Celebrating the Ordinary

Last week, we were thrilled to be able to bring you news of a classic car event later this year. This is of course wondrous news, given we’re all champing at the bit to get out there and get to some car shows. The event in question was the Festival of the Unexceptional, from Hagerty. A show that shuns the glitter and chrome of automotive exotica, and instead embraces the brown and the Bakelite from the other end of the motoring spectrum. And in writing about that upcoming event, it gave us time to ponder.

It’s always a joy to walk the greens of Goodwood or Hampton Court Palace when said greens are laden with the weight of classic car royalty. The million pound machines, the bespoke creations, the Italian stallions and the like. These cars are incredible, there is no doubt. But is being incredible exclusive to the expensive? Of course not. We’ve argued before that a classic car is about the individual and what they make of it, what level of joy it brings them to own it. And it’s on that basis that we would argue a bottom of the range, cloth-trimmed, plastic-bumpered, steel-wheeled ‘normal’ car can be just as incredible. In fact, we would go so far as to argue that cars of such an ilk are capable of being even more incredible.

The Ferraris, the Jaguars and the Porsches are almost expected. Their value means their chance of survival is much, much higher, because nobody – generally speaking, there are exceptions of course – ignores or neglects such a car. There is also a massive industry to prop up these cars, with specialists aplenty, parts readily available and restoration never more than a call away. It’s easy to keep these cars going if you have the money to do so. But it’s their status within the motoring world that serves to secure their survival. What about the cars that nobody cares about until it’s too late?

That’s what Festival of the Unexceptional got us thinking about. Walk around this show and you’ll be subjected to a sensory overload, your mind’s eye will be whizzing in and out of your memory banks faster than you ever thought possible. These cars are just as important as the exotica because, well, they are a more honest representation of us, of our lives, of our memories. These cars were the once familiar shapes that filled our streets, they were our first cars, they were our parents’ cars, they were part of the vibrant tapestry of our past. And that is what makes them incredible.

Classic cars, and their preservation should not be seen as something only for the elite. Nor should be seen as something more ‘normal’ cars aren’t worthy of. Speak to the owner of that Datsun 120Y, or of that Maestro 1.6HL and you’ll speak to someone brimming with as much passion and enthusiasm as Mr. E Type. These men and women keeping the forgotten, old cars on the road are card-carrying members of the classic car world, and rightly so.

These cars were once ubiquitous, but then like every ‘normal’ car, they get replaced by newer models, they move further down the depreciation curve and eventually they end up unceremoniously stacked atop each other before waiting for the unforgiving hand of the scrap claw. Some, of course, delay this by clattering on for another few years. Others, however, drive on by with a caring owner behind the wheel. And these cars go on to be cherished, and eventually, they’re seen as rare but important survivors. And while a Vauxhall Astra 1.4 Merit from 1986 might not have the beauty or the pace of a Ferrari 275, it can move you in a different way. It can, as we mentioned earlier, transport you back through your own memories. That’s powerful.

Cars – cheap or expensive – are more than cars. They are part of our social fabric. Nobody remembers their father’s first washing machine, but they do remember his first car. You’ll have forgotten what television you had in 1989, but you can remember your car, can’t you? Cars are a part of us, of our lives and of our journeys – both literal and metaphorical. It’s an attribute that no other machine can claim. So, while it’s nice to look at the ‘lottery win’ exotica, it’s also important to remember the underdogs, the ‘everyman’ cars, the normal. These are the cars that made us. So if you’re presented with the opportunity to acquire a Mondeo 1.8LX from 1996, or a Nissan Sunny from 1985, do it. And also be sure to celebrate those who already are. They’re preserving our past by affording the mundane and the average with the same care and dedication as those with something from Modena in the garage.