The 10th Anniversary Hagerty Festival of the Unexceptional event enjoyed another sell-out success at Grimsthorpe Castle on Saturday, with a record attendance of over 2000 cars and more than 4000 guests enjoying the Lincolnshire sunshine.
Hagerty created the first Festival of the Unexceptional back in 2014 as a celebration of long-forgotten everyday family cars from 1968-1989, now fondly known as the ‘Unexceptional Era’. With each of the 10 years that have passed since, the event has evolved, becoming bigger and better as its reputation spread around the world.
The 2024 10-year anniversary event was by far the biggest and best yet, with thousands of FOTU cars lining the entire front lawns of Grimsthorpe Castle, in addition to the 50 mundane superstar cars taking part in the concours. A packed live stage schedule included two rounds of a live Smith and Sniff gameshow, as well as a live podcast recording which attracted 100s of spectators.
A host of special guest cars appeared at the event, including the very last Austin Montego to be produced, kindly supplied by the British Motor Museum, and event sponsor Sustain Fuels were on hand to answer any questions people had about using synthetic fuel in their modern classics.
Thousands of FOTU era cars lined the castle grounds for as far as the eye could see, with many owners having travelled hundreds of miles to be there. The public display had an eclectic mix ranging from a perfectly unexceptional Vauxhall Belmont to a base-spec, hubcap-shod W140 Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and everything in-between.
The 50 cars selected for the main Concours event represented the finest mundane cars in the world. Lead Judge, and Practical Classics Editor, Danny Hopkins announced the 2024 Concours selection as the finest he had seen in the event’s 10-year history.
All of the judges highly commended Lewis Dickson for his 4,000-mile Citroen Visa, a car that had been stored outside, opposite his workplace, for a number of years before he managed to buy it. Christopher Lloyd was also commended for his Daewoo Lanos, one of just five examples left on UK roads. When asked if such a rare car attracts attention, he replied, after some thought, that it did not. The final highly commended nod went to Damian Brannigan and his wonderfully standard 1993 Fiat Panda.
The Chairmans Award was presented to Colin Corke and his Applejack Metro. Colin understands FOTU better than most, having entered a car for the past 8-years without winning anything. This year’s success shows that persistence pays off at FOTU.
The Retro Repmobile Award was given to Luca Alpert and his Nissan Primera. Luca is 21, drives the Primera daily and travelled all the way from Hanover to enter the 2024 Festival of the Unexceptional. His enthusiasm for the car, and the FOTU event, was notable.
Second place was awarded to Amy Jaine and her 1998 Renault Clio. The Clio was originally owned by her grandmother, bought to take her grandchildren on days out. Many years later it was destined to be scrapped as it was no longer used, but Amy rescued it, and now it is Amy who uses it to take her grandmother on days out, keeping the car, and fun, alive.
The winner’s trophy of the 2024 Hagerty Festival of the Unexceptional was awarded to Mitch Lewis and his immaculate 1982 Toyota Hilux. The car has been a workhorse for much of its life, having been used on a fruit farm since new, but it remains completely original and was absolutely immaculate. To prepare for the event, the car was simply cleaned well, and driven to the event. Bravo Mitch.
Mark Roper, Managing Director of Hagerty International, added “10-years of FOTU is something to be celebrated, and this milestone was celebrated in style. I would like to thank the thousands of enthusiasts who came to enjoy it with us, and for our special guests who brought the main stage to life. Festival of the Unexceptional is an important part of securing the future of classic cars, with many young enthusiasts attending to show their FOTU-era cars. Hagerty is committed to continually supporting UK car culture, and will continue to grow both the Festival of the Unexceptional and RADwood for years to come .”
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