The City of Chicago is known for its many cultural delights including vibrant communities, delicious hot dogs, and casseroles calling themselves pizzas. Chicago’s car culture is also something else, as on any given weekend you might see anything from a Bugatti Veyron to a rotted-out 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme that’s somehow still holding onto life. Another Chicago legend is the 1993 Renault Twingo known as the ‘Chicago Twingo’ in some car circles – and it’s for sale.
Okay, wait, don’t hurt me, I do love Lou Malnati’s! Anyway, this once-cute runabout is infamous for showing up in Chicago around 2008, a solid decade before the car should have been legal to import. It disappeared years ago but has now resurfaced, and oh my, it has been through hell and back. We don’t know how legal it is, either. And yet, I can feel $2,000 suctioning out of my bank account right now.
If you’re a fan of imported cars, you’re almost certainly aware of the so-called ‘25-Year Rule.’ The U.S. government is quite strict about what cars can legally come through the border. There are exceptions, but most non-U.S. market cars have to wait at least 25 years before they can be imported. This becomes especially weird when one of your favorite cars was a sort of crappy econobox like the oh-so-adorable Renault Twingo. The earliest Renault Twingos went on sale in 1993. That means the vast majority of examples were not legal to import until 2019. Yet, this car has been seen driving around Chicago since the late 2000s. What gives?
Before we get to that question, some of you probably wonder what’s the big deal about this Twingo thing. Pretty much every car enthusiast website in America has talked about the Twingo at some point with most enthusiasts drooling over the things. They’re still popular over in Europe, too. When I visited France last year, the Twingo was easily one of the most popular classic cars. There was no shortage of Frenchmen riding four-deep in old Twingos, each smoking a Winston cigarette. [Ed note: Each of the Frenchmen or each of the Twingos? You know what, it doesn’t matter – Pete]
Yet, these cars are also practically worthless. You can get one for as cheap as a few hundred Euro and these cars are just getting discarded left and right, not unlike how Americans treat Chevy Cavaliers.
According to Car Body Design, the Twingo story started in the 1980s when Renault decided to replace the R4 with a multi-purpose vehicle. But the designers and engineers of this new car were given an especially difficult task as this new MPV had to be even cheaper than Renault’s existing cheap models back then. This project was called the W60 and in 1986, designer Marcello Gandini created a concept for it that embraced the futuristic wedge styles of the 1980s.
The project was then briefly canned, only to be revived in 1987 with a fresh face, Patrick Le Quément, leading the project with what was the equivalent of $700 million back then. From that moment, the design team was dedicated to making a car with a huge interior like the Espace, but with a cute design that the team hoped would become something iconic. It wasn’t enough that they built a roomy car. It also had to be trendy.
In 1992, Renault surprised everyone with a car with a design that was as endearing as it was unexpected. Twingo is much more than a car, it is a whole concept imagined by project director Yves Dubreil and designer Jean-Pierre Ploué. Designed as a small MPV with a “frog face”, Renault Twingo is a single version, a single engine, a single price and 4 colors available at the launch of the first collection.
With a monovolume silhouette and four wheels pushed to the ends, the small Renault Twingo nevertheless reveals an interior space surprisingly larger than its 3.43 m length would suggest (it’s the cabin of Dr. Who). Inside, habitability is the key word. The idea of Renault Twingo being to live “the life that goes with it”, Renault has installed an ingenious sliding and reclining rear bench seat, as well as seats that can be transformed into a bed. Why not a Boulot, Twingo, Dodo?
The name Renault Twingo is a contraction of dance names, the twist and the tango. With such origins, Twingo can only offer us a memorable sound. When it was released, Renault Twingo was only available in 4 colors. And not just any colors: ultramarine blue, Indian yellow, coral red and coriander green (we are far from the black, gray and white cars that are so common on the roads!). To add some fun to this car with a good “face”, you could also opt for a sunroof (in canvas or glass).
The Twingo became one of those instances in which when an automaker hit its target right in the bullseye. Crowds were stunned at auto shows and the Twingo quickly became a sensation. The car’s original production run lasted from 1993 to 2007 and when all was said and done, Renault moved 2,444,455 units. Renault also knew not to mess with perfection and the Twingo looked pretty much the same through its entire run.
The Chicago Twingo
So that’s why so many people love the Twingo. How on Earth did it end up in Chicago in 2008?
If you search the Internet, you can find a slew of photos showing the car parked in various spots around Chicago beginning that year. The car’s become a local legend with people making their own guesses as to how it got here. Some folks think it’s registered as an Eagle Premier while others think it must have been driven across the southern or northern border.
Renault Twingo with Illinois, USA plates! The official car of..?
byu/hoesuay inregularcarreviews
The car’s also fallen into rather horrible shape during its time in the American Midwest. The car was once shiny and sleek with only the smallest dent on the trunk. Now, it looks like a vehicle out of an early Mad Max film. What happened?
I found Jorge’s Reddit account, where in 2023 he explained that he bought the car about a decade prior from an eBay auction. That places his ownership at about 2013, or still years before when a 1993 Twingo should have been legal to import.
When asked about Jorge’s ownership and how the vehicle fell into disrepair, he said:
I bought it impeccably on eBay Motors many years ago but an accident and lack of spare parts threw everything away.
As for if he imported the vehicle, Jorge replied:
No, I bought many years ago on eBay Motors, I suppose a military soldier brought it to the country.
