By Classic Yorkshire correspondent Tony Lofthouse
A rare 32-year-old Daihatsu Applause was crowned champion at this year’s Festival of the Unexceptional (FOTU), surely one of the more unusual classic car shows in the UK.
The annual Hagerty FOTU celebrates the many long-forgotten family cars from the sixties, seventies and eighties.
For the car’s owner, Stephen Pike, the festival prize was extra special having driven 900 miles from Sweden in his Applause to join the event at Grimsthorpe Castle.
Stephen was thrilled to have made the long journey, saying: “I read about the Festival and love unusual cars. My Applause was unloved and I’ve been on a mission to save it.”
It’s certainly an unusual car. The Daihatsu looks like a family saloon but look closer and it’s actually a 5-door hatchback.
Launched in 1989, the Daihatsu Applause faced stiff competition on these shores from the likes of Ford, Vauxhall, Peugeot and Rover and sales struggled. By 1996 the car was dropped in the UK with only about 2,200 sold.
Second place at the festival went to a 1983 Austin Metro owned by Sion Hudson. Sion had spent the last two years gathering original parts to return it to its former glory.
Coming third was Hugo Naaijkens from the Netherlands with his Subaru Justy.
The ninth running of the FOTU attracted around 1,200 cars and over 3,000 visitors. Among the other rarities spotted was a Moskvitch Aleko, a trio of Toyota Tercel 4x4s, several Metros, a Morris Marina and the only Yugo Sana in the UK.
Personally, I love the idea of celebrating some of the motoring world’s unloved cars and seeing owners put their time, money and effort into bringing them back to life. Roll on the 2024 festival.