AN EXTRAORDINARY EXHIBITION OF THE ORDINARY

EVENT REPORT FESTIVAL OF THE UNEXCEPTIONAL, CLAYDON HOUSE, MIDDLE CLAYDON, BUCKS. 20 JULY

The sixth staging of the event that revels in the marvellously mediocre proved a great success

Not everybody ‘gets’ the Festival of the Unexceptional. Why celebrate cars that were once everywhere, the humdrum and average that most probably ignored when they were on every street?

However, within a few minutes of turning up to this Concours de l’ordinaire, its impossible not to be beguiled by this Hagerty Insuranceorganised event where a McLaren supercar gets relegated to parking beside the portaloos so far more interesting machines such as Volkswagen Polo MkI and II models, a SEAT Panda and Vauxhall Nova can take pride of place at the entrance.

There were two Concours held this year; 50 cars were entered in the general one, while 14 others took part in the anniversary class for those vehicles celebrating a birthday. Among the judging teams were CCW contributors Jon

Bentley and Gary Axon, along with Danny Hopkins, editor of our sister magazine Practical Classics. Winner of the main Concours was the Tahiti Blue 1977 Morris Marina 1.3 estate of Michael Carpenter, while David Loasby’s 1982 Vauxhall Astra 1300 GL scooped the anniversary laurels.

Away from these, hundreds of once common-or-garden classics driven by record numbers of visitors created their own car show, with many of them being a lot rarer than the Ferraris, Aston Martins and Bentleys that characterise somewhat plusher events. It was almost a snapshot of how the car park would have looked for anybody visiting Claydon House during the 1970s, ‘80s or ‘90s.

A truly fun, friendly gathering where tongues were kept firmly in cheek, and all the better for that. This was the unexceptional done exceptionally well.

The winning Concours cars: 1978 Vauxhall Chevette E (Philip Hunt, runner-up), 1977 Morris Marina 1.3 Deluxe estate (Michael Carpenter, Best in Show) and 1982 Peugeot 305 SR estate (Simon Gaisford, People’s Choice). PHOTOGRAPH

Richard Berger with his 1982 Ford Cortina MkV 1.6. Due to being in a static collection for 28 years, it’s only done 11k miles.

Who needs a GTI? Eifion Bedford and Susan Buckley are more than happy with their basic but useful 1990 Peugeot 205 XA van.

Winner of the Anniversary Concours trophy was David Loasby. His 1982 Vauxhall Astra GL has been in the family since new.

The Smith family, Keith, Julie and Megan, all prepared to make a weekend of it with their 1969 Bedford HA Roma MkII camper.