Matt tells me, ‘My grandfather, John R Oliver – who I sadly never knew – was Works Manager at Alvis in the Twenties. He drove Alvis’s number two competition car at Brooklands a few times, including in a race where some upstart called Malcolm Campbell came third. I think he may have gone on to do other things.’

Further proof of Matt’s blood/octane ratio is in what lives back home in his garage: a 1970 Dodge Challenger 440 muscle car. And it’s another iconic piece of Americana he’s here to try out today.

I’ve long been a sucker for remote-controlled garage doors. Probably because it reminds me of launch time in Thunderbirds, which I was obsessed with as a kid. We’re at the home of Derek Hillman, who thumbs his plipper as we approach the double-width door of his garage, as it lifts theatrically to reveal today’s toy – a 1971 Corvette, complete with T-top and 5.7-litre V8. Derek bought this rare Nevada Silver example two years ago, ‘It was imported from a guy in Texas with the help of Jeff Shadbolt at Classic & American Rod Shop, which is based just up the road, near Brentwood. It was something to play with for my retirement. I’ve wanted a chrome-bumper Corvette ever since I was a kid.’

Matt’s own Corvette connection came a little later in life, and as with today’s trip it can be blamed on a magazine. He says, ‘The reason the Corvette is on my list goes back to the Eighties when I worked at Jaguar. Chief Stylist Geoff Lawson used to use our department as a shortcut to his office and one day spotted a muscle car magazine on my desk. I’d got into muscle cars at a late Seventies Custom Car Show at the NEC. I have two memories of it – Sultans of Swing playing on the tannoy and a Plum Crazy 1970 Challenger called the Artful Dodger with white interior and purple top hats embroidered into seat backs. I’d never seen such a low, wide and flat car before and that sent me to the bookshops.

‘Anyway, Lawson came over, had a chat, then offered to take me out for a blast in his Corvette one lunchtime. So that was who owned the one I’d seen in the work car park. It was a red 1970 example with a 454ci big-block V8. A few of us once walked through the car park with Jaguar boss Sir John Egan and he remarked, “Look at that bloody thing.” He obviously didn’t know it was Lawson’s – they didn’t have named parking spaces at that time.

‘Anyway, Lawson did take me for that spin and it was the most frightening experience – I think he was showing off a bit. It certainly went. At one point he shouted, “Egan would go nuts if he knew this was mine!” I was left a little shaken, but not so much that it put me off. I’ve wanted to drive one myself ever since.’

Derek fires up the Corvette and brings it out into the daylight. Matt is already grinning widely at the sound of the V8 rumble. ‘It’s louder than I expected, is that a standard exhaust system?’ Derek confirms that it is. Matt is still smiling. ‘They made no attempt to downplay it at all. I don’t think the big block version was any louder. I don’t remember seeing them with twin rectangular exhaust tips like that before.’ It turns out these were introduced for the 1971 model but only lasted until 1973.

‘I love this car’s colour combo – it knocks me out. One of the nicest I’ve seen, especially that interior in cranberry – I think that’s what you’d call it.’ GM actually just called it ‘red’ which, given the usual American trait for overselling things, feels like a missed opportunity. I prefer Matt’s guess. He adds, ‘I’m not usually a fan of luggage racks, but that suits the car’s shape too.’

The time has come to put this car’s rumble to some good use, for which the first step is to get Matt into the driver’s seat. This proves to not be quite as easy as it might have been as the first owner didn’t stump up the extra $84.30 for a tilt-and-telescopic steering column. In a world of growing waistlines, that looks like even more of a bargain price today. Derek’s tip is to put your backside on the seat first, then swing your legs under the wheel, one at a time. ‘That’s how I get into my Challenger,’ says Matt. But despite that practice it still proves quite a squeeze to access the ’Vette, even with the seat slid back as far as it will go. Matt holds his hands in a comfortable driving position – about four inches behind of where the wheel sits – and raises an eyebrow. I get his point.

Usually I would be sliding into the seat next to Matt to capture his impressions first-hand, but social distancing sensibilities mean he’s flying solo today. He slips the shifter into Drive and heads off.

