Simon Hucknall is a worried man. And with good reason.
The snowstorms that blighted the fortnight before our arrival have stopped, and the roads are largely dry, but the salt still lies across the Tarmac like little corrosion cluster-bombs, ready to catch out the unwary (or the un-undersealed).
When you’re driving a 1970s Fiat, this is a very real consideration – particularly when it’s a 1970s Fiat whose Pippin Red coachwork has never felt the touch of a welding torch or a paint gun.
The Hucknalls have seen what those cursed crystals can do before, because this isn’t the family’s first Fiat 128.
“My dad, Ted, bought one new for £850 from Kilby Bridge Motors in 1970, when I was five, just after the 128 had been awarded European Car of the Year,” recalls Simon
“He traded in a 1961 Riley One-Point Five that he had also bought new – it must have been like getting into a spaceship after that.”
Unfortunately, however, the Italian machine didn’t have quite the same longevity: “He absolutely loved the 128 but it rusted like hell. I remember Dad bodging it, but after seven years it was pretty bad so he bought another.”
Some 44 years later it’s still in the family, and shows just 4143 miles on the odometer: no wonder Hucknall is feeling protective.