loved the old "cordwood" PCB fab method shown on that wikipedia page...
The original Boeing 747 passenger service/entertainment mux system components had several cordwood modules in them.
I used to marvel at how the hell they got all the components leads through the holes on the second side pcb !
I had to do a similar task recently, feeding 75 diodes leads through holes in a pcb ( because I havn't found an edge connector yet to fit the BCD switches I use ) but at least the board was quite big compared to the little cordwood modules .....