The Festival of the Unexceptional (FOTU) is the car show for our everyday heroes. The cars that did the school and supermarket run, the daily commute and the family holiday road trip.
Open to cars from the 1970s to the year 2000 it’s the only day in the year when the automotive community gathers to celebrate the Sierra, watch a cavalcade of Cavaliers or marvel at a mint Micra.
They’re survivors in world where the next best thing has always come along to supersede their role at the heart of daily driving. Cars that have been saved for their stories, not their valuations.
Each year we roll the cut-off age for entries forward by 12 months so 2025 will welcome the first Millennial motors. To mark this memorable moment at this year’s FOTU we’ve got a special display looking ahead at some future stars that will become eligible for entry over the next ten years.
Let’s take a look at five of the ordinary autos that future FOTU fans could soon be driving.
Vauxhall Corsa
It was in late 2000 that Vauxhall put “The Biggest Small Car We’ve Ever Built” on sale with the aid of an ad campaign fronted by Griff Rhys Jones, who boasted about its “active front head restraints, speed sensitive power steering and athletic styling.” Although the Corsa would be offered with such luxuries as an Easytronic automated manual gearbox and satellite navigation, and in hot GSi form, your dream FOTU spec would be the one-litre three-pot Expression. A 1.2 Comfort that helped propel the Corsa into the UK’s top five best-selling cars of 2001 would also do nicely.
Smart ForTwo
Before it got the much, er, smarter ForTwo name the innovative joint venture between Smart and Mercedes was known as the City Coupe. The first UK cars were grey imports in left-hand-drive, with right-hookers arriving by the end of 2001. With its ridiculously compact dimensions (you could park nose-in to the kerb and still stick out no more than a regular hatchback), unique safety cell and customisable body panels the Smart was, arguably, rather extraordinary. Yet it’s the ForTwo’s dedication to the twin purposes of efficiency and affordability that makes it so FOTU-friendly. Just don’t turn up in a Brabus edition.
Proton Impian
Proton and FOTU are a perfect pairing. In fact, it was the 1989 Proton 1.6 GL Black Night of Jon Coupland that won the Concours d’Ordinaire in 2021. If you fancy your chances in a few years then perhaps a Proton Impian could be your ride to common or garden glory. Launched in 2001, it was Proton’s first in-house design, although the 1.6 and 1.8-litre engines were sourced from Mitsubishi and Renault. Proton owned Lotus at the time and Hethel had a hand in the handling, so Impians are quite entertaining to drive, but best keep that under your hat.
Tata Nano
Designed to be the world’s cheapest car, the Tata Nano cost drivers in its native India less than £2,000 when it went on sale in 2008. The tiny rear-engined egg on wheels had four doors, but money was saved wherever possible, so it had just a single wiper and wing mirror and, unwisely as it turned out, only three lug nuts per wheel. Autocar called it a “surprisingly decent proposition,” but that referred to the way it drove rather than its business model and the car was axed after ten years. It was never sold in the UK, but if you import one, we can’t think of a more low-spec vehicle to enter a future FOTU with.
Dacia Sandero
Good news! The Dacia Sandero will soon be eligible for FOTU fun. The Romanian brand’s hatchback may have been the butt of Top Gear jokes when it came out in 2008 but it would go on to become the best-selling car in Europe. It’s about the least pretentious way of getting from Point A to Point B, practical, spacious and absolutely uninteresting. In eight years’ time when it becomes FOTU-eligible just think how incredibly ordinary it will look on the lawn at the Festival.
Join the Celebration of Everyday Classics!
From Cavaliers to Corsas, the Festival of the Unexceptional is your chance to see the unsung heroes of the road – including a glimpse of future FOTU stars. Don’t miss out on this uniquely charming event. Grab your tickets now and be part of the most wonderfully ordinary car show of the year!
