Hagerty Festival of the Unexceptional car show held at Grimsthorpe Castle near Bourne
Long-forgotten cars drew thousands of visitors to a festival celebrating the ‘unexceptional’.
The 10th anniversary Hagerty Festival of the Unexceptional was held at Grimsthorpe Castle, near Bourne, on Saturday (July 27) and it was the biggest festival so far with more than 4,000 guests attending.
Hagerty created the first Festival of the Unexceptional in 2014 as a celebration of long-forgotten everyday family cars from 1968-1989, now fondly known as the ‘Unexceptional Era’.
This year’s event had more than 2,000 cars on display lining the entire front lawns outside the beautiful venue.
The event, which lasted 12 hours, also included a Smith and Sniff gameshow, live music, question and answer sessions and a Paul Cowland pub quiz on the main stage. There was also a live podcast recording.
Photos taken by Chris Lowndes at the event are available to buy here
A host of special guest cars appeared, including the 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.
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 said the 2024 Concours selection was the finest he had seen in the event’s 10-year history.
All 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 Chairman’s Award was presented to Colin Corke and his Applejack Metro. Colin understands FOTU better than most, having entered a car for the past eight-years without winning anything. This year’s success shows that persistence pays off at the festival. 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.
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 immaculate. To prepare for the event, the car was cleaned well, and driven to the event.
Mark Roper, managing director of Hagerty International, said: “Ten years of Festival of the Unexceptional 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.”