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Bed Sides - Need some advice

Charles, Russ, and Nate,

Thank all of you for the good advice. I wasn't able to get to the body shop today because work was more pressing. It seems I will have time in the morning to have a sit down conversation with the owner. I plan on pressing on getting a hard price on fixing the bed sides and a hard price on fixing the cab. He has been reluctant to give any hard pricing on anything up to this point. He seems he just wants to essentially go time and materials. From my experience that only works when you know you are dealing with someone you can trust. I am not sure that is who I am dealing with. In the end I may just get fixed what I can get fixed for the money that he still has and try to find a new shop. The challenge I have is finding someone relatively close to where I live. Gardena isn't horribly bad being as my office is in West LA. My preference though would be someone in the Santa Clarita Valley (where I live) or even in the San Fernando Valley.
 
Talk to the body guy and this is what he had to say...

So I showed up at the body shop today and spoke with the owner and cornered him on giving me a price to fix the bed sides. He said 20 hours x $55/hour per side....which according to him is a reduced rate. This was per bed side or essentially 40 hours x $55/hour for both bed sides. This is the time to get them paint ready (welding, filling, taking out dents, welding missing angle back on, etc). Is it me or does this seem like a crazy amount of time to work on a bed side???? This it a full work week of time to get the bed sides to paint condition. This just seems like an unbelievable amount of time to me but because I don't do body work I have no idea if this is just what it costs. Any thoughts on this?
 
Sounds reasonable to me Steve. I have yet to see a bodywork guy that really "gets after it"... unless they are working on their own stuff.
 
Steve,
I just finished up a set of 3/4 bedsides and they took a long time. The owner of this truck is on a really really tight budget so, new sides.

If you can do without the embossing you'll be happy with the new metal. Besides the new sides might jump start the body man.

Working for a friend, so my labor is deeply discounted.
 
Charles....that is a tough question

This is where the debate comes in. Without question the least expensive way to go would be just to buy the reproduction bed sides that are paint ready without the embossing. This would cost approximately $1000 including shipping. My only concern is would that take too much away from a truck that I am trying to do a frame off restoration on and want to look like a stock truck that came off of the factory line?:confused: Or would only I plus a few of my forum friends:) really know they are not the true factory sides and would that take away from the value of the restoration? Cost = $1000

I like the idea of the factory sides and Joe's may be a good option but as Joe has said there is no way they would be paint ready. We have discussed price in private and haven't really negotiated that. I imagine they would cost between $600 and $700 for the pair and thanks to you Charles the shipping would be free:D. The real question with those sides though is would I still have to spend another $1300 for blasting and then body work? I am sure Joe would try to give me the best ones he has but without being blasted it is hard to know if they would be much better than mine. Mine do have the multiple holes and they are missing the inside angle but aside from that they are pretty good. They do have some small dings that are noticeable when you rub your hand over them but I am sure Joe's would have those too. Cost = $600 to $700 + blasting + body work

And of course option #3 is buy the angle from Classic and repair the existing sides which would cost $2200 + Approx $100 for angle = $2300 total.

So what is my best option???? This is where my lack of experience makes this process frustrating. Perhaps there is no good answer? Any opinions are always appreciated.
 
Looks like my nice set of bed sides are not an option anymore.

I would have rather kept this in the private message area but our previous private messages seem to have leaked over into this public area....
I guess we can discuss everything in public & not use private messages at all regarding this.

I quoted Steve a fair price for the bed sides {$350 each} & I bent over backwards to help arrange free relay shipping but he wanted to talk me down on the price before he ever saw the pictures of them.

I dug out all the 54 -55.1 bed sides today. I had them laying in my yard to take pictures & a customer from Canada showed up to buy a few unrelated parts & he showed an interest in the bed sides.... When I told him they "might" be sold..... he ended up offering me $450 a piece on them.

I didn't want to waste anymore time taking pictures, dickering on the price & hauling them to Phoenix .
{There was still the possibility that Steve would end up not wanting or needing the bed sides after all}.

