Just hate the way these newer trucks look

Not really.
Subtle changes. I’ve owned a 97 379 and I now own a 18 389. I’ve driven an 03 for a couple hundred thousand, an 06 for a million, and an 01 for maybe 20 thousand. There was no such animal as a 70 inch sleeper in 97. But the 01 and the 18 have the exact same sleeper save for the difference in trim material. The 01 had the burlwood the 18 has rosewood. The 97 had the square dash. The 01, 03, ,06, And 18 all have the modern day shape. No difference save for trim material. Rosewood on the 18 vs burlwood on the others.
The switch layout on the 01 and 03 was the same. The switch layout on the 06 and 18 is the same. The 01 and 03 had small speedo and tach, the 06 and 18 have large speedo and tach. Exactly the same. The gauge layout is the same on the 01, 03, 06, and 18 save for the LCD screen. The doors on the 01 and 03 were the same. The doors on the 06 and 18 are the same. I could go on and on about the similarities but I think I’ve made my point.

 

Yet.....hahaha. Daylight doors weren’t bad when they were an option, I guess when they’re all there is you grow to not notice them.

 

Old IH Glider sales brochure from 1984. I bought and built my black 4300 glider in 85,was on my dealers lot,they had got it in from the Louisville truck show. Impulse buy,saw it one day,went home and thought about it,bought it the next day.

 

A lot of people spent a lot of money reskinning their doors to get the flat sill the 05’s had because that was such an awful change for them, then eventually nobody even noticed anymore. And people spent a lot of money putting toggle switches in trucks that came with rockers, and eventually nobody cared anymore.

Can you order a truck without the LCD screen anymore? I know you could, and the gauge layout was the same as any other Pete with the rounded dash.

 

Just answered my own question. Lol. And it’s the same as the 07, other than the painted panels and custom wheel and number of gauges.

 

Plenty of us still care.

 

Luckily you have options. Drive an early 06 and older or rebuild a new truck with flat sills and toggles.

And if enough people cared that it hit them in the pocketbook they probably wouldn’t still be building them the same 12 years later.

 

Pete has a rust issue where the suspension bolts to the frame in northern trucks where they salt the roads heavily. The bracket traps moisture and rots the frame out above it. It can be repaired just not easily. Nothing to do with the frame thickness other than the fact that thicker rails will take longer to rot through than thinner ones. Usually the trucks are older than 15 years old

 

Sadly, every vehicle on the road has some sort of similar issue with rust either on the frame and/or body.

 

And the panels might just not have been put on the new one yet. That’s how they all come from the factory, the rosewood is installed by the dealer.