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Photo Sleuths #4

NEW
2/2025

Have a vintage photo of a Citroën in the USA or Canada? Send it in and we will see what we can learn about it! 

OTTAWA, ONTARIO, MID-1970's

 

With the name of the cafe in the background, finding this location was easy: 82 Bruyere St. Ottawa, Ontario. 

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Google street view  2021

THEN

NOW

The café was in business in the 1960’s and 1970’s but the building changed to full residential later on. The SM is a North American model (North American rear license plate lighting and side marker lights). I cannot tell if the SM is a 1972 or 1973, but I think I see a bit of a headlight glass cover. If this is right, then it is most likely a 1972 since 1973 Canadian SM's had the USA sealed beam headlights without the glass covers (you can read about the lighting on Canadian SM's HERE). The other car is a 1971 Chevrolet Impala, apparently a Canadian model since it has no side marker lights.

 

The photo most likely was taken in the mid-1970’s. 

THE BRONX, NEW YORK, ~1970

 

I had not seen this photo before, so it was fun to dig into it. Searching through the old Citroën dealer directories quickly revealed that this was a Citroën delership called, Richard's-Citroën-in-the-Bronx, Owned by a man named Richard Gottlieb.

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Google street view  2024

2024

~1970

RICHARD GOTTLIEB

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Legacy.com

I asked Michael Cox about this dealership and he came up with an old article that he had published in a 1999 edition of the Citroën Quarterly newsletter that was titled, A Bronx Tale, written by none other than Carter Willey. It turns out that Carter briefly worked at Richard's Citroën in the late 1960's. You can read the Citroën Quarterly article HERE

The dealership was located at 1954 Jerome Avenue in the Bronx neighborhood of New York, directly under the elevated Cross Bronx Railway. The neighborhood looks pretty crummy in the old photo and it hasn't changed much. But the same building is still there, still an auto repair shop. 

 

It seems that Richard's-Citroën-in-the-Bronx started up in about 1967 and was gone by about 1971 (it was not listed in the 1972 dealer directory). After he closed the dealership, Gottlieb went into the solar energy business. He died in 2012. 

The DS in the foreground is a North American specification DS21 Pallas. Since it has old door handles and side marker lights, it must be a 1969 1/2 to 1971. The side view mirror looks like it has a single mounting bolt, so this suggests that the car is a most likely a 1970 or 1971 and the photo must have been taken in this time frame.

MONTREAL, 1961

 

An awesome old photo of a billboard! But can we figure out where it was located and when the photo was taken?

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Montreal Billboard

Montreal Archives

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Google Street View 2022

How to approach this one? First of all, we can read that the company advertising the DS was called Auto-France. This was a well-known dealership in Montreal between 1958 and 1962 (you can read about Auto-France HERE). 

On the far left side of the (full) photo, we can see a sign on a building that has the name of a construction company. I cannot read the full name of the business, but I can see some of the letters. Searching period phone books and old newspapers eventually revealed that the business was Serrentino Construction. Knowing the name allowed me to quickly find the address: 6660 Decaire Boulevard. 

Digging through the the city of Montreal Archives, I eventually found that the photo was snapped in June of 1961, which fits nicely in the window when Auto-France was in business. 

Looking at Google Street View reveals that the corner lot with the billboards is still vacant and still is used for billboards! 

BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS, UTAH, LATE 1960's

There is a whole series of photos of this guy and his station wagon that float around the internet, and this is just one. Who is the guy? I have no idea. 

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Google Street View 2018

There is no question where this photo was taken, but were exactly was he parked? A bit of Google research suggests that this photo was taken from the rest stop off of the westbound direction of Interstate 80 in Northwestern Utah. The big sign is long gone, replaced with the small one shown above. 

The car has DS19 style hubcaps and second generation nose. This means it is a 1963-1965, but since the color seems to be Brun Isard (AC414), the year can be narrowed down to a 1964 or 1965. 

I have no idea when the photo was taken but since the car looks very new, I am guessing mid-to-late 1960's. 

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, 1961

Another submittal from Michael Cox. 

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Google street view 

The location of this one is easy due to the cable cars. It is Hyde Street in San Francisco, looking North toward Alcatraz Island. The DS wagon is parked on Hyde, between Lombard and Chestnut.

 

The first DS wagons appeared in 1960 and this particular car has a first-generation nose. This means that it must be a 1960-1962. Michael Cox indicates that this is a screen grab from an old movie called, Experiment in Terror, which was released in early 1962. This means that this scene was probably filmed in 1961.

 

One oddity is that the wagon has the small European-style hubcaps, something not normally found on USA cars. The wagon also has aftermarket front bumper guards. Even though the photo is black and white, I think the wagon is black, AC200. 

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ~1966

The man is instantly recognizable as Albert Bonfond (Richard's father). But when and where was the photo taken?

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Google street view 

Bonfond Family Archives

First some background: Albert Bonfond was a Belgian who operated an auto repair shop in Brussels after WWII. In 1956 he moved his family to the USA where they worked their way west to Los Angeles, where he quickly got a job at Citroën Cars Corporation. Albert's son Richard followed in his father's footsteps and is now North America's expert on all things Citroën. 

The car has a California license plate and I can see a Crocker Citizen's Bank in the background. With these clues, it did not take long to discover that this photo was snapped directly in front of Citroën's flagship dealership location at 8423 Wilshire Boulevard, in Beverly Hills. 

The car is a Chapron variant called, Le Leman, of which there were apparently only 16 made between the years of 1965 and 1967. The XAS tires and the 2nd generation nose give this car away as a 1966 or 1967, but Tim Broers discovered that it is a 1967. The photo must have been taken in late 1966 or early 1967. 

This very car was shown at local auto shows, including the 1966 San Francisco International Auto Show, from which a photo exists. Tim Broers reports that the car was originally sold by Citroën from their Beverly Hills location, so it is likely that the photo with Albert Bonfond was taken before the car was handed off to its first owner. Furthermore, Tim indicated that the car was still in California into the 1990's, but is currently in Italy. It remains in perfect condition. 

CHAPRON "LE LEMAN" AT THE 1966 SAN FRANCISCO AUTO SHOW, HELD IN NOVEMBER OF 1966 

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Duke Q. Manor Photograph Collection, as transferred to the Revs Institute

2014 PHOTO OF THE CAR, NOW IN ITALY

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Proto provided by Tim Broers

NEW YORK CITY, ​MID-1960's

This photo could be in any big North American city, but the No Parking sign looks distinctly American, so we can exclude Canada. The clue to solving this one turned out to be the Central Tavern sign in the background. 

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Google street view 

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Somewhat tediously, I searched old newspapers and phone books for a Central Tavern for several big American cities, but I wasn't getting anywhere. To help narrow it down, I eventually took a gamble that the Central from Central Tavern might have been referring to New York (Central Park, etc.) and this gamble paid off. The location of the photo is Third Avenue and East 74th, looking west, just a few blocks away from Central Park.

The Central Tavern is long gone, but a similarly-shaped sign is still on the corner of the building and it is still a bar. 

The DS has a first generation nose with Lucas front turn signals. This means that the car must be a 1958-1962 DS or perhaps ID. The color is probably black, AC200. The date of the photo is a tough one, but I do see a few mid-1960's cars in the background, so I am going to guess mid-1960's.

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