[DetroitDan]

@ billnorman, I've been hearing reports that the new trucks are made out of such thin sheetmetal that they are having comebacks for ten small dents in the hood caused by slamming the hood too hard with your fingers on it. I've heard of people pushing a pallet in with the second pallet (common forklift practice) and the front of the bed is not strong enough to stop the pallet, so you buckle the bed front wall, damage the cab and of course blow out the rear window. Even the glass is thinner, to save weight. It's just like the new water bottles, they keep finding ways to make the plastic thinner and thinner until there's almost nothing there. Well, I need my truck to do more than just hold 16 oz of water.
You cannot step up on the bedrail, and I am certain you can't step on the roof. Good thing most people never need to stand on their roof.
When I got up in my truck to start painting the roof, I found a bunch of large sneaker prints. No dents or creases either.
I love the idea of a high output diesel engine with 6 forward gears and outrageous (obviously inflated) towing and horsepower figures, and while I admit I do like the return to vertically stacked headlights on the new GMs, I can't help but look at them and think of nothing but their flimsy sheetmetal construction. A shopping cart could probably total one.
I do worry about all the things that are aged and could go wrong at any time. My newest chore is waiting in line to pick up 2 of my kids at their school, since there's no busing. I dread the thought of going to start the truck to move up and hear a click. But, all I can do is hope for the best, and when something goes bad, replace it and hope it lasts as long as the original.
A little more reliability and a lot more fuel economy would be nice right now, but I'm still spending less in repairs and fuel than I would spend making a payment on even a stripper. And I take a perverse pleasure sitting in the school line between dozens of new minivans, SUVs, and crossover SUVs, getting sideways looks from soccer moms who must be wondering what the hell is wrong with me.