Thanks for the replys guys, looks like I should at least give seriuos thought to stripping it, it will impact my hopes for completion but better right than twice.
to answer some of the questions raised-
I'd like to have the truck on the road this fall. I'd say this summer but I know that won't happen. So say 6 months.
Money matters, I don't have a ton of it but I do have a friend who earned a living painting for GM - not a show class paint job but one that will suit me fine- the prep work and buying the paint itself is all me though.
No idea how many layers of paint are already there. Suppose I could take a bedside and find out. How many layers before you need to consider long and hard about stripping it?