Monday 2nd August 2021

2021 Festival of the Unexceptional | PH Gallery

FOTU was back with a bang over the weekend, with a record-breaking crowd and some tremendously tedious cars

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It should be no surprise that this year's Hagerty Festival of the Unexceptional drew a record-breaking crowd at Grimsthorpe Castle. The weekend was always a popular one pre-Covid, celebrating those cars that have succumbed to scrappage schemes or just been abandoned over the years; with people's understandable desire to get out and about as well, FOTU '21 was an inevitable sell-out.

As can be seen in these pictures, the festival did not disappoint. Winner of the Concours de l'Ordinaire for 2021 was Jon Coupland's 1989 Proton 1.5 GL Black Knight. There were only ever 201, and Jon's is believed to be the last one left, representing just a third of his Proton collection. In storage from 1993 to 2017, it's covered just 13,000 miles; a worthy winner, we can surely all agree.

Runner-up in the concours was Danny Wilson's 1991 Peugeot 106 XN. Bought off Facebook Marketplace for just £500, Danny's old Pug was held up as an example of what FOTU is all about, eschewing big budget exotica for more everyday cars. Brought back to former glory by Danny, the 30-year-old 106 was notable for featuring a carburettor and a choke (!), which only the very earliest cars did.

Special mentions in the Concours judging, and therefore included in the 2021 Unexceptional Hall of Fame, went to Simon Hucknall's Fiat 128, Chris Howell's Triumph Toledo, Charles Whilems' VW Polo C Formel E and James Green's Nissan Bluebird. That really was just the start, too. See the gallery for some great Renaults, Rovers, Vauxhalls, Volvos and more.

James Mills, Hagerty's UK Editor, said, "what stood out for me this year was the number of fantastic cars fielded by younger entrants. It's great to see the next generation of enthusiasts showing a real passion for everyday, ordinary and unexceptional classics, and demonstrates the growing love for this accessible scene. Our Festival started out as a small, cult event but today we saw thousands of visitors make the trip to admire the unsung heroes of the classic car world." No doubt it'll be back in 12 months' time with even more people along. And if the pics have you in the mood for some classic car shopping of the plainest kind, the classifieds are at hand; see this 24,000-mile Nissan Sunny (with beige velour!), or this fine Vauxhall Magnum estate. Just the cars to pack the picnic into for 2022...

[robertdon777]

What's good about these is the difference in Design between each.

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

I cannot think of any car show I'd be less interested in

[FPC]

Toyota Tercel! Completely forgotten about that bland little car.
Wouldn't say no to that Citroen CS Club though, lovely

[Augustus Windsock]

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

I cannot think of any car show I'd be less interested in

Well according to Clarkson and friends on the latest instalment of The Grand Tour, you obviously didn’t live in the Soviet Republic of South Yorkshire in the 70’s and 80’s then!
Some of the cars pictured evoke memories for me and some must be really rare in their own right, time notwithstanding. I’m guessing the Mk1 Granada 2.3 must be an import (sorry, looking on my piephone and it looks like a lhd example), the Citroen GS Club complete with owner sporting a 70’s wig, cardigan and crimplene shirt surely warrants an award in itself...

[CM954]

Love it - although I think I'd need to go on my own to properly geek out at the details.

[Chubbyross]

All those photos instantly took me back to the 1970s and going into showrooms as a kid to ogle all the shiny new cars. It didn’t matter what the car was. I’d have as much pleasure as seeing (and smelling!) a bunch of new Leyland cars as I would a showroom full of BMWs.

[MattyD803]

It's like a "not quite classic" car show. Love it.

They all appear to be cars that were effectively "ten a penny" parked along the roads I used to walk on my way to school.

[ch37]

Would love to have gone to this if it didn't clash with Silverstone Classic (which also had a fair selection of unexceptional cars, never expected to see an Austin Allegro on track!)

