1965
FRANCE AUTO LTD.
After a relatively stable year or two, a new dealer showed up in Vancouver in late 1964 at 1383 Hornby Street; France Auto Ltd. So by early 1965, there were two horses (so to speak) in the race for BC sales; Sargent Sales and France Auto Ltd. Precious little information was found for France Auto Ltd. but they did advertise a few times (see example right).
CITROEN SHOWROOM IN VANCOUVER
By July, 1965 the cat was out-of-the-bag with the following announcement by Citroën:
“…Citroën of Canada Ltd has established its Western Canada headquarters in Vancouver and will build a $250,000 showroom and service department here next year. The building, to be located at Drake and Burrard, will occupy a quarter of a block, and space will be provided for used cars on a lot at the rear facing Hornby. Construction of the one-story building, designed by Gerald Hamilton and Associates, is scheduled for completion in November or early December. George Benson has been appointed sales manager at the new Vancouver headquarters and Andre Milaire service manager. Jean Huyghues-Despointes, a director of the Citroën company of France for many years, is in Vancouver to make final arrangements for the new facilities...”
It looks to me that the corporate Citroën Canada Ltd. took over France Auto Ltd. as both were at 1383 Hornby, leaving Sargent to now compete directly against the corporate store.
Remember the name Andre Milaire? He was the guy who used the old Docksteaders building at 2030 W. Broadway to work on Citroëns in 1962. Now in 1965, he landed a job as Service Manager at the Citroën Canada Ltd.’s newly set-up headquarters in 1965 (see articles below).
UPDATED
11/2019
UPDATED
11/2019
A couple days after the big announcement of a new fancy headquarters, a startling headline in the Vancouver Sun appeared:
“…Docker Struggles from Dunked Car… a longshoreman kicked and struggled to safety today after he plunged into 60 feet of water off Lapointe pier trapped inside a car… he said he was steering an imported Citroën car to a waterfront compound after it was unloaded from the French freighter Chili. “The brakes didn’t work and the next thing I knew I was in the water and sinking in the car.” He said he managed to get a window open as the car was sinking and when it came to rest on the mud on the bottom he forced the door open. “I swam up to the surface but my lungs nearly broke,” he said. “I must have been a good 2 minutes under water.” Police said the car jumped an 8 inch guard rail and sank immediately. “When we arrived, we found a half-dressed longshoreman gasping for breath on a pier,” a constable said. He said a lifeboat from a neighbouring ship picked him up…”
So did he jump in a DS and drive off before sufficient hydraulic pressure had built up after its’ long boat ride from Paris? Scary!
1968
1968
UPDATED
2/2022
UPDATED
7/2020
1966/1967
UPDATED
11/2019
UPDATED
11/2019
1989
1989
coming soon
UPDATED
6/2020
UPDATED
6/2020
UPDATED
6/2020
UPDATED
7/2020
2012
1971
1971
UPDATED
11/2019
UPDATED
11/2019
UPDATED
11/2019
US and Canadian DS's - Introduction
US and Canadian DS's - Introduction
UPDATED
3/2022
Early 1969
UPDATED
2/2022
The year 1969 brought curious changes to DS’s bound for the USA. There were significant mid-year changes in 1969, so we will identify cars from early and late 1969 as; Early 1969 cars and 1969 1/2 cars. This section deals with the early 1969 cars.
EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Early 1969 cars bound for the USA (both sedans and wagons) received the same exterior lighting that 1968 USA cars had. In early 1969, Canadian sedans and wagons still had full Euro lighting.
DASHBOARD AND WIRING
1969 DS’s for the USA had two dashboard designs, one appearing on early 1969 cars and a different one that appeared on 1969 ½ cars. The early 1969 dashboard changes are described below:
-
The most notable dashboard change on USA DS’s in early 1969 was that the little round dashboard switches that had been used for a number of years were replaced with rectangular rocker switches made by Jaeger. These rocker switches were only used for a few months in early 1969 and were apparently an interim solution to comply with US crashworthiness rules associated with occupant safety. There is an ID19 dashboard from early 1969 that also uses the Jaeger switches. Annoyingly, some of these switches didn't have symbols on them, so one had to memorize the function. See photos.
-
The ignition switch was moved from the main dashboard facia to the left side of the steering wheel pod, also presumably to comply with US crashworthiness rules.
-
Hazard lights were now factory incorporated into the wiring and operated by one of the rectangular Jaeger rocker switches.
-
The dash had black crinkle paint on the steering wheel surround instead of chrome/aluminum.
The above changes started driving even more substantial differences in the wiring between USA and Euro models.
Early 1969 cars for the USA still had different turn signal switches than Euro cars and a separate turn signal flasher unit. However by 1969, the flasher was no longer made by Klaxon. Instead the unit was made by Scintex (P/N DX 575 100).
