[mattswaggs]

After more digging I can tell the roof skin was replaced at some point.☹

Skin inside is primer black when it should be red, and also there are fine metal shavings on top of headliner. So now those hand cut holes make sense.

I don’t know when it was done as nothing is on carfax. Maybe damaged in transit, or maybe damaged and repaired right before I bought it…

I don’t know and now the good new truck feelings are gone…

Maybe I should go trade for a GM like @mattswaggs because I have bad luck with Chrysler lol.

That really stinks. Sorry. But it should be a pretty easy fix and then forget about it.

My guess is damage in transport and the dealers body shop put a roof panel on. More common than you think.

My friend in Michigan who has a body shop does a lot of stuff for a big Cadillac dealer up there. They get away with a lot of stuff on ‘New’ vehicles.

As for the Ugly Chevy..

I try really hard not to like it, but I keep failing.

 

[mattswaggs]

That's not the ugly one....

But it’s no Ram.

 

[mattswaggs]

@cumminsturbofreak

It’s no big deal, better than my project

 

[mattswaggs]

Putting cab lights on that too?

Every once in awhile, a visionary comes around and changes someone’s world for the better.
You are that person.

Now I wish I would have gotten the TDI version, I’m certain with the TDI and the cab lights, i could hot shot like the best of them.

 

[mattswaggs]

Whether a garage helps or hurts largely depends on the climate.

Here the vehicles sitting outside don't seem to corrode any more than the garaged ones. That's a function of low humidity, helped by low levels of oxygen in the air.

When basic unpainted steel stock doesn't readily rust, vehicles don't, either.

It was very strange to me, being able to disassemble a vehicle. I am used to going through a lot of drill bits and new bolts.
The downside to vehicles here is how much heavier they are. In the rust belt states, your vehicle sheds weight every year when parts fall off.

 

[mattswaggs]

So this mechanic ticket is what you are used to from when you were up north?

View attachment 968839

Oh no. We are would always drive them. No matter how unsafe they were.

 

[mattswaggs]

And the bottom of a 21 year old Texas truck with 285,000 miles. And to add insult to injury, it’s a Ford.

 

[mattswaggs]

They have a tendency to not accumulate much rust when they’re broke down so often.

In Michigan they get more rust than that, getting delivered to the dealer.

 

[mattswaggs]

Back in 2017, Jimmy used to give me a hard time for washing my vehicles so much. It was hard to look at this much salt.

 

[mattswaggs]

Whoever's keeping that H3 in the salt is doing the world a favor.

That one was pretty cool. 4.56 gears, locking axle..