back bumper. On the interior he's kept it to the original Starlet look as much as possible but switched out the old steering wheel for a deep dish OMP.

There was no small amount of effort put into this car to make it as clean looking as it is today. Hours of dedication to fuel this labour of love. Yet more evidence of the passion Irish people have for their cars. There are plenty of these tidy little cars knocking around, each with their own unique flair to them. Ideal for those starting out but who don't want to stick to a standard looking car. The only thing limiting what can be done with these cars is your own creativity.

If you're in need of any inspiration, take a look at these other mini monsters sent into us on Snapchat.