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.
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It disappeared years ago but has now resurfaced, and oh my, it has been through hell and back
Trust me these things are unkillable.
Now that it’s been well publicized, ICE will soon be deporting the Chicago Twingo.
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.
This reminds me of the Clio V6 RS I spotted in a Purdue University parking garage back in 2011! I literally almost rear-ended the car in front of me when I spotted it, and to this day still don’t understand how or why that gorgeous little unicorn was in a parking garage in West Lafayette Indiana, but it was magical to see!
Boiler Up!
Funny enough, I actually went to IU. My best friend who I was visiting at the time was a Purdue student.
This may happen, since someone on Oppo has their eyes on it as another OppoX car, if they can get it cheap enough. Especially with the possible title sketchiness, that might be the best fate for it.
Maine recognizes Canadian titles, and will cheerfully register anything if you show up at your local town hall with cash to pay the excise tax and registration fees, which is a way that a number of 15yo otherwise persona-non-grata cars have snuck into the country. Maine also didn’t title cars over 15 years old for a long time (25 years these days), which was a way to get untitled cars legal elsewhere. I may or may not have assisted with such shenanigans for friends over the years.
I really love Twingos. I drove one quite a bit while I was in Budapest one time. Cheap and cheerful done right, and indeed, wonderfully space efficient, and they have that nice soft French ride. But this one is probably barely fit to be a parts car at this point. I suppose with the low miles the mechanicals are probably fine if it hasn’t been completely neglected. But I wouldn’t bet on that.
I used the Vermont title loophole to get a lost-title 1974 Honda CB motorcycle registered in FL. That was an awesome system until they shut it down.
“casseroles calling themselves pizzas”
I always knew you were a good’un, Mercedes!
This is similar to a Honda Fit or Scion xA in shape and utility. Either of those would be a better choice for a daily driver. However, for the sheer collectability and uniqueness of the Twingo and its low mileage, it’s a good candidate for restoration. There must be plenty of parts available that could be shipped over from Europe.
Once you’re in it for about four grand, you’re still in it for much less than a low-mileage Fit. (Do your due diligence on the title and registration, though!)
The Twingo was years before the Fit or the Scion though. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of people first bought them to replace a 2CV that was getting a bit long in the tooth. (The 2CV was only retired in 1990, just a couple of years before the Twingo came out).
I replaced my 2CV in the early 90’s with Citroen’s Twingo: the AX. Aerodynamic and light, with lots of clever engineering the AX did everything the Twingo did except look cute.
Plus you could get a GT version of the AX, and later a GTi. Even the base 45bhp car was fun, mine had 85bhp and weighed the same as a S1 Elise, but with four seats and electric windows.
And the door pockets would hold a full size bottle of wine. Priorities!
I had an AX with the normally-aspirated 1.5 diesel that made something like 50hp. Even in such a light chassis, it was probably the slowest car I’ve ever owned (even slower than my first car with its 500cc twin), but the fuel mileage was insane, close to 60mpg.
Gave it to my mom who kept driving it for many years (she had a very long commute at the time) until the fuel pump died at well over 200,000miles (something like 350,000kms) and a new pump would cost about twice what the car was worth.
The AX Diesel was used to record a 100mpg trip on public roads, an amazingly economical car even when mercilessly thrashed.
Hard pass. For the money it would take to get this in decent condition you could import a nice one for far less.
This one has an interesting story, which has to be worth something.
I moved to the UK once, and foolishly – yet successfully – imported my fairly new E90 into the UK …… 3 liter engine and all. When I was done, I sold it to a Frenchman from Marseille who said it was otherwise impossible to get N52 and X-Drive in France, but he needed it for the Swiss Alps. I have no idea how much of that was real, but the coffee can full of Euros did the trick for me.
Anyhow, based on what i learned from that importing saga, I will state that THERE IS NO WAY WHATSOEVER in which you can import ANYTHING for less than two grand, let alone “far” less.
I’m sure importing one will be more than $2k, but it will probably cost over $10k to get that Twingo sorted. There are no Twingo parts in America, so every part would have to be imported. And when it comes to body parts that is going to get real expensive, real fast.
Fair points. But it doesn’t seem mechanically unsorted. Panels can be fixed – though glass does need to be shipped.
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.
From what I’ve gleaned online Lou’s uses a very similar crust recipe to places like Giordano’s but just uses straight crushed tomatoes as the sauce. Does that jibe with your perception? I’ve had neither firsthand so I can only go with what I make from recipes I find and Giordano’s posted theirs on their website.
Gino’s East is sold here as a frozen pizza. Its OK as that but homemade “Giordano’s” puts it to shame.
I tried Giordano’s and Lou’s the same week and my perception was the later had the edge. Crushed tomatoes were just more distinctive, flavorful and looked right at home unlike Giordano’s run of the mill tomato sauce.
Hmm. Well I guess I’ll give straight crushed tomatoes a shot on my next pie.
Carmen’s is still better than Lou’s. Carmen’s always had the best sauce and crust. Until Wild Tomato came along no one did pizza better. WT uses a yeastier crust which holds is back from complete perfection, but they come close. If WT switched to a buttery crust, they could finally achieve it, but I doubt they’ll change. Because WT isn’t in Chicago, Carmen’s still holds that crown, but if you’re ever in Door County Wisconsin, do not miss the chance.