That explains a lot. Soldiers and diplomats are allowed to bring their personal vehicles into the country. The cars are supposed to return to their home countries, but sometimes these vehicles end up in America permanently. Back in 2022, I spoke with Dan Kokal, the former Compliance Coordinator for the Automobile Importers Compliance Association. Today, he runs Private Vehicle Imports and he specializes in finding every possible loophole to make an otherwise illegal car permanently legal. It’s something Dan told me he’s very good at since he was one of the ones who fought against the import rule back in the 1980s.
He informed me that there is a path for cars imported by members of the military to become legal, but this path – which he wasn’t willing to reveal – isn’t really accessible for the common person. Sadly, it’s unclear if the original importer of the Twingo used a mysterious loophole or if the car is here illegally.
J’ai trouvé… une Twingo en plein Chicago
by invoiture
What I can tell you is that the car was in much nicer shape back when people were spotting it throughout the 2010s. Then, the poor little car got into a crash. Unfortunately, this Twingo highlights one of the extreme downsides of owning an imported car in America. If you crash it, there’s no telling if you’ll find the parts or labor to fix it. Or, maybe you will find the parts but the cost to ship them would make a repair uneconomical.
As it is, importing a car like this to America might cost you $1,500 to $2,000 in just shipping charges alone. So you really have to want this few hundred Euro economy car to want to import one. Then, pretty much any repair you do to the car will be worth more than what you spent on it.
I’m not surprised to read that Jorge ended up parking the car and letting it sit for at least three years. Jorge has been considering selling it since late 2023, and now he’s finally got the car running and driving enough to sell. He wants just $2,000 for it.
Jorge says the car has just 46,000 original miles. Normally, that would be something to cheer about, but its crash damage is so dramatic that I’m not sure the low miles are much of a selling point anymore. At least you’re still getting a cute French economy car with a 1.15-liter four making 60 HP and a five-speed manual. You’re still getting all of the quirks and what appears to be a largely clean interior.
I see lots of potential in this car. You could just drive it as-is and enjoy it as a weird winter beater. Or you can go crazy without guilt and turn it into an off-road car or something. Heck, I bet you could get the car to look really presentable with liberal use of a hammer and a rattle-can paint job. Even if you got a Twingo for free, it would still cost you more to get it here. So, as long as you’re willing to roll the dice on the federal legality of this thing, maybe $2,000 is a deal.
Or, maybe it isn’t. I know I wouldn’t want to worry about the feds coming after my cute French pile of junk. However, as I’ve learned from the import world, many enthusiasts have a price range within which they’re willing to gamble. So, whether the dice roll is worth it or not is be up to you. I’m just stoked to see this Chicago legend is still kicking – even with its teeth knocked out, this little car still looks happy, and that’s the magic of the Twingo.
Nearly everything about this hits a little too close to home, except literally, as it is safely about 2000 miles away.
Oh shit, I didn’t even think to send this over when I saw it on Facebook Marketplace! I suppose Mercedes has the Chicago Facebook Marketplace covered, though.
I always wonder what happened when I see really trashed imported cars, especially when its stuff like failed clearcoat and rust and whatnot, like, who goes through all that trouble, just to let a car go completely to hell? There’s someone in Virginia selling a Reliant Rialto that he thinks is a Robin, with smashed glass, faded paint, that’s never been titled or registered despite being in the country for some time. As much as I wouldn’t mind one, I don’t know that I want that one.
Also, unsure of how my state would classify it, if its a car, forget it, would never pass emissions, if an autocycle, maybe
The first generation Twingo was around long enough (all the way to 2012 in Columbia) that I figure one of those should be able to pass after a certain year
A significant number of the people from whom I buy my cars, as it turns out, so in some sense I am grateful.
I have seen this car! Just last week I drove past it parked on Clark Ave. Crazy how even at night on a barely lit stretch of Clark its cuteness draws your eye immediately.
“casseroles calling themselves pizzas”
Damnit! Now I gotta dust off my Giordano’s recipie.
Lou’s FTW
Giordano’s is just too heavy.
I saw a lot of Twingos in Tahiti and Moorea in this condition, still going like bats out of hell around the island roads. I would absolutely rock this one. But with a different steering wheel, because ew. I don’t think I could talk my wife into it, though…
love the idea of buying a wheel out of the ECS Tuning discount bin to put in a goddamn Twingo
Those Frenchman are smoking gauloise blonds.
Eh, Winston, Gauloise, its all Imperial Brands, close enough
Amost 17 years in Chicago and I’ve never seen this car, or even heard of it!
I think you should ask the notorious WSG if it’s worth the risk. Personally, I think you should buy it but I am completely biased because I just want all the juicy articles that would come because of it.
You really don’t see those little French cars. I’m guessing because the French tend to treat cars as disposable. So an economy car really doesn’t fair well. I kinda doubt finding parts would France be easy or even possible. Maybe someone that was stationed in Italy? brought it over.
Casseroles does not have crust! Careful Mercedes. Even incidentally going after deep dish pizza around here is a fraught position. In other words, don’t go after Carmen’s stuffed spinach and mushroom without a fast escape route.
However, if you want to slam Lou Malnati’s disgusting meat pies, go right ahead. 🙂
Lou’s is my favorite food of all time! ♥ I’ve heard Matt call Chicago deep dish a casserole and I can’t stop laughing about it.
Matt’s just ripping off Jon Stewart (who also slammed deep dish as an “above-ground marinara swimming pool for rats”).
Matt is from Texas so he has no idea what he’s talking about. My wife love Lou’s too. ????
Really too bad with the non fitting steering wheel, the rest seems fixable with some bodywork and paint.