Early 1969 USA DS21 dashboard with Jaeger Rocker switches. This particular car has Coolaire A/C
Early 1969 dash showing close up of poorly labeled Jaeger switches
Early 1969 dash showing ignition switch on left side of steering pod. Also notice black crinkle painted steering wheel surround
Early 1969 ID19 USA dashboard with Jaeger switches
Typical Jaeger Switch used on an early 1969 DS dashboard
The Citroën parts book suggests that these USA dashboards with Jaeger switches may have been used on late 1968 models as well, but we believe this is not true. To our knowledge, these dashboards were only used on early 1969 USA models.
Canadian cars received new dashboards in 1969 as well, but the dashes were much closer to their European counterparts, with rectangular push-on, push-off switches made by Gelbon.
The speedometer on USA/Canadian cars continued to have minor differences (units in MPH and minor warning light differences).
DOOR LATCHES
1969 through 1971 USA models had different door latches and striker plates than the Euro models. These changes were to help prevent the doors from popping open during an accident (they were called anti-burst latches). Specifically, the striker plate had an extra layer of metal that would prevent the door latch from disengaging from the striker plate if the pillar moved away from the door in an accident.
A second door latch change occurred on 1969 through 1971 cars. The front doors received a little black knob on the aft edge of the door that could be used to lock the front doors from the inside. We believe that this was required by US regulations. See photo.
The parts book suggests that these unique door latches were on some 1968 USA models as well, but we believe that the parts book is in error and they were only used on 1969 to 1971 USA cars.
It is noted that the Euro and USA door latch and striker plate components cannot be intermixed, thus making it difficult to find a matching spare part. There are latches that are chrome-plated or not chrome plated, left or right, front or rear, USA or Euro. By our count, there are 16 different door latch part numbers! And it doesn’t help that the 1966-1969 parts book is hopelessly confusing for door latches.
Although the parts books do not reflect it correctly, we believe that Canadian cars received the Euro door latches until late 1971 when the configuration of Canadian cars essentially merged with USA cars. This means that Canadian cars had USA anti-burst door latches for only a few months in late 1971, noting that in 1972 the door latch design changed considerably.
USA 1969-1971 DS anti-burst striker plate
USA 1969-1971 DS door latch comparison - Euro is on the left, USA anti-burst on the right
Typical Euro striker plate
USA 1969-1971 DS’s had a black knob to lock front doors from inside
To help make sense of the confusing 1966-1969 parts book description of door latches, we have sorted it out for you (see table below).
TABLE NOTES:
-
Most of the EURO latch part numbers were also used before 1966 but this article is only addressing 1966 -1972 cars.
-
Pallas door latches are chrome-plated. Other than the visual difference of the chrome plating, Pallas and non-Pallas latches are interchangeable.
EMISSION AND SAFETY EQUIPMENT
Smog controls remained virtually unchanged on early 1969 cars for the USA market as compared to 1968's. The only noticeable smog difference was that the oil cap on the engine’s valve cover was vented with a hose for 1969 (oil cap P/N DX 132-81). The other end of this hose went to a spigot on the intake manifold at the base of the carburetor. It seems that a few 1970's also have this vented oil cap, even though the parts book implies that it was only 1969's. The vented oil cap disappeared completely by 1971.
Canadian cars still matched Euro cars and had none of the USA emission controls.
Vented oil cap used on USA 1969 and 1969 1/2 DS's
STRUCTURAL
In a curious move, Citroën added stiffeners to the chassis in several areas, just for USA models. This occurred in several locations and affected numerous years.
One of the stiffening tactics that does not seem to be documented in the parts books are a pair of channels added to the floor, just in front of the muffler box. We believe that these stiffeners were only used on early 1969 USA DS’s. They disappeared by 1969 ½.
Also, the floors in the front footwell were double-layered in this era (equivalent Euro cars only had a single layer front floorboard). Very few of these unique USA structural modifications are documented in the parts books or repair manuals.
HYDRAULIC FLUID
Early 1969 DS's in North America (Both USA and Canada) continued to have LHS2 hydraulic fluid in the hydraulic systems. European cars received LHM in 1967.
A 1969 owners manual from a Canadian 1969 DS had this odd stamp over the page discussing LHM
TIRES
By 1969, all DS’s in the USA were equipped with an unusual and mostly forgotten Michelin tire, called the XH (size was 180-380, used on the front and rear). Euro equivalent cars had XAS tires, with most Euro models having narrower tires in the rear.
We believe that Canadian 1966 to 1972 sedans and wagons were all delivered with 180-380 XAS tires, however documentation is scant.
Extract from a 1969 USA owners manual specifying 180-380 Michelin XH tires. We found several owners manuals from this era where this page was stapled or glued over the original page that showed XAS tires.
Michelin XH tire