Well I have to say,  this the best thing you did. To Join a local forum to get help, We all have different skill sets. You may not be good at mechanical/body work but maybe your a great graphic designer or, you get what I mean.. So the good thing about a forum is what you can share, trade or help somebody else.. There are a lot of pretty skilled guys here that can help you and or refer you an honest fellow rodder that might be able to do some of that work at a fair price..or refer you you someone that's honest and fair.. There is some pretty creative and skilled people here.. That looks like a lot of dollars in labor if your paying a door rate in a commercial shop..Lots a dollars.. and who told you it was in worse shape that you thought , If it was the person doing the work I guess you just have to trust he was honest .. I would have suggested a having a couple  of people look at it and often a fellow rodder is more aware of the good, bad, and ugly in these old cars than just a regular body shop.. It's looking like a nice truck with that color choice you picked.. it will look sharpe,..  

Well the long and short of it is that the first guy I had working on it had fair prices, did pretty good work, but he overshot a cost estimate to do the cab corners by 30% and that had me worried about whats next, then he was not reliable to get a hold of ever, and took 3 times longer than he said to do simple tasks, so I scrapped him. Next guy wowed me with a fancy shop and said his high labour rate was because his multiple guys would get it done right and fast, but turns out his work was terrible, so my 3rd guy has been awesome, works for very low hourly rate, and had to fix all the mistakes of the second guy (rockers, floor, cab corners, etc) then 3rd guy did doors, fenders, hood, box...half the truck is painted now, with a bit more work on the fenders and the box to finish up before paint. So I have $15k worth of metal work done between all 3 guys, but I luckily flipped two houses in this market and did well, so i had some money to spend...I guess.

I am onto driveline (keeping the I6 I hope with possibly an adaptor+ 200r4 I already own (have the trans, but not the pricey adaptor...cost is pretty prohibitive on it) and trying to decide what I want to do with the bedwood, since the aftermarket kits are pricey, but not sure I have the skills to cut my own wood (and no table saw, so there is a cost for that right there) 

Keeping drums all around and they are rebuilt now, and for Wheels and tires - I have a stock set of 55-59 wheels and mint 57-59 caps I want to run, but I also bought chrome steelies (chrome reverse style look) that I could use.

paint - The overall plan right now with the purple and silver paint (which I got FREE and it is good stuff - finally a good deal on something) is to go with a pretty much period correct 50's mild custom build. Keeping the stock suspension, and already have a drop axle to install. Hoping the steering column wiring that is a mess can be salvedged to retain the original skinny column, but I have a CPP column shift one brand new I could use, if not. 

With all the trim, it should be pretty sweet when I finally get it done. 

Thanks guys for your kind words and listening to my sorrows, as well. Here's a shot of some killer rust....and who knew door hinges for these trucks were $75 + tax EACH ...  :(