My 1980 longbed is peeling like a banana from years of abuse.  I recently acquired this 2WD short bed parts truck.  It is of course a short bed but the tailgate and back end is very much intact.  My bed is totally shot except for the front few feet.   Doing anything with it is a severe tetanus hazard. You can actually get metal slivers trying to open or close the tail gate and pieces of it have been flying off going down the highway.

I can use this short bed to fix up my longbed if I kind of graft the two beds together.

The rear overhang of the long bed is about 30".  The overhang on the short bed is about 24"  I can do this and use the entire 24" overhang of the short bed and end up with about a 6'8" mid-bed, or I can fillet the beds and weld the short box rail on top and have a 6' bed with a tiny overhang like the typical bob.

I am leaning toward the longer version as I have really enjoyed the long bed for truck use.

The real short bed would have some cool factor too, as it looks hot, but everybody does that.

Whatever I do I plan to beef the heck out of the bed in the process and make an all-pro style rack for it.

I also acquired 4 of the plain jane stock 6" steel wheels in this deal.  I have always wanted to do a mil-spec looking build on this truck if I ever got a set of those wheels.  Keeping that in mind on the bed length for the mil-spec army truck look might be a factor.  I haven't decided if super short or mid length would be better for that look.

So vote and maybe I'll do what you guys say.

In my opinion you should flatbed it. A well done flatbed just looks so cool! 

In my opinion you should flatbed it. A well done flatbed just looks so cool! 

Ironically, I would do just about anything to avoid a flatbed.

If the goal is wheeling then chop it off short.  It is so great to never touch the rear bumper.

In my opinion you should flatbed it. A well done flatbed just looks so cool! 

I had intended to, I actually had it about half done, but I used my materials for a barn wood kitchen cabinet with a stainless range top last week.  The main reason for still wanting a bed is that we haul this water tank in it all the time that fits snug between the wheel wells.  While I do love the look of a flatbed Toyota, I also really dig the 1st gen bed.

I put mine in the roll pan area of my 80. I've knocked them out a few times, just pop them back in.