My Mercury Comet

Allan Boughen's rural property outside Gympie is littered with Fords.

There's a 1956 Ford Victoria four-door hard top, a '63 Galaxie two-door hard top, two F250 trucks, two F700 tip trucks, a '56 Palm Springs police Fairlane, a '70 left-hand-drive Ford Torino, a '58 Mainline ute, and two races cars; a '56 Customline and a '64 Mercury Comet.

"They're all born in the USA," says Boughen. "Dad had a Model T so some of that Ford blood must have flowed into me."

Boughen started collecting Fords from the age of 14.

"Things were different back then," he explains. "When you were 14 and had a bit of size you could get away with a few things ... until you opened your mouth, that is."

Over the years he's bought and sold an untold number of Fords and today runs Customline Motors spare parts business.

"I've not really made much money out of buying and selling them, but I've had a good lifestyle," he says.

Boughen has also raced a lot of Fords and currently runs his Customline in the historic series and the Mercury in the new Trans Am series.

"I was inspired by the likes of (Norm) Beechey and (John) Goss," he says. "I started off drag racing in the '70s to late '80s and then jumped from straight line to circuit racing in 1990."

It's not always been Fords, though.

"I raced in the Thunderdome series in Melbourne for three years in a HQ," he admits. "A guy offered me a test drive in a HQ and I was addicted. I did quite well with it. Second in the championship. Seems I'm always the bridesmaid, never the bride. I get older but not slower; just hungrier for that win."

Spectators will attest to Boughen's will to win and his showy style, sliding his big Fords sideways, smoke pouring out of the wheel arches.

"It gives the spectators something to look at. You've got to give them entertainment. It's good for the category," he says.

He bought the Mercury he races in the Trans Am series five years ago from Ballarat for $8000 and has since spent about $40,000 on it.

"Working out the cost would frighten me more than going sideways under the bridge at Lakeside," he says.

Boughen dropped the 289 (4.7-litre) Windsor engine out of the Mercury and replaced it with a 302 (five-litre) V8 with alloy heads he bought from Ford Motorsport. The big V8 has roller cams, custom headers and produces 372kW of power.

"It's still in the set-up stage, but in its third meeting we were fastest in class and third place outright so it's coming along quite well," he says.

"The suspension is all standard except for Koni shocks but we've got plenty of time to sort it out before the first round next year at Morgan Park in February. I love motor racing. It's the best feeling. It's hard to explain until you sit in one and go full on. It's the biggest high I've ever had."