I catch up with him at our first pre-arranged stop. Matt isn’t looking as excited as I’d hoped at this point. ‘First impressions are that it has a hard ride compared to my Challenger. It’s noisier too, and that Dodge is not a quiet car. The wheel is too close to my chest – it does need that tilt-and-tele option. If I were to own one of these it would have to come with that.’ It’s not all negatives, though. ‘The power steering has plenty of feel – not woolly like it can be. It’s the really thin rim I don’t like. It’s painfully so, about half-an-inch thick, but that’s how they were then. I’ve fitted an aftermarket one to my Dodge. There’s a great view out between the pronounced creases above the Vette’s wheelarches though, I do love that.’

At first we’d left the roof panels in place, under threatening skies and pessimistic BBC weather predictions. But after Matt’s initial run we feel brave enough to remove them – and discover they take up most of the decent luggage space behind the seats. You access it from behind the seats too because there’s no bootlid on these cars. Matt immediately looks happier. ‘It’s better with the roof off; it feels like it was meant to be an open car. There’s noise and wind buffeting you, but in a good way. I feel less hemmed in too. I would like to have dropped the rear glass out as well, just to see what that felt like. There’s no ‘air scarf’ hot air blowing out of these seats like on a modern convertible!’

Another run puts Matt in a more positive frame of mind. ‘As my confidence grows and I’m picking up speed the ride doesn’t feel so firm. There’s certainly plenty of go when you want it, and there are no quirks to make allowances for like you get with a lot of older cars. The brakes are decent too, with good feel and a nice weight to the pedal. They are better than those in my Challenger, but they ought to be because it’s an all-disc set-up. I see the fuel gauge has already dropped noticeably, but I’m more than used to that. The Corvette is definitely growing on me, but so far I still prefer my Challenger. I’m trying not to keep mentioning that but it’s hard not to make comparisons when they’re both American and from the same era.

‘I am impressed with the interior, but then I always have been with Chevrolets, which always seem that little bit above other American manufacturers. It’s the style, and the seats are better than you find in most muscle cars. Also there’s not a bit in the cabin that you look at and think, oh that’s come out of a whatever. It all looks personal to the Corvette, tailor-made rather than borrowed. I also like that it has a proper handbrake rather than the usual American push-pedal emergency brake.’

We take a break and consider what it is that makes Corvettes so attractive in the first place. Matt is now getting his development engineer head on. ‘I’ve always loved the “dogbone” shape of these bodies, and the eggbox side vents are nice. They only used those for a couple of years. That’s the sexiest windscreen too, with that tiny wraparound curve and taper to it. Cars of this era always look best without over-riders, and preferably with wafer thin chrome bumpers like this one wears. It’s good the way that flows into the chrome number plate surround; I like that, and the silver on black plates suit it too. Better than the usual imitation American plates people fit. The Ferrari-style rear lights are a neat touch as well.

‘It gets a 9.9 out of ten from me for style. The only bit I don’t like about the styling is the egg-crate grilles under the bumper at the front. I bet if you laid them on a bench they’d match the grille size of the wing ‘vents’ but those are nicely raked into a rhombus shape. At the front, being plain head-on, they look uninventive – especially considering some of the other svelte touches all round the car. Looks like they gave the front grilles little thought.’

A longer drive, taking in some wider bits of A-road, finally brings us back to base and close to the end of playtime. We’re keen for a nose under the bonnet and lift the forward-hinged lid, which is heavier than you might imagine a glassfibre panel to be. Matt leans in and notes, ‘The engine is smaller than I expected, but the air-conditioning compressor is enormous.’ I have to agree that the large flat-black cylinder, belt-driven and dominating the passenger side bank of cylinders, does nothing for the underbonnet aesthetics.

Then Matt spots something, or rather doesn’t. ‘Where are the wipers, under a panel?’ Indeed. Owner Derek steps forward to demonstrate the Corvette’s party piece. At the flick of a switch part of the panel below the windscreen pops forward and overlaps the section ahead of it, using the same vacuum system that raises the headlamps. Then the wipers are free to sweep glass. Matt is impressed. ‘I almost want the car just for that, what a clever system.’ I’m thinking about Thunderbirds again.

