Fesitival Of The Unexceptional 2025: Summer's go-to classic car event
Mon, 28 Jul 2025
Hagerty’s Festival of the Unexceptional is a car show with a difference — rather than worshipping 250mph hypercars worth more than the combined value of all the prizes ever given away on Bullseye to the power of several thousand, it celebrates the unsung automotive heroes from 1970 to 2000.
Saturday 26 July 2025 proved to be a typical British summer's day — billowing grey clouds lingered for hours, occasionally depositing their contents, finally giving in to let the sun beam through the gaps shortly before teatime.
Not that such inclemency dulled the spirit of the devotees for whom the Festival of the Unexceptional — known as FOTU for both ease and more effective social media hashtagging — has become the annual classic car event.
What’s different about FOTU?
Owners of all manner of classic hatchbacks, saloons, estates and MPVs, many of which were once integral to the nation’s streetscapes, gathered again upon the lawns of Lincolnshire’s Grimsthorpe Castle to breathe in the contagious nostalgia — and doubtless laos the scent of a few leaky fuel tanks and slipping clutches.
Beyond providing automotive enthusiasts with a valuations service, specialist insurance packages and membership programmes, Hagerty’s UK operation also hosts a number of carefully themed vehicular events. FOTU is the jewel in Hagerty’s crown, but only if said regal headwear had been supplied by Gerald Ratner — and all the better for it.
Central to the Festival of the Unexceptional’s success are the cars — and vans — it champions. As the name implies, it’s a celebration of those common-or-garden models from our collective childhoods — those once-upon-a-time omnipresent motors which embodied ordinariness to such great effect we essentially stopped noticing them. At least until there were so few around that they’re now impossible to not notice, usually accompanied with involuntary gasps and pointing fingers.
Many of the cars you see at FOTU were among the best-sellers in their heydays and are now especially sought-after in the lowliest of trim levels. Plusher derivatives are far less likely to whip the Festival’s attendees into a frenzy — why have brushed nylon upholstery when shiny vinyl, with heat-retention properties to out-burn molten lava and McDonald’s apple pies, is such a beacon for base model brilliance?
FOTU: a classic car show for everyone
Each car on show is a potential instant random memory trigger, stopping you in your tracks as you recall your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbours, teachers — perhaps even a much younger you — having ‘had one of those’. Cars are such a common denominator in everyone’s lives that you don’t need to be ‘into’ them to enjoy whiling away several hours at FOTU — sentimentality gives quite the dopamine rush.
Therein lies another major draw for the Festival of the Unexceptional because the cars on show are great levellers, ensuring the event attracts — and welcomes — all threads from society’s fabric, both at home and from overseas.
Even fully paid-up, anorak-wearing automotive geeks [the author winks to camera] will acknowledge that many classic car shows are terminally dull affairs, but FOTU is universally enjoyable. You’re just as likely to hear a middle-aged guy cautiously ask ‘is that a Datsun Nissan?’ as you are a woman in her early-20s questioning the owner of a Bedford Rascal microvan about the differences between it and the Suzuki Super Carry.
On a related note, if you do identify yourself as a car nerd and you’re not already writing or presenting videos about your passion, we cannot implore you enough to try your hand at it. It’s always evident at the Festival that so many people are teeming with knowledge that would be a joy to read and watch — and a refreshing change from the regurgitated Wikipedia entries proffered by some content creators.
FOTU: Satisfying that competitive spirit
Many people have a competitive streak that needs to be satisfied, albeit in a good-humoured arena. One such venue is the Festival of the Unexceptional’s Concours de l’Ordinaire enclosure.
It’s a place where a shortlist of up to 50 of the most exceptional unexceptional vehicles are judged by a team of luminaries from the automotive industry, with attention being focused upon the story behind the cars and vans concerned as well as their condition and originality.
Those experts on FOTU’s 2025 judging panel were Gary Axon, Jon Bentley, Jesse Billington, Richard Bremner, Steve Cropley and Andrew Frankel.
