Festival of the Unexceptional confirmed for July
The automotive concours like no other is back for 2021 - here's what to look forward to
When Hagerty's Festival of the Unexceptional last ran in 2019, we published a gallery after the event featuring some of the weekend's highlights. It included a Vauxhall Cavalier, a Ford Cortina, a Nissan Sunny, a Citroen BX, a Renault 19 and plenty more distinctly ordinary cars. It attracted almost 150 comments, the overwhelming majority very positive: "I find cars like this 10,000 times more interesting than supercars/hypercars," nicely summed up the collective opinion.
We're happy to report then that FOTU is back for 2021, and confirmed for Saturday July 31st. Obviously last year wasn't possible, but this will be the seventh running of Hagerty's 'Concours de l'ordinaire'. There's a new location this time around, too, to accommodate more attendees, with thousands of forgotten classics set to descend on Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire for a celebration of the humdrum.
"In keeping with the spirit of the event, guests are welcome to arrive in the latest supercar but are forewarned that an Ambassador will gain more privileges than an Aventador when it comes to being offered forward parking", reads the press release, which sums up FOTU quite nicely. There will be whole cars worth as much as contrast stitching on a GT3, and they will be among the stars of the show. Celebrating the cars which were never celebrated is obviously at the heart of the event's popularity.
Once again, entry criteria for the actual concours judging are pretty simple: it's cars and light commercial vehicles built between 1966 and 1996. Free to enter, all are welcome. As an example of what does well at FOTU, the 2019 winner of the concours was a Morris Marina Deluxe Estate, closely followed into second place by a Vauxhall Chevette Deluxe E.
Sound like your kind of car show? Ticket information will be announced very soon. Until there, here's a video on "preparing a marvellously mundane motor car" and all the pics we could find from previous festivals. July can't come soon enough!
I have been watching episodes of "A to B: Tales of Modern Motoring" on youtube, which I find a brilliant time capsule of TV and it would be interesting to see all these old everyday cars in the flesh.
Anyway, might have to keep my eyes peeled for a suitable conveyance for this event, never managed to get to one yet.
I would love to go to that! Cars from the days when a BHP figure that started with a number greater than 1 usually only had one other digit 
I have been watching episodes of "A to B: Tales of Modern Motoring" on youtube, which I find a brilliant time capsule of TV and it would be interesting to see all these old everyday cars in the flesh.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff