FOMOCO GARAGE

My first Ford was a 72 T-bird. It wasn’t really what I wanted and it was available. Then the '63 came available.” That was the start of a very long and slippery slope for Brian Tomkins, who has built up a quirky and enviable Ford shed.

“I found the GM cars were a little bit tighter – I’m fairly tall – and I just found them not as comfortable. That’s how we started down that track.

“I went down the track of the T-birds a bit as I found out more about them.” By far his favourite is the '63, a national concours-winning car he’s had for years, and was being worked on when we arrived. He points to a front fender and says, “It’s the flattening of that top wheel arch, to me makes all the difference compared to a round arch. The creasing down the side. I just like them.”

His is a 390 TriPower, which means