Seattle Citroën
The Early Years in BC
UPDATED
12/2024
BEDAUX EXPEDITION
The first Citroëns in BC were undoubtably from the The Bedaux Expedition of 1934, also named The Bedaux Canadian Subarctic Expedition. This was an attempt by eccentric French millionaire, Charles Eugène Bedaux, to cross the wilderness of the northern parts of Alberta and northern British Columbia in Canada, while making a film, using Citroën half-track vehicles. The trip was also to generate publicity for himself.
Bedaux was acquainted with car manufacturer, Andre Citroën, who designed the Citroën-Kégresse equipped half-track trucks that were used on the expedition. Of the five Citroëns that the party used, two were reported to have slid off of cliffs and a third was used in a shot where it was put on a raft where it was supposed to meet a stick of dynamite and explode. However, the shot was ruined when the dynamite failed to explode and the truck floated down river and was stuck in a sandbar. The last two Citroëns were abandoned near Halfway River.
When the Alaska Highway was built in the 1940's, a Fort St. John man discovered the remains of these last two half-tracks and one was donated to the Western Development Museum in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and the second is located at the Reynolds-Alberta Museum. Both were restored and are on display (see photos).
CITROËN-KÉGRESSE HALF-TRACK TRUCKS FROM THE 1934 BEDAUX EXPEDITION
SURVIVING CITROËN-KÉGRESSE IN THE WESTERN DEVELOPMENT MUSEUM IN SASKATCHEWAN
SURVIVING CITROËN-KÉGRESSE IS IN THE REYNOLDS-ALBERTA MUSEUM
WILLYS DISTRIBUTORS BC
Citroën themselves was not present in Canada in these early years, but we found that there was an independent company that tried to sell Traction Avants in BC in the late 1940's.
A company called Willys Distributors BC began selling various trucks (Willy's, Kenworth, Diamond T, Jeep, etc.) in Vancouver in the mid-1940's. By 1949 and 1950, they were advertising that they were also selling Citroën, Renault, and Fiat. (The Citroën model that was offered was the Traction Avant.) In the early 1950's, they tried adding some British cars, such as Vanguard, Hillman, Austin, etc.
But none of these experiments lasted. They gave up on the imported cars after just a few years and the company disappeared completely by 1955, about coincident with the end of production of the Willys Aero automobile that they were selling. Their association with Citroën was particularly short, maybe just for a year (1949). We have no idea how the cars were getting imported, nor do we know how many they sold (probably not many).
Willys Distributors BC had several locations in Vancouver, but in this time frame, they were using a building at 906-908 Burrard Street and their new building at the intersection of Smithe and Burrard (photo below).
Vancouver Sun, July 1949
Vancouver Daily Province, July 1948
WILLYS DISTRIBUTORS BC's NEW LOCATION IN VANCOUVER IN 1948
Site contributor Greg Long found a photo of a Traction that is thought to have been originally sold by Willys Distributors BC. This car was a 1948 English built (Slough) Traction, once owned by a BC enthusiast named Rupert Downing.
Citroën USA guru Richard Bonfond indicates that the Slough factory produced 317 left-hand-drive post-war Tractions and that some ended up in North America.
Based on this, we are thinking that Willy's Distributors was probably importing English-built Tractions.
Photo provided by Greg Long