THE 1990's

MIDDLETON-OFF-MAGNOLIA

The late 1980's brought an end to the shop in Issaquah as careers and families took precedence. Fortunately, the talented son of a Boeing aerodynamics engineer named Chris Middleton stepped into the picture to continue with Citroën repairs in the Seattle area.

By 1990, routine maintenance on DS's and SM's had largely given way to complicated and extensive restoration work. Chris took on the challenge and in a few short years, managed to be able to perform full restorations, including rust repair, paint, mechanical, and hydraulic work. Chris rents a large shop with several colleges on the east side of the Magnolia neighborhood, just north of downtown Seattle. The Magnolia shop is also full of other interesting machinery from France, Germany, Italy and England. Chris' personal cars include two Peugeot 404's, a DS wagon, and a beautiful 1965 DS19 Pallas.

RHINO MOTORS

Another Seattle-area enthusiast who grew up around Citroëns was Greg Bruninga. After owning several DS's in the late 1970's and the 1980's, Greg opened a repair shop in North Seattle, called Rhino Motors in about 1992. Greg specializes in parts and repairs for Seattle's aging fleet of Peugeot and Renault cars, but has occasionally worked on some of the local Citorëns. Rhino Motors still displays an enameled double chevron logo over the entry.

2000 AND BEYOND

Currently, Chris Middleton's shop in Seattle is the only facility actively working on Citroëns in the Seattle-area. If you want your Citroën restored by Chris, get in line - there is quite a backlog! Also, Ben Morse's French Parts Service is still very active supplying 2CV parts to all of North America as well as around the world. Ben's stock of 2CV parts is truly amazing and his customer support is excellent!

CONCLUDING REMARKS

The above pages have presented a summary of the Citroën dealerships and some of the independent parts and repair facilities in the Seattle area over the last 50 years. I truly hope that the next decades bring about more interesting chapters in this story that myself, or someone else, can document! Perhaps someday, new Citroëns will again be available in America?

We would like to thank the following people (listed alphabetically) for their assistance in the preparation of this article; Tom Farrell, C.J. Felt, Pam Felt, Chuck McConnell, Ben Morse, Frank Nashland