Here’s a gong that Toyota may prefer to ignore.
The Toyota Hilux has been named the winner at this year’s Festival of the Unexceptional in the UK (FOTU).
A total of 50 cars were selected for the main Concours event as representatives of the finest mundane cars in the world.
Lead Judge, and Practical Classics Editor, Danny Hopkins announced the 2024 Concours selection as the finest he had seen in the event’s 10-year history.
The winner’s trophy of the 2024 Hagerty Festival of the Unexceptional was awarded to Mitch Lewis and his immaculate 1982 Toyota Hilux.
The car has been a workhorse for much of its life, having been used on a fruit farm since new, but it remains completely original and was absolutely immaculate.
To prepare for the event, the car was simply cleaned well, and driven to the event.
Second place was awarded to Amy Jaine and her 1998 Renault Clio.
The Clio was originally owned by her grandmother, bought to take her grandchildren on days out.
Many years later it was destined to be scrapped as it was no longer used, but Amy rescued it and now uses it to take her grandmother on days out, keeping the car, and fun, alive.
All of the judges highly commended Lewis Dickson for his 4,000-mile Citroen Visa, a car that had been stored outside, opposite his workplace, for a number of 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.
When asked if such a rare car attracts attention, he replied, after some thought, that it did not.
The final highly commended nod went to Damian Brannigan and his wonderfully standard 1993 Fiat Panda.
The Chairman’s Award was presented to Colin Corke and his Applejack Metro.
Colin understands FOTU better than most, having entered a car for the past 8-years without winning anything.
This year’s success shows that persistence pays off at FOTU.
The Retro Repmobile Award was given to Luca Alpert and his Nissan Primera.
Luca is 21, drives the Primera daily and travelled all the way from Hanover to enter the 2024 Festival of the Unexceptional.
His enthusiasm for the car, and the FOTU event, was notable.
The 10th Anniversary Hagerty Festival of the Unexceptional event enjoyed another sell-out success at Grimsthorpe Castle on Saturday, with a record attendance of over 2000 cars and more than 4000 guests enjoying the Lincolnshire sunshine.
Thousands of FOTU era cars lined the castle grounds for as far as the eye could see, with many owners having travelled hundreds of miles to be there.
The public display had an eclectic mix ranging from a perfectly unexceptional Vauxhall Belmont to a base-spec, hubcap-shod W140 Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and everything in-between.
Hagerty created the first Festival of the Unexceptional back in 2014 as a celebration of long-forgotten everyday family cars from 1968-1989, now fondly known as the ‘Unexceptional Era’.
With each of the 10 years that have passed since, the event has evolved, becoming bigger and better as its reputation spread around the world.
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