Making some changes to my truck's appearance
 

After driving through a hail storm earlier this year, and hitting a deer about a month ago, I have been put into a position where I can make some alterations to my truck's appearance. I have a nice chunk of change to do so. I am currently sitting in the parking lot of the body shop that will be doing the work, where I plan to start putting together my list of changes with them tomorrow.

So, for tonight, and tonight only, I'm going to take suggestions on what changes I should make. I have just over $16,000 to spend (some of which will be going to fix the damage, but at the same time allowing me to make changes), and I have to spend it all, as the insurance checks are made out to both myself and the body shop. The shop doing the work is TA Truck Painting, near Milwaukee. They do a lot of show trucks here, and are responsible for installing the wing on my sleeper.

Pictures, both before and after, will be forthcoming.

Items that absolutely need to be replaced are the mirrors, the driver's side fender, the bumper, the driver's side headlight, the grill and surround, 3/4 of the hood, the visor, and the wing on the sleeper. I am more than likely going to be going with some aftermarket pieces, both to change the appearance and to save money over factory replacement pieces.

So my question for you is: If you had $16,000, and had to spend it on changes to my truck, what would you change?

By direct-deposit information to Twilight Flyer, care of the Bat Cave. :P

Get one of them BIG DROP DOWN bumpers with the lights all away cross the bottom.

The answer is train horns.

12 of them

In succession.

To be honest, I'd love to be able to simply return the truck to factory specs and use the rest of the money to pay down the loan on it, but that is, unfortunately, not an option. The money HAS to be spent, and it HAS to be spent here.

I pride myself on the fact that I have added no lights to this truck in the 2 1/2 years I've owned it (nor have I ever even needed to change a bulb). While I am no fan of extra lights, I am actually considering removing the horns from the top of the cab, and adding in two more marker lights in their place (for a grand total of 7 bullet lights on the cab).

My current idea for the bumper is this (minus the stupid lights on the ends):

http://www.worthless1000.com/bumper.png

Paint it Red to look like Steve's. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Complete with illegal gaudy green lights? :shock:

The visor I've been leaning toward is this massive bowtie one:

http://www.worthless1000.com/visor.png

Painted, of course. I also like the look of the painted mirror brackets on that truck. I'd like to eliminate as much chrome as possible, and am going to be shaving the emblems off the hood.

Rev,
While I was awaiting a citation at a Florida scale house I watched a truck pull in with one of those big drop down bumpers and he actually made it tilt forward from the bottom. I guess it was to allow a little more ground clearance when crossing the scale. Once he was across the scale he tilted it back down and kept on going. I am assuming he had a switch in the cab and the bumper was on an actuator. I thought that was pretty trick. The bumper in its up position was at about a 45 degree angle.

Chris

How about the old antique round headlight brackets & lights, instead of the rectangular? That has always been a great look on Pete's.

I'll do you one better. How about a set of Headlights from a mid-40's Chevy pickup truck?

http://www.worthless1000.com/headlights.jpg

Or perhaps from a mid 40's Dodge pickup truck:

http://www.worthless1000.com/headlights2.jpg

I'd like to use as little bolt-on stuff as possible in this project. In fact, I'm having a new hood handle fabricated from scratch.