Patent ID: 7290827

Claim:
A pickup truck box assembly having a horizontally extending floor, a pair of inner upright side wall panels fixed relative to said floor adjacent opposite sides thereof and projecting upwardly therefrom, a pair of wheel well housings fixed to and protruding inwardly from the respective side wall panels, and an upright front wall panel fixed relative to said floor and projecting upwardly therefrom adjacent a front end thereof, comprising the improvement wherein the floor and the upright front wall panel over a width which at least approximately corresponds to the width between the wheel well housings is defined by a monolithic one-piece roll-formed sheet metal panel member having a plurality of parallel but sidewardly spaced roll-formed channel-shaped stiffening ribs extending longitudinally throughout the entire length thereof and terminating at opposite free ends of the panel member, said roll-formed sheet metal panel member having a substantially 90° arcuate bend section extending perpendicularly thereacross at a location spaced between the opposite free ends thereof to define a generally horizontal panel part which extends from the bend section to one of said free ends and functions as at least part of said floor and which is joined through said bend to an upright and generally vertical panel part which extends from the bend section to the other of said free ends and functions as at least part of said front wall panel, said channel-shaped stiffening ribs extending through the arcuate bend section, the other free end as defined on said vertical panel part effectively defining the upper edge of said front panel part, and a top rail fixedly joined to and extending lengthwise along the upper edge of the front wall panel.