In the wake of 911, the Orange County Register of Santa Ana, California, ran an interesting story about the history of Line-X and its amazing properties. It told of how the product's inventor stumbled onto the process while searching for a better way to protect his race-car trailer's bed. The feature went on to reveal that while rebuilding the Pentagon, Line-X was sprayed onto the walls due to its incredible ability to resist explosions.
When the time came for us to clean up our '72 Ford F-100's steel bed, we were just looking for a fix until we could locate a better example. Our bed was hammered from years of extremely hard service, and we erroneously assumed it was beyond saving. It was 9 a.m. when we showed up at Line-X of Huntington Beach, California, with our '72 shortbed Ford. We asked Marcel Venable if they could hammer out the major dents in the wheelwells prior to spraying in the Line-X. Before we could say, "You can't find replacement panels for these things anywhere," Ivan had the wheelwells and bed floor roughed out almost to perfection.
In retrospect, knowing what we know now thanks to Line-X, it wouldn't have taken much more work to cherry it out completely. After the '72 was Line-X'd, we mentioned this to Marcel, who told us it wasn't too late because the dents can be knocked out after a bed has been coated with Line-X. With that news, there's a good chance it won't be too long before we get out a hammer and dolly or section in a new floor, forgetting about another bed.
Beyond the obvious gains in our truck's appearance, as soon as we drove away we discovered a benefit we had anticipated, but not with such a dramatic difference. All the squeaks and rattles that were in our bed when we drove up were gone, and there was a lot less road noise in the cab.
 After years and years of extreme...  After years and years of extreme abuse, the '72's steel bed was hammered from the fenderwells to the bed floor. |  From inside the bed Christian...  From inside the bed Christian Peralta backed up Guerillmo Peralta as he hammered the inner fenderwells back into shape. Did we mention they are brothers? |  Christian applied heat from...  Christian applied heat from a MAPP gas torch as Guerillmo used a Snap-on Porto-Power and a hammer to knock out the major dents. |
 Here's a before shot of the...  Here's a before shot of the '72's steel bed floor. Notice the fenderwells have been restored to their original shape. |  After the Peraltas straightened...  After the Peraltas straightened the bed floor, Guerillmo used a DA with 80-grit sandpaper to prepare the bed's surface for Line-X. |  Guerillmo used special masking...  Guerillmo used special masking tape with a nylon line incorporated to lay out the bed's perimeter. Then he laid conventional crepe masking tape on top. |