Ah, but you see it's called Arizona Pin-striping. There's not a tree on earth that can do the scratching of a good old ironwood bush, even good old mesquite can be an issue (although I have some mesquite for the interior rebuild when I get around to shaping it, then it will be a true desert car!). None of those compare to our wonderful sandstone, shale or granite box canyons when it comes to adding a little character to your paint. My combat for that is some hard drying, heavy wax and lots of it. We don't get much rust out here, but in the rare rain storm it can happen fast so I like to keep the paint as clean and fresh as possible. Maybe I should do an off-roader's waxing writeup? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Thank you though. My next step (or steps) will be the rear end. I need to get it off the ground more, so some chopping and some custom bumper work will be done. I am thinking an angled plate steel rear end that wraps around under the chopped quarter panels acting as landing skids.... We shall see though. Suggestions are certainly appreciated. Then when I have more money (I hope), I am leaning towards a hydraulic winch to fill in the gap in the bumper. I know all about the ps pumps on the truck being fairly low volume making hydraulics slow, so I think I have a solution around that. We shall see...