Pure Vision Builds an
Australian-Japanese Classic Truck- Words by Tim Bernsau•Images by Jorge Nunez
T
here’s an energy to Steve Strope that is extraordinary even in the hypercharged
world of hot rodding. Like the Spinal Tap amps that go to 11, Strope’s energy level
starts at above average and goes up from there. That, combined with his technical
chops and design imagination, expresses itself in the form of the hot rods he creates at
Pure Vision in Simi Valley, California. Readers of Hot Rod magazine and visitors to the
SEMA Show and the Grand National Roadster Show probably associate Pure Vision with
over-the-top muscle cars, but Strope can take anything with four wheels and build it into
something cool. Peter Freedman’s ’62 Toyota Lite-Stout is proof.THE WORLD’S
COOLEST STOUT
Peter, from Sydney, Australia, is
the founder of RØDE Microphones and
an avid car collector. He said that his
taste is diverse and his preference is
for anything that interests him. That
includes everything from exotic European
performance cars with neck-snapping
power to very unexotic little trucks
making double-digit horsepower. He
discovered his ’62 Stout about 10 yearsago, when he saw a lighting delivery
guy driving it. It was rusty, but running
and complete. He knew it belonged as an
unlikely part of his vehicle collection, but
that would require a transformation—and
a connection on the other side of the
earth.
Doug, the general manager at the
RØDE facility in the Los Angeles knows
Steve Strope and recommended him toNovember 2019 classictrucks 57