So many events, so little time to do them all. But, unable to escape the office for long enough to visit the new Concours of Elegance Germany, I opted instead for a trip to Hagerty’s Festival of the Unexceptional, FOTU for short, just 30 minutes up the road.
If it’s escaped you over the past decade, FOTU celebrates the unloved family cars of the (mostly) 1970s, ’80s and ’90s. Not obvious Magneto fodder, but worth a look, it seemed. After all, its equivalent Concours d’Lemons in the US has become a cult phenomenon, although where Lemons has become cartoonish in its cars (in a good way), FOTU is more serious and only quietly (if at all) ironic.
Within five minutes of arriving at Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire, where FOTU has taken place for the past four years, I’d heard the phrases “my dad had one of those” and “that was my first car” several times. Understandably so, for here were more than 2000 models of the type that you’d rarely see on the road or at any other car event.
The atmosphere was relaxed, the location idyllic. Although sold out, with 4000 visitors the event never seemed crowded – except at the queues for the food and drink stands, or around the stage area when Smith and Sniff (YouTuber Jonny Smith and former Top Gear script writer Richard Porter) or TV presenter Paul Cowland were on stage. Smith and Sniff even held a gameshow and recorded a live podcast from the event.
Star cars? Well, the British Motor Museum provided the very last Austin Montego to be produced, covered in signatures from production-line employees of the time. But often it was the utterly forgotten – from a Vauxhall Belmont to the base-spec, hubcap-shod W140 Mercedes-Benz S-Class – that attracted the most attention.
Social media mutterings that FOTU cars were no longer exceptional proved to be false (and mostly uttered by those who’d never been), and the £38 per car entry fee seemed great value for those turning up with partners and friends at least, but perhaps a little steep for lone entrants – but that’s an inevitability across most events lately, due to high venue and liability-insurance costs.
But wait, there’s a concours event, too, with 50 cars specially selected for display in front of the main building, to be judged by the likes of Autocar‘s Steve Cropley and freelance journalists Richard Bremner and Sam Skelton, under the exuberant leadership of head judge Danny Hopkins, editor of Practical Classics.
The judges highly commended Lewis Dickson for his 4000-mile Citroën Visa, which had apparently been stored outside, opposite his workplace, for 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. In a perfect FOTU moment, when he was asked if such a rare car attracts attention, he thought about it and then replied that it did not. The final highly commended nod went to Damian Brannigan and his 1993 Fiat Panda.
The Chairman’s Award was presented to Colin Corke and his Applejack Metro, on his eighth entry into the FOTU concours. The Retro Repmobile Award was given to 21-year-old Luca Alpert and his Nissan Primera daily driver. He’d travelled all the way from Hanover to enter.
Second place went to Amy Jaine and her 1998 Renault Clio, originally owned by her grandmother, who had bought it to take her grandchildren on days out. When it was threatened with being scrapped, Amy rescued it, and she now uses it to take her grandmother on days out.
The winner’s trophy was awarded to Mitch Lewis and his uncannily immaculate 1982 Toyota Hilux. Despite having been a workhorse on a fruit farm since new, it remains completely original, and was simply cleaned in preparation for the event. It looked like a very worthy winner to me – and what a remarkably relaxed day out FOTU turned out to be.
No smart clothes needed, no expensive Champagne on offer, just rare cars as far as the eye could see and plenty of enthusiastic visitors. Lovely.
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