So...I made the decision on a "sure thing" & sold them to the guy that was standing in front of me with a hand full of cash & let him haul them away .

I only have one more pair of 54/55.1 bed sides & they are not as nice as the ones sold today.....
 

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Well this thread has become interesting....

DeadZone - I am glad you made the decision on the sure thing as that is always the best thing to do. I would have done the same in your case. A cash buyer on the spot if always better than the hopeful forum guy.....:D

In regards to this spilling out from pm to the public area and our discussion on price, you are absolutely right. As I have been very open about, I know very little about everything I am trying to do in general with my restoration. I am relying on everyone in this forum for their opinions on what the best route is with aspects of my restoration. That is why I presented the 3 options available to get everyone's opinion on the best option based on all known factors.

The only way for me to get opinions from not just you in a pm is for me to present the options I have available in the public area. There is a wealth of knowledge from all people in the forum and my goal is to get various opinions based on far more experience than I have and then hopefully I can make the best decision.

It seems we have got off track, so to all of the forum members that might still read this thread it appears there are now just 2 options:

1. Buy reproduction bed sides paint ready with no embossing - cost $1000

2. Re-do existing bed sides to make paint ready - cost $2300

From a price perspective the decision is easy. What I am looking for is everyone's opinion as to whether the lack of embossing on the bed sides takes too much away from a frame off factory restoration. Any input would be greatly appreciated and I do appreciate the opinions and information provided by all thus far.
 
It really boils down to how badly do you want 100% originality, and how much cash do you have?

When the truck is done, you'll have what, $20k or more into it?
Is it going to bother you that it isn't "right", because you cheaped out rather than spending another $1300?

It wouldn't bother me at all -- it would just mean I'm back on the road that much more quickly. But those are questions only you can answer.

Let us know what you decide, and keep the pictures coming!
 
Excluding those like us, on this forum and others that are real purists, no one will ever know the difference.
One out of one hundred thousand people MIGHT notice.
Do you need to save some of your budget $ for unknown surprises?
Only you can answer this, but, there are gonna be more surprises.
With the body man you have, I would take the old bed apart, myself. It's nuts and bolts. Take your bedsides to other shops, get a second opinion.
Make mr. time & material work on the rest of the truck, and use up all the $$$ you gave him.
Lastly, keep or sell your originals. That is, if you don't use them.
Just my opinion...
 
The body shop price isn't that far off, if he is blasting, welding, smoothing, hammering out all dents and dings, a few coats of high build primer, sanding, a few more coats of primer, guide coat and more wet sanding. I would make shure this is what he is planning.....minimum plastic filler. For this price it should be glass smooth and perfect.

On the other hand, he may have given you a go away price, but it will be worth it to him if you say yes. You should pick up a mig welder and learn to weld....fill the holes yourself. Just don't warp it up worse. If you screw it up, you can always buy new.....

Another option.....cut the endentions out and weld into new sides.
 
Steve, you educated me about the factory embossed area on the bed sides. I didn't know the difference.

Now, when I see an original '47-'54 one thing I'll be looking at are the bed sides, to see if they are original. Why? Well, if a guy restores his truck back to stock, and presents it as stock, I like looking to see if it is indeed stock.

If it were a hot rodded truck, I wouldn't care.

I'd spend the extra money... if I were restoring the truck.

If I wasn't restoring the truck I wouldn't worry about the bed sides having the factory embossed area.
 
Thanks Russ, Steve, Rides, and Lakeroadster -

This is all good advice and I think I will take a little of everything. The bed is already completely taken apart (I did that) and all parts have been blasted. He has the blasted parts and that was the price he gave with the parts already blasted.

