When my dad was rebuilding my '51 GMC I talked him into putting a wood flat bed with racks on instead of the stock bed...boy did he grumble about it. I regretted that decision ever since because I lost count of the coats of spar varnish I had to apply and also lost anything I didn't tie down (and some that I did) out the back without a tail gate. 35 years later I found a stock bed to put back on.
