PJ,
These trucks are NEVER worth the amount that we pay to do the restoration.
The other day on eBay I saw THE truck that I SHOULD have held out for! It had exactly the options that I'd wanted!! I didn't bid on it.
Why? A couple of reasons. First, after having torn MY truck apart, I know that there's bound to be just as many things wrong with that truck as there were with mine. And, doing a frame-up, and being a perfectionist, I know that in the end I'd spend just as much money on that one as I already have. The second reason? I tend to get attached to these trucks after I spend so much time working on them and thinking about them. I just LIKE my truck, even if I'm going to have to buy more sheetmetal than I thought when I bought it.
If there was something that just could NOT be fixed (like frame damage), I'd have to give it up. But if it's just a matter of not as much saveable as you initially thought? It will be just the same on any other project you find to replace this one. Maybe next time it would be a rear axle toasted. Or rust along the inside top of the front windscreen. Any way you slice it, doing a frame-up is going to be full of surprises.
Brian
