Sad Sad News.

[Seanreisk]

I'm an awful person.

Really. I am an awful person. I felt so sad when I started reading this thread, because I understood your pain. And seeing the roof damage made me even sadder.

And then I saw the last picture, and the first thing that popped into my head was, "Can I buy your grille?"

[DocsTruck]

I have been in contact with a local restoration shop and things are in the works so to speak. I was able to get the passenger side door open and vacuumed up all the broken glass. The inside of the roof looks about as bad as the outside. It is terrible to see such shiny original interior paint inside all crumpled. I need to look back through my posts about that shade of blue, I think I someone one here called it "medium blue" that it was some different shade that came on the "white hat specials" and was not in the paint color chart, great. Maybe the shop can match it up. The original headliner is still intact, I am going to try to remove it and reuse it. The tailgate looks like it is going to have to be replaced. I tried to open it but it is wedged on the passenger side and really bowed out from the dent on top of it. I am hoping tje shop can somehow straighten it, but I doubt it.

[soopernaut]

I need to look back through my posts about that shade of blue, I think I someone one here called it "medium blue" that it was some different shade that came on the "white hat specials" and was not in the paint color chart, great. Maybe the shop can match it up.

Yep, one of the ads for the White Hat Special mentioned this paint. The other blues for 68 were Arctic Blue and Marlin Blue. It's definitely not Arctic Blue and it looks a bit lighter than Marlin Blue.

[DocsTruck]

The shop I was talking with gave me a rough estimate of $15k- $20k to fix it. Wow, sticker shock. I know it ain't gonna be cheap but geez.

[Jims68]

The shop I was talking with gave me a rough estimate of $15k- $20k to fix it. Wow, sticker shock. I know it ain't gonna be cheap but geez.

WOW! Prices like that make me wish I stayed in the Auto Body business!! I had a lady one time that had a dent in her roof. Her ins. Co. wanted to put a new roof on it. I said I'll straighten it. I saved her a TON of money and she was very happy with the job I did. GOOD LUCK with your Dodge!

[soopernaut]

The shop I was talking with gave me a rough estimate of $15k- $20k to fix it. Wow, sticker shock. I know it ain't gonna be cheap but geez.

It seems one could do it for quite a bit less. It depends on what can be reused. If the bed, front clip, mechanicals and most of the interior are still in good shape, the cab would be the main thing that needs repaired or replaced. You have all the little detail pieces that add up and can be reused. That is unless you are going for a full restoration.

[Seanreisk]

The shop I was talking with gave me a rough estimate of $15k- $20k to fix it. Wow, sticker shock. I know it ain't gonna be cheap but geez.

Awwww, god. I can see how the total bill would get that high, but nothing that has happened to your truck looks horrifying to me (like a bent frame, or a cracked block.) I wish you lived even somewhat close to me, because it would be easy to 'weekend' the body repairs over the course of a summer, and at least get you ready for paint.

I would give a few pieces of advice: Don't let them quote you anything on the tailgate, it's not a worthwhile repair. If your truck was a latching tailgate with a good latch, make sure you get the latching pieces out of the inside of it, even if they are bent. Then see if you can find a donor tailgate yourself - searching for parts is its own rewarding hobby (contact me if you find a grille .)

Find out what they're charging for the glass. The price might be high, and you might be surprised at how cheaply a shop that specializes in glass can be, for both the installation and the glass.

If the donor roof comes from a small window truck and they tell you they're going to cut it to a large window, make sure they know how to shrink the edge and reinforce it. I've seen guys with 60's era Chevy trucks convert their small rear window for a large rear window, and the first time they're on the highway and they roll down their door window the back window blows out.

You had a tree hit your truck. Make sure the body shop plans to lift the body, replace the cab mounts and check the mounting points for warpage.

If your price quote is only for a partial repaint, rethink the whole thing. A partial repaint can cost 2/3 the price of a full repaint, but the finished product doesn't show any of your investment. Part of the cost that the body shop is quoting you is sanding and prep, but that cost can be deceptive, because most shops don't have the facilities to strip the vehicle with any method but hand sanding or chemical stripping. For that matter, most shops don't actually want to do the kind of prep for a full paint job because they make their money patching booboos for insurance companies.

Right now you just want to fix your truck, but the beauty of the trucks of this era is that they come apart easily, and if you've done it once you know it isn't magic (although D100's are trickier because Dodge spot welded the front inner and outer fender together.) If you shop around you should be able to find a sandblasting shop that is cheap and doesn't warp your panels. Although sandblasting companies like to charge a rough figure upwards of $1,000 to sandblast a whole vehicle, most of them will do pieces for much less (my local sandblaster will do Chevy hoods for $45.00 - both sides.) There aren't that many body panels that you need to repaint, and if you send a piece in to be sandblasted every week the sticker shock will be much less. Ask your shop for a new quote where you have removed the bed walls and most of the body in front of the firewall. Ask how much it would cost to repaint the work he did on the cab and all the sandblasted pieces that you'll bring in. Also ask how much he would charge to reassemble the body. You might cut your price in half.

Sorry if I talked your ear off, or if I'm talking to you about things you already knew. I do love to ramble. And if anyone thinks I've given bad advice, say so.

[DocsTruck]

Wow, thanks for all the advice guys, I really appreciate it very much so, and it is nice to know that I can count on the people of this forum for support and good advice.

The shop I was talking with does do restorations on classic vehicles as well as restomod stuff too, and the price quoted was a "rough" estimate. The man I talked with did say that he would really have to see the truck in person to narrow the price down but still, I will get quotes from other shops as well, not putting all my eggs in one basket so to speak. One thing for sure, I definitely do not want to replace the cab. The cab on this truck is solid with no rust anywhere and I credit this to being stored under a carport on a concrete driveway from the time Pawpaw bought it so, this cab is/was in excellent condition. Just last week I was under the truck from front to back and saw no signs of anything being bent or broken. The body mounts do look dry and could be replaced for sure, but everything under there looked really straight.
As for now, I have decided to work on the cab myself, I have realized that, I was probably really in shock to see the roof dented up and now that I have calmed down a bit, I really want to see what I can do with it. I think I that with a porta power and hammer and dolly set, I may be able to get it all looking decent, at least better than how it looks now for sure. I spent some time a week ago and was able to get the passenger side door open by using a rubber mallet, a piece of wood and a piece of stainless steel. I carefully tapped the roof line up and little by little, was able to open the door.
I removed the stainless drip rail from the passenger side also and it is still in good useable shape. I vacuumed the glass off the floor and seat and actually sat behind the wheel. The headliner is hanging down of course and was hitting me on the top of my head but geez, the truck is actually not as bad as I thought and sitting in it got me thinking that I should give it a good try and see if I can push some of those dent out. Sure it will be a challenge, but I want to at least try. Who knows how it will turn out but ya never know until ya try, right? I am going to have some time off from work soon and plan to get started next week. First thing will be to remove what is left of the windshield and the headliner.
Looks like I will have to start a post in the projects section to track the progress or lack there of, Lol. I will definitely be looking out for more advice and will probably be asking lots of questions. Strange that my truck has gone from being a straight, nearly perfect truck to now being somewhat of a project. Life goes on, it's not the end of the world like I thought a couple of weeks ago, what a difference a week makes. Lol. Thanks y'all.

[SteveH]

Resurrecting an old thread here. I am in Auburn also and just now am getting my truck ready for the road. Wondering if you made progress on getting yours straightened out. We’re on the North side of auburn, on pear tree road. Maybe we can commiserate, haha.

[cudaboy]

Hey Marty. Havent talked to you, or been on the site in a long time. I was wondering how the truck was coming along ?