I am in the process of restoring my 81 Black Edition SR5 to as original as possible. The truck has side moldings that must have been dealer installed when new. They are pop riveted into the body (sacrilige). The trim is chome/metal with a black rubber insert. Here are my options:
1. Replace it with the same
2. Remove it completely and fill the holes, but that will leave an indentation in the body
3. Replace it with black metal and black insert

Any thoughts or input?

 

Those moldings were all the rage in the 80's. Seems every new and used dealer was putting them on. Suppose to save you from door dings. BUT, what about the holes drilled in the side of the car or truck? It's up to you to decide what to do with them. The indentation in the body is factory. The easiest thing to do is replace them. You could put black stickon rubber molding in the indentation if you didn't want to replace these moldings. If you have them filled, whoever does it better know how to weld, or they will buckle the sides of the truck. I use to solder the holes shut, (well I still do), when I worked at the body shops. One thing you can do if you go the stickon rubber molding route, put a little dab of seam sealer in each hole to seal it up, then put the stickon molding over it.

 

Thank you for the feedback. I don't know what was going on in the dealer's heads those days. Probably the same dealers that did the fake convertible tops on cars..LOL. I have a 77 Celica GT that is in mint condition and someone put the same body moldings on the side.
I think I am going to have the body shop finish the truck without any moldings and see how it looks. I can always put them on later.

 

Personally I'm not a huge fan of the moldings so I would remove them and fill the holes. As for the indention left are you meaning the body line ?