Renault’s conquistador of the city, the Twingo, was both adorable and also just ridiculous looking simple car. It’s a sight at which you do an almost snorty giggle. At the dawn of the 1990s, Renault hired Jean-Pierre Ploué to design this tiny thing, which at the time sold for nearly $19,000 new in today’s money. Offered initially in one trim only, the Twingo sat four, had a backseat that slid, and was powered by a lifeless engine that made 75 baguette-crushing horsepower. Like any other automobile, the Twingo went through a few minimal refreshes over its nearly twenty year lifespan. Very little changed, and in fact when Renault halted French production of the first generation Twingo in 2007, they still kept building them in Columbia for another five years.
When the last Twingo I happily rolled off the assembly line in June of 2012, it marked the end of a grand 2.6 million unit production run. Laugh all we want (totally warranted) at its circusy styling, but truthfully the car’s been a success for Renault, driving endless amounts of cash into the automaker’s wallet. Now in its third generation, the Twingo III looks actually attractive and eerily similar to Fiat’s 500. And that’s not a bad parallel to be had. History lesson aside, let’s get into the contest.
During our last Hooniverse Classic Captions Contest, Honda’s 1981 Quint played along and showed us so much late 1970s/early 1980s swagger. Here are some of the best entries from enthusiastic readers like you.
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