BILL LONSETH

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By the late 1970's, the surprisingly active Citroën scene in Portland was sadly winding down. After Roger Sagner's Motor Mart came to an end in about 1980, the only real Citroën support network in all of Oregon was from Bill Lonseth.  

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Bill became involved in Citroëns from an early age and by the late 1960's, he had landed his first automotive job working for a Citroën dealership in the Oregon city of Springfield, called S.L. Motors. S.L. Motors handled several marques, including Citroën, Peugeot, Renault, Studebaker, Mercedes, and Datsun. Within a year so of working for S.L. Motors as a parts manager, Bill was asked by Citroën to move to Los Angeles to help run the parts department for Citroën L.A. By about 1974, Bill moved back to Portland to work for Portland's Citroën dealer, Roger Sagner, where he was the parts manager. Throughout these various jobs, Bill's skills dealing with parts books, ordering, and stocking parts for cars, especially French cars, was finely honed. His skills even landed him a job at a Citroën dealer in London, England for 5 years called, BWB Motor Services. 

 

After Roger Sagner's Motor Mart came to an end, the once thriving Citroën support network in Oregon had pretty much dwindled down to just Bill. He helped local owners keep their cars running for a number of years. But eventually Bill retired from working on cars as his health became an overriding issue. 

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Bill was very gracious to help us prepare the Oregon section of this website. 

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Bill passed away on January 7, 2023.