Seattle Citroën
Photo Sleuths #6
NEW 8/2025
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!
HINSDALE, ILLINOIS, MID-1960's
The clues for this one are the businesses in the background. A bit of googling quickly revealed that Schoen's Clothing has been a fixture in Hinsdale, Illinois for decades. Hinsdale is a suburb of Chicago.
Google street view
NOW
THEN
The wagon is 1965 or earlier since it has the older 165X400 tires and DS19 style hubcaps. It has a second-generation nose, so it must be a 1963-1965. The only color that matches the color in the photo for these 3 years is Gris Sable (sand gray, AC104) which was only offered in 1963. As a result, I think that the wagon is probably a 1963. The photo was likely taken in the mid-1960’s.
Two questions come to mind: 1) I wonder what he was doing under the hood? And 2), what happened to the rear door?
The only dealer in Chicago at the time was Midwest Auto Imports, so it is pretty likely that is where the car came from. Midwest Auto Imports was in a pretty impressive building at 44 North Laramie Avenue. The building is still there, now a church.
Google street view
44 NORTH LARAMIE AVENUE TODAY
MIDWEST AUTO IMPORTS
VANCOUVER BC, EARLY 1970's
The clue for locating this one was to notice that the Ford van in the foreground is labelled as a Mercury if you zoom in. In the USA this was a Ford Econoline but in Canada they were rebadged as a Mercury Econoline. So we are in Canada. I googled "Super Valu grocery store with curved roof in Canada" and I came up with the answer: 3250 West Broadway in Vancouver. Unfortunately, absolutely nothing remains of the older buildings in the current view.
THEN
The DS is 1968 - 1971 Canadian model Pallas (Euro headlights, old door handles, Pallas side trim). The newest car in the photo seems to either be the DS or the 1970 Cadillac on the far left, so the photo is probably early 1970’s.
Google Street View
NOW