Giordano’s hasn’t been great in the last 25 years. They were amazing at the start, but lost it somewhere. Gino’s East hasn’t been amazing either since like the late seventies.
It’s frankly weird how sure I am in these opinions. Like I can discuss them, but will never argue about them because they can’t be changed by any kind of talk, only taste. When my wife first told me about Wild Tomato, I stopped her and would not talk about it until I tried it. I think pizza might be the closest thing I believe in that I could call religion.
Well I’ve never tried a pizza from Giordano’s, only followed their recipe. So who knows if that is the recipe they use now.
Given Wild Tomato is in Wisconsin I wonder if they use brick cheese instead of or along with mozzarella.
Their cheese is pretty amazing. Interestingly, the parmesan they use, which is just as amazing, is from BelGioioso, so I assume they use their mozzarella as well. The main reason their food is so good is the ridiculously fresh and high quality ingredients they use. Like, the sausage and pepperoni are obviously the crap from the local restaurant supply, but curated for quality.
I call their pizza raccoon crack because if you leave any more than three feet from anyone they will steal it in broad daylight. True story.
Given Wisconsin is thousands of miles away I’ll have to take your word for it 🙁 Sounds great though.
Was the “pie” spelling intentional?
I dunno, not my spelling.
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
Gauloise blondes are beer. You’re thinking of the nasty unfiltered Gauloise (brune) in the soft blue pack.
Culturally speaking I don’t associate the Twingo with Gauloise. I’d expect Marlboros. Or maybe Camels.
Gauloise are smoked by Peugeot drivers.
Citroen H-van and fourgonette drivers smoke Gitane maïs.
ouch, i used to love a “nasty” Gauloise, when tobacconists weren’t vape/hookah shops. even lucked into a pouch of RYO when visiting a cousin at UW. oh well, i’m supposedly a non-smoker now.
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.
> the French tend to treat cars as disposable
Not really. People there keep their cars much longer than we do in the US.
French fleet is 10.5 years old. Us is 12.5. It may have been the case at certain points but not for a while. In little towns they probably last longer bringing up the average. But in the larger cities for a lot of people it’s basically a bagering ram.
Interesting, I sit corrected.
It’s interesting if you dig though the weed on it too. The us commercial vehicle fleet is much newer then personal vehicles. Where the opposite is true in France and a few other European countries. The last I checked the us personal fleet is something crazy like 17 years old now.
Wow, really? I’m always shocked by how many new cars sell every year in the us. It’s something like 1 in every 20 people (including babies and centenarians) buys a new car every year. That seems excessive, but I guess if you assume about half of those 20 are drivers, it sort of works out to 1 new car every 10 years for any random person.
I haven’t looked at that data in a while. Alot of times it’s coming from dealers then registrations neither really separate commercial vehicles from personal. A sale is a sale and tax revenue is tax revenue. One thing that is really shocking are class 8 trucks. Because they rack up so many miles so quickly alot of the bigger companies rotate though them quicky. Like maybe every 3 to 4 years.
Those trucks live hard lives.
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”).
Not a Chicago native but a frequent visitor – you go to Lou’s for the butter crust.
Matt is from Texas so he has no idea what he’s talking about. My wife love Lou’s too. ????
I think he now lives in Brooklyn which has a different definition of pizza.
Fresh pizza is like sex. Even when it is different and not great it’s usually still pretty good.
Personally, I prefer NYC-style pizza, but I went to law school in Chicago-land so deep-dish is just fine too.
There’s nothing wrong with yeasty crusts that you can fold so you can eat on subway like an animal.
I kid. Almost any pizza is good if the ingredients are good and it’s well prepared, even Canadian bacon and pineapple. It’s kind of a miracle food in that respect. But screw calzones. 😉
Introduced the partner and daughter to Lou’s on a visit to Chicago October 2023. They loved the spinach (Lou) pie but the sausage was a bit much. I find Giordano’s to be too heavy with the stuffed crust. I was not able to visit a Portillo’s on that trip.
The sausage is that which I was referring to as meat pie. It’s over the top. A parody if you will. That my only real ‘beef’ with Lou’s. Otherwise it’s great.
In case anyone was wondering, the best pizza currently available on our globe is to be had at Wild Tomato in Door County Wisconsin. You can argue that if you want, but you’ll still be wrong.
Casseroles can have crust. The culinary definition of a casserole is “any dish baked and served in a deep, oven-safe baking vessel”.
A Chicago-style “pizza” is what would happen if you listed the ingredients of a real pizza to a focus group comprised of Bill Swerski’s Superfans
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Swerski's_Superfans
I still can’t fathom how I lived in Chicagoland from the ages of 0-19, eating many, many tavern cut pizzas, but never had a deep dish until I was in my mid 20s. At a Pizzeria Uno…in Norfolk, VA.
I moved to the Chicago area when I was 10 and I never had a deep-dish pizza (Lou Malnati’s) until I was like 38. I was underwhelmed. It was OK, I could finally say I’ve had deep-dish, but I’m in no hurry to have it again.
so a savoury tart then?
Really too bad with the non fitting steering wheel, the rest seems fixable with some bodywork and paint.
Exactly. What were they thinking??!!
“This is cheap and it fits on the steering column.”