Event
While most concours events celebrate the rarest and most valuable automobiles, Hagerty's Festival of the Unexceptional takes the opposite approach – honouring the ordinary cars that once filled every British street corner and have now, through indifference rather than intention, become genuinely rare survivors. It's a brilliantly subversive idea that has grown from a small gathering in a field to one of the UK's most beloved automotive events.
The premise is simple: apply concours-level attention to the cars that would never appear at Pebble Beach or Goodwood. Previous winners include a 1989 Proton Saloon (the last of 201 'Black Knight' editions), a 1994 Vauxhall Astra Merit, a 1991 Daihatsu Applause, and a 1982 Toyota Hilux. The judges – motoring journalists and industry figures – actively prefer base specifications: Ls over SRis, Populars over Cosworths, Renaults over Rolls-Royces. Cloth seats are celebrated. Beige paintwork earns respect.
For 2026, the eligible window expands to include cars registered between 1970 and 2000, meaning Fiat Multiplas, Daewoo Tacumas and Chrysler PT Cruisers can now take their rightful place alongside Morris Marinas and Datsun Sunnys. Fifty vehicles are selected for the Concours de l'Ordinaire in the castle courtyard, but hundreds more fill the surrounding grounds, creating an open-air museum of motoring nostalgia where every car triggers someone's childhood memory.
Beyond the cars, live entertainment features Jonny Smith and Richard Porter bringing their irreverent motoring humour to the stage. Food stalls serve the crowd, though picnics are equally welcome – the 'Feast of the Unexceptional' even judges 1970s-style packed lunches. Grimsthorpe Castle provides a suitably grand backdrop for machinery that never aspired to grandeur, and the family-friendly atmosphere makes this genuinely enjoyable even for those who wouldn't normally attend a car show.
