Why this year's Festival of the Unexceptional was the best yet

Find maine different car show, if you can, where the victorious car is 25 years old, has done 176,000 miles, was its owner’s wedding car and has been his regular operator ever since helium bought it 20 years ago.

The car I’m talking astir is simply a 999cc, 49bhp Volkswagen Polo C owned by Gordon McNeill, victor astatine the 2026 Hagerty Festival of the Unexceptional, held past play astatine Grimsthorpe Castle successful Lincolnshire.

Not lone has McNeill lone ever had this 1 car, but helium and his woman curse they person nary plans ever to bargain another. 

So acold the Polo has been to the Nürburgring, has lapped Silverstone, has tally astatine Santa Pod and precocious returned from a agelong vacation successful Spain.

In 20 years and 140,000 miles, it has had 1 valve occupation and 1 sill replacement, the 2nd repair truthful thoroughly botched by a 'specialist' that McNeill himself took to studying car assemblage repair techniques truthful arsenic to negociate the restoration himself.       

It's a twelve years since a clump of inspired radical came up with the thought for an wholly antithetic benignant of car amusement designed to clasp mundane, mundane and mostly forgotten cars, called Festival of the Unexceptional. 

In its earliest days determination was a large tongue-in-cheek facet to the full deal. The eligible cars, which had to beryllium made successful a rolling 30-year portion that began 25 years earlier (and frankincense advanced) by 1 each year, were deemed to person precise small worth and mostly to beryllium figures of fun.

But successful 12 years a singular happening has happened: the full happening has go gradually much superior and worthwhile. I’ve witnessed the progression from the wrong arsenic a subordinate of the judging sheet of 8 to 12 people. 

There’s inactive a definite levity attached to the full workout (nobody is trying to unreal that a 1995 Austin Maestro astir to articulation the ranks of the large cars), but it has go wide that galore of the eligible cars past and relation overmuch amended than their ancestors utilized to, and that for galore owners they person an affectional transportation acold stronger than immoderate casually bought classical car. McNeill is simply a premier example.

This year’s lawsuit was by each measurement the champion yet. The upwind was cleanable for the 5000-plus radical who arrived successful much than 2000 cars – the biggest fig ever, filling the agelong castle beforehand avenue to capacity. The prime and relevance of galore casual arrivals matched that of the 40 pre-selected finalists, parked arsenic accustomed connected the interior castle lawn.

From these a first, 2nd and 3rd prize victor were selected, arsenic good arsenic a clump of 'special mentions'. Second spot went to a beautifully preserved yet comparatively high-mileage Toyota Previa; 3rd to a Ford Focus whose young proprietor had conserved the car successful honour of his departed grandfather, the archetypal owner.  

More than ever, the joyousness of mean car ownership was enormously evident. Many owners were successful their 20s and 30s, attracted by a contention that progressive cars they remembered from puerility and could spend to bargain and mend.

The relation of aged drivers successful preserving these cars of yesterday was besides recognised: galore an entrant brought a car stored for a decennary aft its proprietor had stopped driving and simply garaged the car. The information of galore cars was near-faultless, arsenic was the probe into their histories.

Remarkable stories surrounded a immense proportionality of the cars. Among standouts was a battered, basic-spec Ford Sierra 1.6 whose proprietor had 2 others but preferred this 1 due to the fact that of the colourful beingness it had led: it had been stolen doubly and breached into regularly arsenic well, though each the thieves had lone ever taken a screwdriver.

Another entrant who brought a faultless, rare-in-Britain 2000 Kia Clarus from the Netherlands, recovered a caller mode of getting the judges’ attraction by wearing a specially made T-shirt with a pattern echoing that of the car's flamboyant velour upholstery.

From commencement to decorativeness this was a joyous event, singular for the younker of its entrants and the information that the immense bulk of those who came to Grimsthorpe 'got' the rules of the contention and did their champion to bring an due car.

Britain abounds with car meetings and competitions astatine this clip of the year, but for sheer, unalloyed car love, I would reason that Festival of the Unexceptional beats them all.