The Transit is the backbone of Britain.

For generations, a Ford Transit or something similar has been responsible for carrying goods, materials and families the length and breadth of the country.

Its silhouette has become part of the national landscape, most often spotted in the outside lane of a motorway, pressing on and occasionally nudging past the speed limit.

Yet despite our enduring affection for the humble Transit, our American cousins have never truly understood the appeal.

Where Britain embraces the practical panel van, the US prefers its motors, large and in charge.

The Ford F-Series, in all its forms, occupies the same cultural space across the pond that the Transit does here.

Equally at home on a construction site, a ranch or a suburban driveway.

This 1956 Ford F-100, however, is no ordinary farm truck.

While it may have begun life hauling feed or fencing across dusty back roads, today it is anything but standard.

The original paint has been stripped away, revealin...