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FotU 2021 - GO GO GO!


BorniteIdentity

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Here's an idea to define "unexceptional"; exclude any car that cost more than the mean, or if you wish to tighten that, the mode salary in the year it was built.

More controversial? Anything with more than four cylinders.

That should keep shit like Porkers, Bentleys and Jags out.

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That Bob Marsh is wrong about the Mondeo and your Audi. Both cars would have been prime midde management company cars in their day.

Shows like this bring back memories of the cars you, your mates and your parents owned. Seeing the Opel Kadette brought back memories of the one I owned as a 19 year old. The Fiat 128 and the Avenger my parents owned when I was growing up. The green RS2000 my music teacher at school had one that colour. He was an amatuer rallist and his had the big Cibbies on the front and full rally spec. These cars bring back memories of when you grew up. If your parents owned a Porsche or Bentley or the Rolls convertible you were probably a boarder at public school so had no memories of the cars anyway.

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12 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

And 5 cyl Audis etc?

I did say it'd be controversial but to me, an Audi isn't really an 'unexceptional' car but a 'premium' car.

'Unexceptional' to me means a typical family saloon that your average working man would buy if he chose to buy new - Victor, Viva, Cortina, Mondeo, Montego, Ital, Marina or less. Not wishing to go all "Four Yorkshiremen" here but I came from a working class rural background and I simply didn't know anyone who bought new cars, apart from a couple of rich Uncles.

Just because a particular Audi is base spec doesn't mean it's 'unexceptional'; my 5er is pretty much base according to its build list (only specified options were the smokers pack and a spare wheel) but there's no way I'd consider it an 'unexceptional' car.

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7 minutes ago, R1152 said:

I did say it'd be controversial but to me, an Audi isn't really an unexceptional car but a premium car.

It's unexeptional because it's an Audi from the late 20th century. It was sensible and well-proportioned. Understated, not brash. Nothing more, nothing less. You knew what you had when you bought an Audi. For most people nowadays it would most definitely be classed as dull and uninspiring. By your logic I doubt you'd have liked seeing the Cavalier Diplomat that was there either. That was definitely at the same level of "premium" but was made by the same company that made run-of-the-mill family cars.

I knopw the word "unexeptional" is incredibly subjective, but the event was packed full of cars that were, at the time, so common and so ubiquitous that most of working Britain drove them. While an Audi 100 and Mondeo may have been considered as "interesting" and a car to aspire to own back then, they certainly aren't regarded as such by the general public in the present. That includes the plush models and things like that because they were all current cars at the time. Their popularity and disposability means they aren't common today, and this is an event that celebrates them as time is pretty much forgetting them entirely.

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On 7/29/2021 at 10:21 PM, trigger said:

I'm a bit gutted but I can't make it now this year, I was really looking forwards to it but the Dolomite which is the car I've booked in has smashed its starter motor and my dad's offered to come over on Saturday to help me fix it (it's a right sod to get to the top bolts) and I need the car fixed for a local show. 

Have a great time those who are going! 

The Dolly Sprint putting up a protest there, leave it to the ‘Dolomite 1300 walk the plank dash’ models, i’m off the the festival of the exceptional.

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51 minutes ago, Fumbler said:

I knopw the word "unexeptional" is incredibly subjective

And therein lies the rub: it is entirely subjective so it is very hard to define - one man's meat and all that. I wouldn't have included the BMW E34s that were there, for example (and I own one so I could be biased) yet Ercole Spada's styling was, IMO, timeless and sublime: yet despite what you thought, I'd actually have been quite happy with the Cavalier Diplomat you mentioned. It is, when all is said and done, just a Cavalier in a posh frock.

Similarly I can think of other late 20th century cars that aren't showy - like the BMW E39, the last 5er before BMW lost its way and went really horrid.

Okay, I've made my suggestion and have drawn fire for it - so how would others on here impartially define "unexceptional"?

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I think my geeky thoroughness got away with me at this show... Maybe I’m an above average nerd for this stuff. Did anyone else find that they missed out on lots of potentially excellent ogling as it had all driven off before you got to them 😢?

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16 minutes ago, R1152 said:

Okay, I've made my suggestion and have drawn fire for it - so how would others on here impartially define "unexceptional"?

Vehicles that were incredibly common and ubiquitous on Britain's roads in the 20th Century. They were so common that the general public didn't really care for them until so few were left and people began to feel nostalgic for them.

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3 minutes ago, Fumbler said:

Vehicles that were incredibly common and ubiquitous on Britain's roads in the 20th Century. They were so common that the general public didn't really care for them until so few were left and people began to feel nostalgic for them.