Thanks for that, it was greatly appreciated. Despite what I said earlier the Corvette has grown on me the more I’ve driven it. The suspension, which I was bothered about at first, seems to get softer the quicker the car goes. In fact everything about the Vette feels better and starts to make sense at speed.

I know what you’re going to ask and yes, I could see myself owning one of these, but only if I had the room and funds to make that happen. But I couldn’t get rid of my Challenger to make way for it. However nice the Corvette is, it isn’t quite that good.’

Engine: 5733cc V8, ohv, Rochester 4MV four-barrel carburettor
Power and torque: (SAE net) 210bhp @ 4400rpm; 300lb ft @ 2800rpm
Transmission: Three-speed auto, rear-wheel drive
Steering: Recirculating ball, power-assisted
Suspension: Front: independent by double wishbones, coil springs, telescopic dampers and anti-roll bar; Rear: independent by three trailing links, transverse leaf spring and telescopic dampers
Brakes: Discs front and rear, servo-assisted
Weight: 1490kg (3285lb)
Performance: 0-60mph: 7.5sec. Top speed: 124mph
Fuel consumption: 14mpg
Cost new: $5259 (£1878)
Classic Cars Price Guide: £13,000-£30,000

Aston Martin V8 Vantage

‘Be-spoilered late Seventies version with blocked grille and Cibie spots. Boyhood dream car, or at least it looked like it.’

Range Rover CSK

‘Limited edition black two-door with 3.9 V8. Never drove one while at JLR but always wanted to.’

Jaguar E-type S3 Roadster

‘A chap down the road had one during my youth and it seemed incredible. Is it as good as it looks?’

Jensen Interceptor

‘The best of all worlds: Italian styling, British interior, American V8 engine.’

AC Cobra

‘Again, is this car as good as it looks… or perhaps even better? I’d love to find out.’

Triumph Stag

‘Loved the T-bar and cars with aftermarket burr walnut dash. I’ve wanted to own one for ages.’

Lotus Carlton

‘Outrageous super-saloon that Jasper Carrott made fun of on stage. Little did we know he actually owned one.’

Chevrolet Corvette C3

‘Jaguar’s Chief Stylist Geoff Lawson took me for a scary spin in his one lunchtime in the Eighties.’

Jaguar XJ-S V12

‘Drove a lot of them at work and it’s the car that started it all for me. I want that low-flying aircraft feel one more time.’

Ford Escort RS2000 Custom

‘Still have brochure from the 1978 British Motor Show. Probably disappointing, but I’d like to find out.’

Hot Euro metal makes way for Yank muscle

FORD ESCORT MKII 1600 HARRIER

‘Followed a MkI 1300 (my first car) and MkII 1600 Sport. I was edging ever closer to the Venetian Red RS2000 dream that I never quite reached. This was basically the 1600 Sport with RS seats, wheels and ducktail spoiler’

VOLKSWAGEN GOLF GTI 1800 CAMPAIGN

‘New wave of German engineering made the RS2000 look old and tired. XR3i? No, I’ll stick with Wolfsburg. One of the last thousand MkIs, I do wish I’d hung onto it’

VOLKSWAGEN JETTA GT 1800 SPECIAL

‘One of 100 promo cars by GTI Engineering at Silverstone to tempt GTI man into a saloon. With outrageously low-profile tyres and red badges, it worked on me!’

FORD SIERRA XR4X4

‘Tempted back to Ford by ABS, four-wheel drive and aircon – and the sweet V6 exhaust note. Probably the first car I’d owned that I could honestly say was nice to drive’

DODGE CHALLENGER 440

‘A 1970 tribute car, restored in its original Sublime green. I imported it from Ohio in 2012 and have spent much time since with Jim’s Autos of Kidderminster getting it to run right. Last job is to swap out the high-stall torque converter for something better-suited to UK A-roads. That change might even bump the single-figure mpg into two digits!’