Seattle Citroën
1986 to Present
(British Columbia)
1986
There was a quiet period between 1981 and 1986 when only two notable things happened; The demise of Marcel Pare’s brief Citroën blitz in 1981 and of course Parthenon Motors closed their doors for good in 1984.
In 1986, a terrific international Citroën event occurred; Raid Canada 1986. Raid Canada was a Cross-Canada adventure from Montreal to Vancouver in Citroën cars from all over the world. Following is a quote from the citroenvie.com website that was written as the raid was passing through Peachland, BC:
“…This is a very long day driving (535 km) so get an early start from Castle Mountain. This turned out for me to be the best single day’s drive. The gradual change of scenery made it a most rewarding day via #1 to Revelstoke (with its impressive Hydro Dam Project) and #97 south through the Okanagon. Yes, we did stop to do some wine tasting and fruit buying. During the nights in Peachland we were visited by 2CV owners, Tom Anderson from Summerland, and Thijs Dohnt from Peachland. Two beautiful Charlestons from Washington state joined us for the final drive to Vancouver. Water-skiing, swimming and Andre’s birthday were enjoyed along with gallons of ice cream, cake and local wine at the last night of camping’s “bring-your-own-meat BBQ”. Lots of fun!
Finally the last day on the road into Vancouver back on home turf. Sad? A little. Fun? You bet. For me the holiday ended at this point but for the others it was a chance to explore the world’s most beautiful city (just a little prejudice, you say?) and Expo 86. The last Hurrah was a banquet at the International Plaza with prizes, gifts for some, an excellent dinner and dancing. Adam had his leg pulled by Albi, Uli and Beat with the presentation of a special tree as a memento of “Raid Elliot Lake”. It was also a time for frantically swapping addresses, saying goodbyes, and the evening ended when Henri led us all in a song, which naturally flowed into Auld Lang Syne in 3 languages.”
On Friday morning before people dispersed and went their separate ways there was a final chance to be on TV with CBC in Stanley Park…”
For those going to Expo ’86, the star of the show must have been the brand new CX GTI at the French exhibit. It was eventually sold directly from the exhibit (!) and airlifted (!) to Ontario: Now don’t ask me how that happened!
1989
ESCARGOT MOTORCARS
In 1989-90 NWCOC member Greg Long's own company, Escargot Motorcars, imported ‘almost’ new 2CV’s from France and sold them across the USA and Canada. Escargot’s Worldwide Headquarters was in Toronto where Greg had his own office in brother John’s communications company Quadravision right on Lake Ontario overlooking the city and Toronto Island. Greg loved every minute of it. Greg had gone to Queen’s University, received an MBA, but resigned from his fancy job in international banking with the Bank of Nova Scotia to import Citroëns. Follow your heart they say and, 30 plus years later, it worked!
But how does Escargot Motorcars connect with BC? Well… South Coast Ford in Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast of BC became an enthusiast dealer. What, you may wonder, was the lengthy legal procedure one had to complete to become an Unofficial Authorized Dealer?
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You had to ask, and
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Buy at least one car.
South Coast Ford secured a ton of cool publicity including a lengthy road test on a local TV station. Search for “Escargot Motorcars” on YouTube to watch it.
Escargot Motors also had a dealer called Akos Motors in Kelowna, BC. I won’t tell you how many 2CV’s they sold but it was less than two - We told you selling Citroëns in BC wasn’t easy!
Escargot Motorcars morphed into Eclectic Motorcars when 2CV’s went out of production in 1990 so we did the same ‘procedure’ to new Beetles in Mexico. And, bizarrely, we sold a gaggle to the Canadian Skoda importer Skocars who actually marketed them! Escargot came to an end in the early 1990’s.
WHISTLER MEETING
A highly memorable Citroën gathering was held in BC in 1989; the Citroën Autoclub Canada’s Whistler Meet.
The meeting was held right in Whistler Village. Dozens of Citroëns, mainly from BC and Washington State, attended.
We encourage you to search YouTube for Gary Cullen’s video of this meet.
FRENCH AND ITALIAN CAR SHOW
The year 1989 was also the first year of the French and Italian Car Show in North Vancouver. This event has gradually gained steam and is now clearly the biggest and most impressive annual gathering of French or Italian cars in BC.
BC’s super-Citroën-enthusiast, Johnny MacGregor, has been the catalyst that has kept the momentum going for this event. In fact, Johnny has “almost” managed to increase participation each year of the event. In 2016, 51 French cars attended. In 2017, the number rose to 63. When you look at the statistics of how few Citroëns were sold in BC (refer to the 1974 section), and how old the cars are, numbers like this are pretty amazing.
The event was held on Father’s Day each year at Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver. Unfortunately, between the COVID lockdown and the city of Vancouver's change of heart about car shows, the event has been shut down.
JOHNNY MACGREGOR IN 2019
2002
EUROCAR IMPORTS
Wim Van der Bom from EuroCar Imports was another character in the local BC Citroën world. Referring to him as a character might be a bit of an understatement. EuroCar Imports represents one of those sad situations in which many of the people who came in touch with EuroCar Imports got their fingers burned.
EuroCar Imports claimed to be an importer of Citroëns (mainly 2CV’s and H-Vans). They also claimed to have parts / repair / restoration capability. The business started up in 2002 and operated out of an industrial park in Port Moody, BC (photo below).
Based on an article Wim wrote about himself in the Citroën Autoclub Canada newsletter in 2003, Wim honestly seemed like a true Citroën enthusiast. He talked lovingly about his DS, CX, and 2CV’s he had in Holland. After coming to Canada, he imported a 2CV and decided that this hobby could be a business and created Eurocar Imports (www.eurocar.ca). Unfortunately, his apparent enthusiasm was not enough to make the business work. One acquaintance of Wim’s whom we talked to described the situation as “…he simply got in way over his head and started cutting lots of corners…”
Wim was tied in with another character named Noel Slade who was for a while working in BC with Wim importing and repairing cars. After customer complaints and debt started piling up in BC, Wim fled back to Holland and Noel fled Canada. But the problems continued to grow. The citroenvie website has a long story about Noel Slade that we will not go into here.
2012
2CV POUR TOUJOURS
A significant reason for Citroën’s resurgent popularity in BC is local restoration and mechanical support from Lionel Hondier of 2CV Pour Toujours (2CV Forever).
Lionel was born in Normandy France, near Rouen, the oldest of 5 kids. Lionel’s father had a little farm and not much money, so they had to repair everything themselves. In 1993, he moved from France to Montreal, then to Vancouver a year later. In June of 1997, Lionel was hired by an old Scotsman who owned a British car restoration shop called, Alistair Black Special Services Inc. Lionel and a handful of other employees were doing full restorations at this shop, mostly on British cars. A number years later, he decided to downsize and so it was just the owner and Lionel to carry on. In 2012, at 80 years old, he passed the business off to Lionel.
After Lionel took control of the business, he created 2cvpourtoujours to help local 2CV owners that needed repairs or restoration. Today, Lionel’s business is about equally split between English and French cars. The 2CV however was always was Lionel’s favorite. Imagine working on an old Bentley or Jaguar one day, and then a 2CV the next!
Lionel has restored many BC-area 2CV’s and the results are fantastic! 2CV Pour Toujours is located in an industrial park at 3-5438, 176th Street, Surrey.
LIONEL HONDIER (RIGHT) AND ROLAND MILAIRE (LEFT) AT LIONEL’S FACILITY IN SURREY IN 2019