Joining the judging fray for the 2025 Concours was Evoke Classic Cars’ sales director, Sarah Crabtree, who sprang to prominence when she was a regular fixture on UKTV’s Bangers and Cash. Sarah elaborated upon what the judging team were particularly looking for with this year’s shortlistees: 'Alongside condition and originality, the cars history and owners' passion are always important elements to consider when judging FOTU.'
This year’s Concours de l’Ordinaire podium positions went to Andy Smith’s bright yellow 1979 Citroen Visa Club in third position, while Callum Bailey netted second place with his 1999 Ford Mondeo hatchback — a car he’d saved from a fate in banger racing.
Overall Festival of the Unexceptional Champion was 22-year-old Simon Packowski’s showroom-standard 1992 Skoda Favorit. True to the FOTU ethos, Simon’s blue hatchback was in entry-level Forum specification with a level of standard equipment that included a space on the dashboard where a radio could be installed and bare steel wheels which you could fit plastic trims to following a visit to Halfords.
All that for the unprincely sum of £4706 when new — or approximately £10,500 when inflation-adjusted to 2025 prices.
So what made the Favorit Forum particularly stand out for the judges? Sarah Crabtree explains: 'Simon's Skoda delivered by totally capturing the essence of the Festival — the little Favorit is exceptionally unexceptional.'
A notable innovation among the Concours vehicles at 2025’s FOTU was the opportunity for show goers to vote for the People’s Champion Award using QR codes on the display boards positioned by each of the shortlisted cars. It proved to be a memorable day for Simon Packowski as his Skoda also scooped that title.
FOTU's Concours de l'Ordinaire Champions
- 2014 — Nissan Cherry Europe GTi
- 2015 — Ford Escort Mk2
- 2016 — Morris 575 (Marina-derived) pickup
- 2017 — Datsun Sunny
- 2018 — Chrysler Alpine
- 2019 — Morris Marina Estate
- 2021 — Proton Saloon
- 2022 — Vauxhall Astra Mk3
- 2023 — Daihatsu Applause
- 2024 — Toyota Hilux pickup
- 2025 — Skoda Favorit
What else was going on at FOTU 2025?
Platformed on the Hagerty live stage were a series of chats and discussions sharing a FOTU-type of classic car theme, with familiar faces including Paul Cowland of Salvage Hunters: Classic Cars fame.
Stephen Laing, the British Motor Musuem’s head of collections, led a fascinating insight into the world of British Leyland blind alleys and missed opportunities. Not only does the museum’s archive contain documentary records of the former car manufacturing giant’s sorry tale, it’s home to an array of prototype cars which didn’t make production, several of which were on display at FOTU.
If it was car-based entertainment you craved, it was vital to make a beeline to the stage when the Brut-scented Jonny Smith and Land Rover Freelander blouse-wearing Richard Porter off of podcasting’s Smith and Sniff were upon it. Swearing-free anarchic anecdotes and a fresh edition of the Wheeltrim of Misfortune game provided jollity and distraction from the rain. It was also a quick and effective way of recording material for the following week’s broadcast, so fair play to the guys.
Somewhat inevitably as you’re wandering wistfully around the lines of lurid green Austin Metros, Parma Violet-hued Hyundai Accents and hearing aid beige-alike Volvo 240 estates, you may have experienced a pang or two of regret that you didn’t have a FOTU-appropriate car of your own to drive there in.
Well, there was good news on that front as 2025’s event debuted a dedicated FOTU For Sale area. Visitors were selling their own cars, while Anglia Car Auctions also had an array of tempting wares on display. Sadly, none of them could be put through HonestJohn.co.uk’s accounts as a legitimate business expense.
Looking forward to seeing you at 2026’s Festival of the Unexceptional — just don’t bring any more rain with you.
Why is my classic car not tax exempt?
