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Yes! Very funny! At least Fred has most of his hair left!
I tore mine out years ago when the kids were teenagers.

Recently I said I had about 3 hours left on the chassis, I was somewhere between ludicrous and delusional. The emerg cable was the wrong length and had to be changed, the tie rod ends and PS tapered ends had to be torqued but damaged threads put a stop to that. Spent 4+ hours using a thread file, a 1/2 20 die and a die grinder to fix the threads.

Lots of other little stuff, closer to 10 hrs so far and still some left to go.

Along with the limo chassis and cab, in our resto shop is a 51 2401 sedan for a windshield (nos in Packard box!) , Jayne Mansfield's 60 Bentley Continental convert full resto, a magnificent '59 Continental Mark IV convertible, an XKE V12 roadster, a 55 Caribbean and a '53 Mayfair. A colorful crowd.

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I have gone into this with other old car guys and my advice is always the same. Have a good front end man inspect and repair or replace worn parts, and have an alignment done. Pump up the tires to 32PSI especially if they are radials and for good measure, put on a set of new shock absorbers.

2 or 3 have done this and been very gratified at how easy and nice their car now drives. In one case,the owner was contemplating cutting the frame off and welding on a Camaro front clip to get PS. An alignment job and a set of shocks, took away all desire to do this.

A car can slowly get out of line over the years and if you do not have PS they do not have to be far out to be cranky. Also, stock shocks are only good for 20,000 or 25,000 miles. They may look ok and not leak but they don't work like new anymore. A new set will give you back that new car ride, a lot cheaper than buying a new car ha ha.

O ya am surprised they used the same shocks as a Chev. Don't know how such a light shock can control a heavy car's suspension but I suppose they knew what they were doing.

Let's come at the coachbuilt question from another angle. The way your limo was built, is very much the way stretch limos are built today. Much more like a stretch, than a 30s coachbuilt body with wood framing and aluminum panels tacked on.

Now the question is, are today's stretch limos coachbuilt or custom built or something else?

The upholstery from the division assembly is being removed. Since the windows were open for many many years and the roof being porous to be generous, much of the partition needs replacing. A cabinet shop right around the corner will cut any new panels needed.

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Any sign of the AC ducting that disappeared under the trunk floor to places unknown coming out in that partition?

The only outlets for the AC are from the rear shelf, nothing fancy here.