ASTRAL PLAIN
Every year since 2014 – apart from the Coronavirus-addled horror of 2020 – people have gathered to pay homage to very ordinary, rather elderly cars. Often the venue is far grander than the metalwork parked there. The main parking area is crowded with cars that were once ubiquitous, but have been rendered rarities by the depredations of time and lack of interest. Another zone displays 50 specially-selected ‘mundane motors made between 1966 and 1996.’ I am talking, of course, about the Festival of the Unexceptional and its Concours de l’Ordinaire, which have proved to be a resounding success, with visitor numbers growing year on year.
What this tells me is that I need to wind my neck in a was the Mk3 Astra, I literally snorted in derision. But I was, I realise, suffering from a disorder rather prevalent among car writers who, as a breed, tend to regard ordinary automobiles as a bit beneath their notice. Not everyone is quite so snobbish, it turns out.
