Sheet metal thickness

[cajunKen]

Just wondering if the older Wags & Trucks (say from the sixties) had thicker metal than the later ones.

What got me wondering was that there's a U-pick it farm up here called Millers, and they've got a batch of old cars out front painted up to look like the ones from the movie "Cars". The "Sheriff" car is a (I think) early fifties Plymouth, and when I rapped my knuckle against the trunk lid, it felt like I was knocking on a cast iron bathtub. My '87 has some thick metal compared to newer cars, but nothing compared to that old Plymouth.

[kymtnman]

cant say about jeeps, but my 1959 gmc stepside's fenders are .080-.068 depending on the draw depth of the panel.where as the steel used on the outer body panels made at the stamping plant i work at is .035. it takes 3 healthy people to lift & remove the doghouse from my truck.& even then we picked up on it twice thinking we had missed a bolt somewhere because it was so heavy.

[threepiece188]

I have worked on two different single wall J-truck beds from the sixties. The outer panels are much thicker than the double wall beds.
I have never actually measured for any difference but many sheetmetal parts from about 1975 back seem to be heavier.

[Gambler68]

I would say yes, they are much heavier. later 70's stuff is crap compared the same parts I've pulled off 60's era FSJs.

[dlowrance]

I'll second the bed wall on the trucks...the single wall metal thickness is probably 40% thicker IMHO than the double wall...now if you dent the single wall inner there IS no outer, so easier to damage the bed visually, but the older beds seem significantly thicker.

Not sure on the rest of the body panels...I have several sitting around that I could check though.

[RamJetFSJ]

my 73 and 80 definitely had different thickness sheet metal. 80 being much thinner obviously.

[cajunKen]

Thanks for the info....I figured maybe they might be the same as the hood, fenders, etc, all seemed to have the same stampings over the years, but they must have stamped 'em out of heavier gauge steel early on.