--- title: "Federal Coach Funeral Car Repair | Landau Roof Work" description: "Hearse and limousine body repair on stretched Cadillac and Lincoln shells. Landau seams, casket tables and hand worked quarters." focus_keyword: "federal coach funeral car repair rancho santa margarita" canonical: https://ocrv.me/brands/federal-coach/ kind: brand updated: 2026-07-29 source: OCRV Center --- # Federal Coach Repair on Coachbuilt Funeral and Limousine Bodies > A funeral coach is a **factory car ahead of the B pillar and coachbuilt behind it**. Rear quarters are hand formed, so a rear impact means **metal work no catalog covers**. ## How is a Federal Coach funeral vehicle repaired? Front half by the book, rear half by hand. Ahead of the B pillar it is a Cadillac or Lincoln with dealer parts, while the stretched rear body, landau roof and casket table are coachbuilt. Funeral homes serving Rancho Santa Margarita bring these to Yorba Linda for that work. - Built on Cadillac and Lincoln commercial chassis - Rear quarters and roof structure are coachbuilt, not factory - Landau tops need correct adhesive and bow work when reset - Casket table rollers and tracks are serviceable items ### Key facts | Item | Value | | --- | --- | | Built in | Fort Smith, Arkansas | | Front half | Cadillac or Lincoln (Full dealer parts support) | | Rear half | Coachbuilt (Hand formed panels, fabricated structure) | | Body and paint rate | $210 per hour | | Estimate | $150 (Credited in full against an authorized repair) | A funeral coach is one of the few vehicles on the road where half the body was built by an automaker and half was built by hand. Ahead of the B pillar it is a Cadillac or a Lincoln. Behind it, the floor is stretched, the roof is reframed, the quarters are formed, and a casket table with a roller mechanism is fitted into a compartment that never existed on the donor car. For a funeral home, downtime is not an inconvenience, it is a scheduling problem with families involved. So these jobs get planned tightly and quoted honestly, including the parts that have to be made rather than ordered. ## Everything behind the B pillar was made by hand The rear quarters on a funeral coach are formed rather than stamped, the roof is reframed with bows to carry the landau treatment, and the floor is a stretched and reinforced structure. None of that is in a collision parts catalog, and no dealer can pull a quarter panel for it. So a rear impact is metal work. We form, weld and finish the panel, restore the structure behind it, and re establish the gaps and lines against the untouched side. It is slower than bolting on a stamping and it is the only way to put one of these back correctly. ## Landau tops, bows and adhesive The formal vinyl roof is not decoration, it is a covering over a reframed roof structure with bows underneath and a defined seam line. When it lifts, the cause is usually adhesive failure at an edge or water that got behind it and rusted the substrate. Resetting one properly means removing the covering, addressing the substrate and the bows, then re covering with the correct adhesive and working the seams so they sit where they originally sat. A landau reset that leaves the seam a half inch off is visible to every family that walks past the car. ## Paint across the factory to coachbuilt transition These cars are usually finished in deep blacks or dark metallics with a great deal of clear, and the paint has to look identical across a transition between a factory stamped panel and a hand formed one. Those two substrates and their preparation differ, so a blend has to be placed where the eye will not compare them directly. We map the panels, match to the aged finish rather than to a code, and place blends at natural breaks. On a black car in daylight there is nowhere to hide a mismatch, which is why this work sits with our refinish lead rather than being handed to whoever is free. ## Casket tables, rollers and rear door geometry The table and its roller mechanism are working equipment, and they wear. Rollers flat spot, tracks collect debris, and the mechanism binds at exactly the moment nobody wants it to. Rear door and hatch alignment on a stretched body also drifts, since the structure is long and flexes more than a factory shell. We service the mechanism, replace rollers and clean or repair tracks, and reset rear closure geometry after any structural work. Those are small jobs individually and they are what makes the vehicle acceptable in service. ## Scheduling, rates and our standing Body, metal forming and refinish work bills at $210 per hour with paint supplies at $55 per paint hour. Mechanism and electrical work bills at $260. A written estimate is $150 and is credited in full when the repair is authorized. Deposits are 50 percent over $2,000. OCRV Center is an independent shop with no dealer agreement or affiliation with Federal Coach, Cadillac or Lincoln. All work is performed in shop at Yorba Linda. For funeral homes we schedule around service commitments and will hold a vehicle for a specific release date rather than a general week. ## Questions and answers ### Can you get a rear quarter panel for a funeral coach? No, because it was never stamped. Everything behind the B pillar is coachbuilt, so the quarter is formed, welded and finished by hand, with the structure behind it restored and the gaps set against the untouched side. It is slower than bolting on a stamping and it is the correct method. ### My landau top is lifting at the edge. Is that just adhesive? Sometimes, and often water has been behind it long enough to affect the substrate. Resetting properly means removing the covering, addressing the substrate and bows, then re covering with the correct adhesive and placing the seams exactly where they were. A seam half an inch off is visible to everyone. ### How do you blend black paint across a coachbuilt panel? By mapping the panels first and placing the blend at a natural break, because a factory stamping and a hand formed panel prepare differently. We match to the aged finish rather than to a paint code. On a black car in daylight there is nowhere to hide a mismatch. ### The casket table binds in its track. Can that be repaired? Yes, and it is usually rollers and track debris rather than the mechanism itself. We service the assembly, replace flat spotted rollers, clean or repair tracks, and check rear closure geometry, since a stretched body flexes more than a factory shell and drifts out of alignment over time. ### Can you commit to a specific release date? Yes, and for funeral homes we do rather than quoting a general week, because you have services scheduled. We plan the parts and the booth slot around your date. If a supplier moves a date we tell you the day it happens rather than at the end. --- Source: [OCRV Center](https://ocrv.me/brands/federal-coach/). Last verified 2026-07-29.