1956 Ford Customline Sedan - One Fab Four-Door Ford

"In 1986, my dad, Stan, and I thought it would be a good idea to restore a car so that I could go to the car shows with him when I turned 16. It just so happened that my uncle Cliff had a 1956 Ford Customline four-door sedan that he wanted to sell. He sold it to us for $750," Thompson said.

That initial investment got the father and son a pile of parts that required a trailer to get it all home.

Three years later, Cory, then in his senior year in high school, met a person who would change his life forever, as well as that of the Ford's. "I met a janitor named Keith, who told me that I should come out to the race track and check out drag racing. The next week, there was a Friday test and tune that Keith was going to, so I went with him to check it out," Thompson said.

One test and tune session was all it took to show him that there was far more to life than he expected, and a better place for the Ford than a show car corral.

Sure enough, that weekend found both father and son at the track. "My father's reaction was even more enthusiastic than mine," he said. Soon they would be racers.

As Stan tells it, it took quite a bit of work to get the Ford back in shape. "It was in pretty rough shape. There were bullet holes in the doors, no glass, and kids had danced on the roof, denting it up pretty good. Then we found that it would have cost $8,000 to do the body and paint work, and then it would only be worth four or five thousand because it's a four-door. That's why it sat for so long", Stan told us later.

"So, when Cory wanted to go racing, he was going to use his GMC Jimmy, but I said, 'Lets do the old Ford, build it up and we'll run that.'"

Replacing the little 272-cubic-inch Ford and three-speed trans was a small-block Chevy engine bored .030-over and first built up by local chassis builder Dave Hamelin. Latest versions of the small-block have been built by Cory's buddy and engine builder, Derek Wood of Aldergrove, British Columbia.

A mild-steel six-point rollcage was crafted and installed by Autosports Performance in Aldergrove. The bodywork and stock-looking paint scheme was applied by Stan and Cory in the family garage, while Cory's sister, Connie Thompson, was responsible for lettering the car. Even though it's dead-stock in appearance and could likely still hold its own in any car show, the front and rear bumpers are fiberglass, fashioned by the father and son, again in the family garage.

In 1994, they upped the horsepower ante in the Chevy engine and Cory got serious about his racing. He finished seventh in points at both Mission Raceway and the Ashcroft Motorplex, and second at British Columbia. The following year, Thompson took nine victories at his two home tracks, won the British Columbia track championship AND the Mission Raceway track championship, and finished out the year in second at Ashcroft. By this time, the Ford was regularly clicking off runs in the high 11s with a best of 11.82 at 112.05.

That was his best year.

Getting the suspension finally dialed in, he ran Pro in 1997, and won the Ashcroft track championship, finished third at Mission and won the British Columbia bracket championship. The real highlight came when he won on Sunday at the Sears Craftsman ET finals at Mission, Raceway Park. In 1998, Thompson moved into Super Pro and has been trying his luck running electronics, with a best run of 11.28 at 118 mph.

That's not bad considering this car was an old four-door Ford once destined to spend the weekends parked in car show fields.