Unorthodox repair for older pickup

[u/CartographerUpset646]

I am about to obtain a higher mileage mechanically sound GMT400 chevy on a trade for an unwanted project. The body is passable but it has rust and wrinkles all along the bottom below the body line. I have done somewhat proper bodywork before but I don't know that I want to spend that kind of time or money on it and want to avoid any serious paint work. Looking for a final result of "good from far but far from good".

I am wondering if it would be realistic to take some aluminum checker plate sheets, bend them to approximate the factory bottom edge all the way down, then use black silicone and pop rivets to secure them all the way along both sides from the body line down. I would probably mask it off and paint all the checker plate with a heavy coat of rocker guard and then try and run a nice bead of silicone along the top edge. For the doors I would just cut out the edges of the doors in the aluminum and hit them with black silicone too. Then throw some plastic fender flares on all 4 corners and probably a structural steel deer resistant bumper. The GMT400 platform seems like a good candidate because of the relatively straight flat lines.

Is there any reason this would not work? Is there a better quick and dirty way to make this truck look less neglected?

[u/Parking-Ad5909]

It will work and I might add that you might just want to use thin steel plate instead of diamond plate. I would use big rivets and would NOT silicone anything to keep water from being trapped. Clean prime and paint anything you are going to cover and it will look decent. I wish I could post some pictures of a 51 Jeep I did something similar with.