[georgieb51]

Originally Posted by factorystock

Now the question is what to do going forward now that you can see the damage. Take there offer? Try to bump there offer up as much as possible? Accept an offer and buy it back as salvage? Accept and offer, walk away and find another original ( will not be easy or fast) ? Repair vehicle using original paint fenders and bed panels in similar condition ( will not be easy unless someone already has these parts for sale ) and roof will have to repainted with some bondo, not worth cutting out roof for another which would still require new paint. Or, now take the truck to the "restored" level ( which most of the K 10's out there fall into this category) and have all the body work done and completely repaint in original colors. The latter will be the most expensive and most will come out of your pocket once you take ownership. Once an all original vehicle gets damaged, it can never be all original again, no matter what insurance company your dealing with.

I like a line I heard here on the forum. "It is original only once". I will take my time with this one. I have restored them before by myself, but this time I would like to find someone nearby to do the work as I direct it--but not all at once because I cannot afford it. If the insurance company comes up with some decent money I might have a head start. Time will tell. Overall the body on this truck is excellent. No rust anywhere underneath. Just rust in outer rockers. Underneath rockers are solid. Even the roof has no rust. This is what happens when they spend their life in the Nevada desert. Sun-baked paint, but no rust. Bed is perfect inside since it was protected by the caravan. Now I need and original tailgate. Cplor does not matter since it will be painted but I am going to stick with original sheetmetal.