Seattle Citroën
The 1990's
(Seattle)
MIDDLETON-OFF-MAGNOLIA
The late 1980’s brought an end to this author's shop in Issaquah as career and family took precedence. Fortunately, Chris Middleton, the talented son of a Boeing aerodynamics engineer stepped into the picture to continue with Citroën repairs in the Seattle area.
By the 1990’s, routine maintenance on DS’s had largely given way to complicated and extensive restoration work as the cars aged. Chris took on the challenge and in a few short years, managed to be able to perform full restorations, including rust repair, mechanical, and hydraulic work.
Chris rented a large shop with several colleagues on the east side of the Magnolia neighborhood, just north of downtown Seattle. Chris had staying power, since he was in Magnolia restoring Citroëns for 30 years! He restored dozens of the local cars, including Dr. Paul Joos' beautiful 1966 convertible.
The Magnolia shop was also full of other interesting machinery from France, Germany, Italy and England. Chris’s personal cars included a Peugeot 404, a Fiat Multipla, a DS wagon, and a rare 1965 DS19 Pallas.
To our great sadness, Chris was taken away from us in September 2023, due to illness. Read HERE. As a result, the Magnolia shop has been closed, leaving Seattleites without any DS repair shop options.
UPDATED
10/2023
CHRIS MIDDLETON AVEC UNE ROUE ROUGE EN 1997
PAUL JOOS's CONVERTIBLE
MIDDLETON'S MAGNOLIA SHOP
RHINO MOTORS
Another Seattle-area enthusiast who grew up around Citroëns was Greg Bruninga. After owning several DS's in the 1980's, Greg opened a repair shop in Seattle called Rhino Motors. It was briefly located in the Interbay neighborhood of Seattle, but soon moved to its more permanent location at 310 NW 100th St. in North Seattle.
Rhino Motors opened in the early 1990’s and specialized in parts and repairs for Seattle's aging fleet of Peugeots, but occasionally worked on some of the local Citroëns.
Photo provided by Chris Dubuque
RHINO MOTORS JUST BEFORE CLOSING UP - 2008
Eventually income from the dwindling supply of Peugeots dried-up and as a last ditch effort to stay in business, Rhino started to work on Jeeps and other cars, but to no avail. Rhino Motors closed in about 2008.
Photo povided by Vlad Gladkov
Povided by Vlad Gladkov