A celebration of mundane motoring with a unique concours competition will take place at Buckingham’s Stowe House this Saturday, as the Hagerty Festival of the Unexceptional returns for a fourth year.
Classic car insurance specialists Hagerty host the light-hearted event to celebrate the uncelebrated motors of yesteryear, including period picnics and fashions and a special Concours d’Ordinaire contest set in Stowe House’s magnificent grounds. The 50 official entries Concours d’Ordinaire will be captured in a limited edition set of Top Trumps-style playing cards to compare their year of build, unexceptional 0-60mph time, how many were produced, how many are now left in existence.
With many of this season’s classic car shows celebrating Ferrari’s 70th anniversary with a sea of red sports cars, Hagerty promise their event will be a ‘sea of beige’ to honour the hundreds of once ubiquitous but now rarely-seen family saloons, estate cars, and light commercial vehicles that formed a familiar part of many childhoods. Hagerty have some revealing stats which highlight the plight of these endangered ordinary-mobiles; there were 1.8million Citroen GS’ produced, but now just 20 remain registered on UK roads. There are just five DAF 55’s left of the 165,000 made, four Fiat Strada Super’s of 1.7million built, 17 of the 2.2million Simca 1100’s produced, and just 147 UK examples of the staggering 60million-plus C50 motorcycles churned out by Honda. Examples of these once commonplace vehicles will grace the Stowe House lawn along with many other from long-lost marques such as Austin, Datsun, Hillman, Morris, and Triumph.
“There is no shortage in the UK of car shows and Concours d’Elégance that showcase the best examples of some of the best cars ever”, says Hagerty’s MD Angus Forsyth. “While Aston Martin DB5s and Rolls Royce Silver Ghosts can be rather common at these events, just try spotting an Austin Montego or a Morris Marina on the show field. For that matter, you can’t even find them in the car park.”
The 50 hand-picked Concours d’Ordinaire cars will be joined by a handful of other rarely-seen vehicles selected from the visitors parking area surrounding the main ‘unexceptional’ lawn. Forward parking for the other 250+ classic cars expected to arrive is free, although pre-registration is required to guarantee a space at https://carfestivalbooking.com/.
The cars on display will be complimented by typical British ‘Feast of the Unexceptional’ picnics of the type that we all remember from our childhoods, as well as some period fashions of the late-1960s to late 1980s eras. An expert panel - including Jon Bentley from TV’s the gadget show - will judge the cars as well as the period picnics, even sampling some of the more edible looking ones, and fashions too.
Entry to the 2017 Hagerty Festival of the Unexceptional is free, with entry to the historic Stowe House also free for pre-registered visitors.
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