A couple of things here. Let's give credit where credit is due. The new 2014 Victoria with the lowered roof is an improvement and more in line with previous and acceptable designs. The overly high roof lines seen on other Accubuilt, Armbruster-Stageway, Eagle and Federal coaches are all in an inane competitive quest for added rear compartment headroom and a greater height for the loading door. It is completely unnecessary. A rear compartment headroom of 38-42 inches is all that is really required - just check the dimantions of some of the largest of the old professional cars - 1971-1976 for instance. At the same time, these cars are about three to six inches too long - again in a competitive race to offer the longest rear compartment floor. Adequate length is 109 - 112 inches - again, check dimensions on those coaches from the early seventies - which were some of the largest, lingest and widest ever produced. The overall styling is for the vast majority of these cars is, once again, a product of the Keller-Wonder (Helen Keller and Stevie Wonder) school of design. They really have no one that adequately understands product astetics and functional, balanced professional vehicle design. The obnoxious bay window on the new "Masterpiece" is an example of this lack of proportion and balance. With regard to commercial glass, my understanding is that Cadillac had prohibited any change in the A-pillars due to placement of air bags in these pillars. Now, as far as I know, unless it has changed drastically (a real possibity), a funeral coach was always considered a "commercial vehicle" (like a truck) and therefore exempt from some of the safety standards that applied to passenger cars. They were even licensed in some states as "commercial vehicles". If this is still the case, the coachbuilders have a fair and reasonable argument over this with Cadillac...or GM...whomever is causing the problem. Now, that's my two cents worth on the issue.
