The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop 52 Chevy 3100 1/2 Ton - Side Bed Panel Metal Gauge?

I'm restoring a 52 Chevy, and the guy at the body shop tells me it would be cheaper if I bought new reproduced side bed panels rather than him working on the old ones. The original panels do have some dents & need some work, but they're not rusted (I've already purchased a new front panel & tailgate - they were in pretty tough shape). The new side panels are 16 gauge. Does anyone know the metal gauge of the originals? Are there other issues I should consider? Thanks for your help/thoughts. Bob

Much better off with new side panels Bob, especially if you're
paying someone to work on the old ones. The Mar-K bed parts
are so close to the original parts that you can't tell them
apart, other than they aren't all torn and dented up. They
fit right and they are really reasonably priced.
DG

I bought a '85 bed off CL for $200 . replaced fenders with orig. after welding up holes . just finished it last week looks just like the orig '55 .

Amen to ditching the old beat up bed panels. I tried fixing mine and ended up dropping one after countless hours of work. I said to heck with it and dropped the cash on new panels from Mar-K. Best decision I made on the entire restoration. I filled a few of the spot welds (that I did not want to see, but would have been original), scuffed, prime/sealed, and painted. The panels were beautiful right out of the box. photo

Listen to the body shop, they know.

See my thread. I looked at two sets of used & your body shop guy & David F are right - too often it is too much $ or work when doing it yourself.

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