“Hey Torrey—it’s Erik van Nieuwburg. I’ve got a build that’s about to be featured in Mini Truckin’ magazine, and I need a photographer. You interested?”

That’s how Life Behind Bars began. And no, "behind bars" is not a reference to prison time. Erik had a passion for rebuilding. He’d long collected vintage bikes with massive handlebars—his favorite for cruising around car shows—but now he needed something to haul them with.

But why a Toyota Stout?

“I was inspired by Von Chounlamany’s ’67 Stout featured in Mini Truckin’ a few years back. It was love at first sight—it made me want to do something fun. We found this one in Chico, California. It had been sitting on a farm for more than 30 years. My buddy spotted it on a Wednesday, and it was mine by Saturday.”

After disassembling it and collecting parts for a year, Erik bought a totaled ’93 Hilux as a donor. He dropped both trucks off at No Limit Muffler & Fabrication, where they combined the two into what he drives now—the weathered ’67 Toyota Stout, reborn from decades of rust and neglect into something entirely new.

But he didn’t change everything. The truck stayed clean but raw, with its sunburned paint and vintage hubcaps left intact.

“I know it’s not flashy,” he said. “I wanted it to feel like it earned every scratch.”