Festival of Unexceptional Concours D'Ordinaire

By: Unique Cars magazine

Date: 08.06.2018

In July UK-based Hagerty’s Insurance will be hosting the fifth staging of the Unexceptional Concours d’Ordinaire, for exceptionally ordinary, but now rare and – perhaps – classic vehicles.

Celebrating the unexceptional and best forgotten mechanical dross that littered the roads over the years, the Concours is open to all ‘ordinary’ vehicles from 1966 to 1990 and will be held in the grounds of Stowe House, Buckinghamshire, a venue that is anything but unexceptional.

The expertly-selected 45 ‘official’ unexceptional entries for 2018 will be joined by a handful of extraordinarily ordinary vehicles hand-picked from the visitor’s car park and invited to join the main concours participants on the Stowe display lawn

To mark the fifth anniversary of the pioneering event – the first of its kind in Europe – a handful of the winners and ‘people’s choice’ cars from previous years will also be exhibited, as will a few manufacturers’ classic vehicles, in a special Fifth Anniversary display.

Past winners have included an immaculate and rare Nissan Cherry Europe, a Morris Marina pick-up, a crowd-pleasing Hillman Avenger Super Estate, plus an as-new 1983 Datsun Sunny 1.5 SGL.

The light-hearted ‘Feast of the Unexceptional’ will return with participants again encouraged to pack a period picnic, with food and drink reflecting the era of their car.

Originally staged in 2014 and the first event of its kind in Europe – to celebrate the ordinary, everyday cars from the 60s,70, 80s and 90s that have all but disappeared.

Festival of the Unexceptional (FOTU) has already become a mustattend event with a real cult status for the admirers of the mundane cars of the past including Morris Metros (as well as Marinas) Vauxhall Chevettes, Hillman Hunters, Austin Montegos and Allegros, Toyota Corollas and much more mundanity from British and European brands.

Early nominations for the 2018 FOTU include a rare Volkswagen 412 and base three-door Golf Mark I, a Volvo 66 DL, Citroen GS X1 and Fiat Strada.

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