I suppose it's possible the guy removed the internal springs on that T-Bird, Ed. However, I have a feelin' he probably just went with a set of lightly sprung springs on the outside and kept the internals as they were.
And yeah, I tend to agree with your "two different teams working fore and aft theory", though you have to consider besides that wide rear wheel, he was working with the stock frame, a cruiser frame at that, with its lowered rear end and lowered seat configuation, and which isn't conducive to an overall Cafe Racer look.
And so with those limitations, I think the final look is about as good as it could be.