The body guy seems very determined to want to start with the cab anyways. I am supposed to meet with him tomorrow and he is supposed to give me ballpark pricing on the cab which he also already has blasted. It has rust problems though in all of the usual places - cab corners both sides and where the fenders attach. I have provided him with all of the necessary patch panels to fix those problems. After hearing the cost of the bed sides I will probably need to be sitting down to hear the cost on the cab repair.

I have told him that tomorrow when I come by that I will take the bed sides and the doors to at least fill the holes. I bought a Lincoln mig welder about 2 years ago which has yet to be used. I have a friend that says he knows how to weld. I figure between that and maybe some youtube videos I might be able to at least do the hole patching and grinding where necessary:D If I am feeling really confident I might even try my hand at the dents. I will probably need a recommendation for a kit for that being as I only own framing and finish hammers:eek:

As Russ says if the end if I ruin them I can just buy new ones. I needed to use the welder anyway. This way the boss can't tell me any longer that I spent a fortune on that thing and I have yet to even use it.:)

In the end even though it is a tough pill to swallow I think I need to pay to get the bed sides back to original. I know how I am and I know I would periodically look at the bed and not be happy with myself that I went cheap and didn't get the bed back to factory original. Perhaps if nothing else with my work I can reduce the cost. I am pretty particular at getting things perfect. As an FYI to anyone interested, LMC sells the bed sides but they too are flat and do not have the embossing. I guess it is just not a high demand item.
 
Steve ;

IIRC '54 is a one or two year only bed , that's why the sides are not made ' Just So ' , there's not enough demand to tool up for them .

You're between a rock and a hard spot , Joe is all business all the time , don't be upset .

Me , I'd figure out a way to get those things fixed as it'd be my truck and every time I touched it, I'd be upset with the Mar-K bed sides , I am sure they'll need sanding and so on , even when I worked at the Chevy Dealer new body panels were hot ' paint ready ' , ever .

Keep us posted , take a deep breath and proceed as best you can .

I'm going crazy trying to find a simple power steering pump for my '69 C/10 who'da ever thunk that possible ? .
 
Nate....

I decided to keep the original sides and bite the bullet and get them fixed. I am going to try my hand at doing some of the welding. If noting else I am hopeful to bring down the overall cost that the body guy will charge me. The only problem with my current bed sides is they are missing the angle piece on the inside of the panel. I can get these through our host but I will have to try and find the measurement where the angle is supposed to go. I am hopeful it is in one of my books that I have. It might end up being a topic for another post.

In regards to Joe, I don't worry too much. I know in emails/forums sometimes it is hard to convey tone. I am glad he was able to get some good $ for his bed sides. It seems every time I go to sell any of the stock parts that came with my truck I always get bare bottom price :eek:
 
Get some scrap angle iron and strips, crank up the heat and weld the damn things together. Yo will see what is happening and understand what to do. Now back off the heat and work with some thinner items. Part of welding is figuring out how to fill hole you burn in. There are lots of videos out there.....not too hard to figure out. You can use a copper spoon to back a large hole to be filled. The weld doesn't stick to copper and will help to wick away some heat. Larger spoons can be made by hammering copper pipe and nipples and can be shaped with a hammer.
 
Russ - very good info.....

ol' chebby said:
Get some scrap angle iron and strips, crank up the heat and weld the damn things together. Yo will see what is happening and understand what to do. Now back off the heat and work with some thinner items. Part of welding is figuring out how to fill hole you burn in. There are lots of videos out there.....not too hard to figure out. You can use a copper spoon to back a large hole to be filled. The weld doesn't stick to copper and will help to wick away some heat. Larger spoons can be made by hammering copper pipe and nipples and can be shaped with a hammer.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice Russ. I have watched a few of the videos thus far and it doesn't seem too hard but with that in mind I have not done it yet. Do you by chance know the approximate thickness of the body parts and particularly the bed sides? In the Eastwood video it indicated that was important. I have also attached the picture on the inside of the welder which shows the different setting to used based on the thickness of the material. Would you have any recommendations as to what a good starting point would be based on the chart in the picture?
 

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