Bowed bed panels

[777mech]

Hey guys, I have a friend doing the body and paint on my 76 shortbed fleetside. We noticed that both the tailgate and front bed panel have an even bow facing rearward. Is this normal? I think I have noticed this on other squarebody trucks but I can't be sure. The tailgate is original and the front panel is NOS GM.

 

[trukman1]

I don't think of that as normal....should be straight. Just think about putting a cap on the bed. Would GM be able to sell trucks that didn't match up to the caps to seal properly? Or trucks coming off the line with bowed panels? Can't see many happy customers faced with that.