So what defines the soul of your truck?

[spudly]

I'm at a crossroads trying to figure out how I want to do the bodywork on my truck. The truck was my Grandfather's and then it got sold and worked it's way through various owners until I came across it on craigslist and brought back in the family. My issue is, should I scrap the original sheet metal that is damaged, bent, rusted (although not so much since it has been a California truck all it's life), etc. with replacement pieces? Or, do I try to fix the damaged pieces and keep the truck "original"? Also, I'm nowhere near a paint and body guy. My only bodywork experience comes from beating the fenders on my Jeep out of the way after I do something stupid then hitting them with some Rustoleum.

By changing out the sheet metal, am I loosing the soul of the truck? I know right now there are some pieces that are replacements on it, however I do have all the original pieces in various states (dented, bent, etc). The one piece I do not have in it's original state is the tailgate. It currently has a re-popped piece on it and it just doesn't feel like I remember it. It feels light and sounds hollow when I close it. I will probably end up looking for an OEM replacement in decent shape to fix this issue.

I need to fix large dents in the PS rocker and the PS rear cab corner and the bed needs major straightening. Are the bedside re-pops as light as the tailgate re-pops? It looks like GMC Paul's has the LWB bedsides along with the front section as well as the rocker and corner panels, so I could build a "new" bed and then just patch the other areas (I can weld).

So how do you define your trucks soul? I know, I know deep thoughts.