This plus a minimum production run. Unexceptional doesn't include RR Corniche? Porsche 928, 924 and one other, DeLorians, Jensen Interceptor....While nice to see it doesn't fit the definition for me.

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9 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

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I just had the breakdown recovery man. come to see my Favorit which failed to proceed past Hull on Saturday morning.  He had passed that green one yesterday on the motorway and took a photo because he had not seen one for years, only to get called to a job today on another Caribbean green Favorit

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1 hour ago, R1152 said:

Here's an idea to define "unexceptional"; exclude any car that cost more than the mean, or if you wish to tighten that, the mode salary in the year it was built.

More controversial? Anything with more than four cylinders.

That should keep shit like Porkers, Bentleys and Jags out.

the tickets this year for the non concourse section were sold  as Classic or unexceptional vehicles, so I guess the unexceptional bit is only meant to refer to the concourse cars now so they can attract more cars to what would otherwise be a smaller show

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31 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

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That Blackline must be unique in that condition. The last time I looked on howmanyleft they were in single figures and that was a few years back but I'm sure none of the others look like that. Those wheels, Ronals I believe, were used on this and the Silverline only and suffered from serious laquer peel. Those ones look in excellent condition. 

 

Edit: 

HML now says two left registered and eight Sorned so I'm not far wrong. 

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22 minutes ago, wesacosa said:

I just had the breakdown recovery man. come to see my Favorit which failed to proceed past Hull on Saturday morning.  He had passed that green one yesterday on the motorway and took a photo because he had not seen one for years, only to get called to a job today on another Caribbean green Favorit

Nothing serious I hope? 

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1 hour ago, Fumbler said:

Vehicles that were incredibly common and ubiquitous on Britain's roads in the 20th Century. They were so common that the general public didn't really care for them until so few were left and people began to feel nostalgic for them.

So expressed as a ratio of production to survivors then?

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17 hours ago, Brodders said:

With an equally appearing Mk2 Cavalier further down

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Really pleased to see this, as I owned this Cavalier for a few months in 2007 (I did a double-take when seeing the registration on the Hubnut video).  Bought for £100 from the 97 year old original owner to save it from being scrapped, I put a pair of front wings on it (paint match looks better than I remember so maybe they’ve been done again!) and had the inners welded up.

Of the 30-odd cars I’ve owned I think this is the only one that survives (it’s possible the ‘78 Opel Rekord I sold to a guy in Belfast still lives too), which I never would have put money on at the time.

https://api.flickr.com/photos/43761783@N03/6354589635/

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Back from both the FotU and being at the FoD for yesterday evening and this morning.  Very eventful weekend.

Thoughts on the FotU:  It's a real shame that the negatives/bad aspects of the show were so prominent, as it rather overwhelmed the positives of the show for me:
The traffic management was, quite frankly, shocking.  The tailbacks onto the main road were just unforgivable.  That wasn't just a minor error, or a slight slip-up, that was a complete and utter shambles of a "system".  After an hour of queuing to get onto the site, and having got perilously close to boiling, (as I'm sure many people were worried about) we completely ignored the absurd system that they were using to check tickets, as there was a 100yard clear bit of track in front of me and people still stuck for miles on the road.  So of course I kept moving.  And was then shoved into the "moderns" car park, while 70-plate BMWs, teslas and a whole host of other modern stuff was parked up in the chod parking.  I can only assume that someone put a rocket under the traffic mismanagement people and told them to just clear the damn road, parking everything up ASAP.  The "follow me" van was utterly pointless too, with dozens of people just ignoring it and driving out.  Reasonably so in the circumstances.
The "music" was just awful and made having conversations anywhere within about 200 yards of the stage basically impossible... which is what I wanted to do.  I'm more interested in catching up with people I've not seen for years than listening to the badly-equalised over-amplified warblings of a 5th-rate band doing cover-versions of songs I quite like and don't want to hear wrecked.
Toilets?  Utterly under-provided.  4/6 portaloos for 2000 people just doesn't work.

But.  The cars that were there (once you'd ignored the stuff that really should not be there) were superb.  It was slightly surprising to see three Mk3 Cavaliers in the concours, while TripleRich's Granada wasn't, but maybe someone making the decisions doesn't think that Orl Voxholls R Shit.  Some of the stuff in the chodparking was absolutely wonderful to see, with more examples to list than I can right now.  It was a good day out, with lots of chod to see, lots of people to talk to and a very pleasant location.  Had the traffic management been even just competent, the "music" been sacked off and rather more loos been available, it would have been a superb day.

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It's been great seeing all the images from afar. I don't believe the owner of the winning Proton (Jon) is on here, but he went to school with Ms Slappy so she shows me all his Facebook updates when he gets something new. 