I'm pleased it's a success, I could spend hours looking at everything there.

[Tyre Tread]

The "Moderns" car park was as interesting as the display cars.

[Pit Pony]

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

I cannot think of any car show I'd be less interested in

You have no motoring soul. None.

Get ye to the hills and hide in a pond.

Least the God of Mundane and Uninteresting motoring smites you with a 1 and 3/4 inch Stromberg carb wrapped in a tartan blanket.

[Gorbyrev]

That orange Mk1 2.3 Granada Coupe looks familiar. If that is the proud possession of the fine fellow who runs the Everard Junction YouTube model railway channel it was the subject of a lengthy and meticulous restoration by his own fair hand detailed on Autosh*te. Well worth a look. What a wonderful gathering of vehicles. Off to the classifieds to look for an AX.

[Manic Street Sleeper]

Shirley this is PH heaven ... three pedals and a gearstick, unassisted steering, analogue instruments, manual handbrakes, no ABS, no traction control ...

[Maldini35]

I'm so glad that people can be bothered to do this.
So many memories looking around those cars.

My housemate at uni had a red Sunny just like the one in the main pic.
It was utterly unexceptional in every way bar the heater, which was powerful enough to smelt glass.
His favourite game was to drive us home from playing football in the blazing heat with the windows up and heater fully on.
The first person to reach for the window winders had to get the beers in.

[fantheman80]

that 106 Gti got the wrong car park surely...

[bigbadbikercats]

Augustus Windsock said:

…the Citroen GS Club complete with owner sporting a 70’s wig, cardigan and crimplene shirt surely warrants an award in itself...

Actually it warrants exclusion on the basis that while they may once have been relatively common a Citroen GS is anything but unexceptional, bland, or ordinary… :-)

[Maxus]

What a tremendous show. Nearly every car is a case of when did you last see one of those. Love the way most of them are pretty basic spec which I guess is the point of being unexceptional.

[nismo48]

Hats off to all of them.
Something different and by the looks of things great fun too

[Byker28i]

Manic Street Sleeper said:

Shirley this is PH heaven ... three pedals and a gearstick, unassisted steering, analogue instruments, manual handbrakes, no ABS, no traction control ...

That would be a field of Mk1 MX-5's surely or maybe TVR's

[lost in espace]

Gorbyrev said:

That orange Mk1 2.3 Granada Coupe looks familiar. If that is the proud possession of the fine fellow who runs the Everard Junction YouTube model railway channel it was the subject of a lengthy and meticulous restoration by his own fair hand detailed on Autosh*te. Well worth a look. What a wonderful gathering of vehicles. Off to the classifieds to look for an AX.

I have subscribed to his channel now, the first thing I saw was a rozzers vs baddies Capri chase using model cars and some kind of voodoo to make them move. Then the Capri crashed through some model cardboard boxes.

[Augustus Windsock]

bigbadbikercats said:

Augustus Windsock said:

…the Citroen GS Club complete with owner sporting a 70’s wig, cardigan and crimplene shirt surely warrants an award in itself...

Actually it warrants exclusion on the basis that while they may once have been relatively common a Citroen GS is anything but unexceptional, bland, or ordinary… :-)

Quite true.
My first girlfriends dad whilst I was at Gramma Skule had a Jaguar XJ 5.3C in silver with red cloth interior, his wife a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am.
But more interesting to me back then was her best friends mum had a metallic brown GS Estate, it was so unusual.
Mind you, being at a gramma skule, the teachers were an eclectic lot, the French teacher drove a Simca 1100 GL, the art teacher a 240GL, the physics teacher had something held together with string and angle iron, the Head Master had a brown Allegro, the PE teacher had something sporty (either a TriumphGT6 or a TR7) and out two English teachers had an original Audi 100 in grey and the other teacher had two Jaguar XJ S1 saloons, one respondent in a bizarre green colour and the other in something that could only be described as pink.
Those were the days...