[dagnabbitt]

First new body panel! The tailgate on this thing was completely ratched: aside from being bowed and bent, it didn't want to open, and the bondo on it is quite visible. It also says "GMC", which this truck decidedly is not.

I found a no-name repop tailgate locally for about a third of the price that the guy selling it probably paid for it: I paid $140 Canadian. For American readers that's a hundred bucks US, and we have to pay exorbitant shipping to get something like a tailgate sent to us, so it was a steal. So cheap that I couldn't leave it there, really.

I'd still like a genuine Chevrolet tailgate but finding a good used one is next to impossible. This will certainly do for now.

During the installation process we broke a bolt for one of the trunions. Had to fix it with fire, which ignited 50 years of twigs and plant life living in the far corner stake bed. No harm done. It was also during this point that I noticed some godawful welds on the end of the bed itself, leading me to believe that the donor truck had a steel floor installed later on. This makes sense as the donor was a base model pickup and "pickup bed floor" was an option that was not on the SPID. At some point I will have to see if I can return it to its former wood bed glory.