We hate to break it to you, but TLC's Overhaulin' is fiction (if you already didn't know). Though the idea of tearing down a car and piecing it back together in show-quality condition within a seven-day window makes for great television, it actually happening is nearer to fantasy than reality. The cars showcased on the weekly syndicated show are often in need of nearly a month of fine tuning. Usually with only a single day given for reassembly, the build team (anywhere between 12 and 20 sets of hands) has to prioritize certain functions. Such was not the case with Steve Strope's Pure Vision Petrol Charger.
Steve's handcrafted muscle machines have been featured on TLC's hit series Rides, taken home three Hot Rod magazine Top Ten Cars of the Year awards, had several magazine feature articles, and four previous covers on Mopar Muscle as well as this month's for a total of five.
At his Simi Valley, California, shop, Steve's aptitude at penning a sharp, attractive design on paper and then converting it to reality has been proven time and time again with vehicles such as George Poteet's NASCAR-inspired '68 Charger, the hard-cornering GTX-R '72 GTX, and the wickedly hostile '70 Runner appropriately dubbed the "Hammer" (which made a cameo in The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift).
Provided by Mopar Performance,...
Provided by Mopar Performance, the 472 gets the Pure Vision treatment with a single-color coat, an aluminum intake manifold, and dual Edelbrock carburetors. Schumacher keeps the elephant in place and tti headers funnel the fumes into a wicked 3-inch exhaust system thanks to Fast Intentions and ending with Meg's stainless tips. While the factory Hemi cars couldn't take it, this Charger sports a Vintage Air A/C system.
Up front, the giant 19x9 meats...
Up front, the giant 19x9 meats come to a stop thanks to these Baer 14-inch discs and six-piston calipers. This is equipment one would expect on a Porsche not a '70 Mopar.
Inside, the cabin is exquisitely...
Inside, the cabin is exquisitely trick. The dash is from a '71 Charger, with Redline Gauge Works custom gauges. Found on the '71 gauge cluster are the controls for the A/C system and the XM radio, with Blue Tooth controlling the Planet Audio sound system. The wild seat covers are from Eric Thorsen.
It was a TLC's Rides feature on Pure Vision that inspired Petrol Advertising's owners, Alan Hunter, Toby Blue, and Ben Granados, to visit Steve in December 2005. Petrol, a marketing communications agency, is actively developing unique and creative marketing materials for film, television, and video game industries. some of their clients include Universal Studios theme park and film department, Universal Pictures, NBC, the Sci-Fi Channel, HBO, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment of America, Buena Vista Games (Disney), Atari, and many more.
A '70 Dodge Charger was their vehicle of choice, and the debut's deadline was set for the '06 SEMA show in Las Vegas. Wanting to tap into the rich Mopar history, the iconic B-Body would be an ideal machine to exhibit both Petrol's interests and Pure Vision's craftsmanship. With no time to spare, the Charger was stripped down to a rolling chassis and media-blasted. Once clean, the body was sent to Gold Coast Custom, where the wheeltubs were opened to accept the larger rolling stock, but not before Pure Vision added subframe connectors to keep the unibody from twisting under the torque to come. Gold Coast replaced nearly everything from the door strikers back, including custom fabricating parts that couldn't be found.