He also rescued an early Kia Pride a couple of weeks ago (Yup, another one!), also still has the whitewall spare :-D , along with several other early Protons. There was another black one with a spoiler in the car park, which is his too and I think he has a beige one as well.

I think Ms S has sent some screen shots of this Parish, so he may well be along shortly!

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8 minutes ago, Slappy said:

It's been great seeing all the images from afar. I don't believe the owner of the winning Proton (Jon) is on here, but he went to school with Ms Slappy so she shows me all his Facebook updates when he gets something new. 

He also rescued an early Kia Pride a couple of weeks ago (Yup, another one!), also still has the whitewall spare :-D , along with several other early Protons. There was another black one with a spoiler in the car park, which is his too and I think he has a beige one as well.

I think Ms S has sent some screen shots of this Parish, so he may well be along shortly!

he definitely has a bronze/gold one as he half thought of selling it a few months ago and I half thought of buying it. not sure its in the same league as his black ones though

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Couple of FotU photos - I took a couple of hundred on the big camera I think but it'll take an age to sift through them so here's a sample from my phone. 

Chance encounter with @davidfowler2000 in the queue

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An Alfasud made of actual metal?

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Unexceptional examples of exceptional* cars

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@Fumbler impressing the ladeez... With a One Litre Beater™️

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Might post a few more tomorrow. Maybe. 

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From my experience running 'small' outdoor events, I'd have split the incoming traffic into two lanes to be checked in, with each side having a 'layby' for anyone who's name isn't on the list, or can't find their ticket, or <insert problem here that would hold them up> so that whilst they are sorting things out, other people can be admitted.

As to bogs, based on the size of event (there is a mathematical formula, but I'm not sad enough to look it up in the book that's on my bookshelf) they could have done with doubling the numbers there - remembering as well that people attending a car event like this at a country house want a bit of a nicer atmosphere than glastonbury. And bins at strategic points.

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I may as well post some of mine here, too.

Rather than do the sensible thing and take the DSLR, I took a circa 2002 Sony Mavica that records pictures onto CD-RW, just for shits and giggles.

It worked, though. More or less. Colour balance is way out, but the pics have ended up with a bit of an 'expired Kodachrome' look to them.

Anyway:

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My wife declared this SD1 her favourite car of the show. I felt very proud of her for saying that.

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It is utterly gorgeous, though.

As was this:

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Were it not for their well-deserved reputation to rust for fun, I'd have bought one of these years ago.

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This seemed unimaginably posh. And the CAD numberplate is bang on.

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The @Skizzer / @RobT Espace was a joy to behold. Nicola said about how she'd have loved one of these for holidays as a kid, and I had to concur. Still a proper world-beater, and timeless in design.

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Wish my Acclaim had worn Prelude wheels like this one.

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Good news!

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PLAH

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When you have a Busso'd 164, it's obligatory that you expose its ventricles to the world.

Very close to NSFW, that.

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Frighteningly on-edge CX that must be a gnat's tadger away from absolutely crippling bodywork repair bills. Still unutterably gorgeous, though.

I have more, but they're worse, so I'll not force them on you.

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1 hour ago, Talbot said:

 Had the traffic management been even just competent, the "music" been sacked off and rather more loos been available, it would have been a superb day.

I agree. As far as I can remember that was the longest I've sat in a queue to get into anywhere (about an hour and 20 minutes) and I felt that the music, apart from being bad wasn't necessary. Apart from the queue to get in I had a great day. I was a bit apprehensive beforehand as it was the furthest I've been in the 205 since Chumley back in 2019 but I needn't have worried as the trip there and back was trouble free. I did turn the engine off while in the queue as after a while the fan cut in and as it doesn't have a temperature gauge (because French) I thought it best to err on the side of caution.It was a relief to finally get in and park up.

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Upon arrival I found myself parked behind a certain Dacia of this parish.

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 Here are a few pics of some of my favourite cars of the day. Top of the 'I haven't seen one of those for ages' list had to be this Daihatsu Applause, a car which you hardly ever saw even when it was current.

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Best of the rest.

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My Dad owned a two door Mk1 Cavalier back in the early 90's so I was pleased to see this one, even if it didn't have a vinyl roof like Dad's did. 

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He also had a Connaught Green over Snowberry White MG Magnette so I was pleased to see this too.

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After a few enjoyable hours of walking and chatting it was off home in convoy with @catsinthewelderand @MondeoBlues . I think we had the 205 of @Erebus behind us too for a few miles before Melton Mowbray.  All in all a great day spent with good company and some prime chod. When's the next one? 🙂

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