Found! – The long lost white DS Cabrio from Toronto

by George Dyke…..

We received an interesting letter, requesting info about the history of DS Cabriolet that is now in the hands of Mr. Serge Vanneville in the village of Mezieres sur Seine in France.  He included a photo of a DS Cabrio he had purchased from Andre Pol 12 years ago that was built in the Autumn 1968.  He started the restoration of it in December 2016. With the car came a registration title document showing the car once belonged to Maxime Ann Winter of 181 Hillhurst Blvd. in Toronto.  Serge wanted to know if we or anyone we know would have seen or know anything about this Citroen and/or the previous owner.

In addition, he included a copy of a small personal note he found in the glove box with the personal heading of a David Himelfarb and containing a note: Himelfarb’s Guests: Lorna Luft, Maureen McGovern, Susanah McCorkle, Carol Sloan, Lonette McKee, Cab Calloway.  Steve Loria, who received the letter here at our mailing address, looked up those that he did not recognize. They are all actors and jazz singers, the most notable being Cab Calloway the band leader of Minnie the Moocher fame.

Trying to search Maxime Ann Winter of 181 Hillhurst Blvd, didn’t turn up anything, but I recalled that one of our Club members here, Arnold Korne, who has owned at least 4 cabriolets in Toronto over the years and has just finished the restoration of one, had mentioned to me numerous times about a white DS cabrio that was located near Lawrence & Bathurst but he had lost track of it many years ago.  Could this be it?  Very interesting provenance perhaps…

Amazingly Arnold responded saying “That’s the one!”  He recalled the car and its owner David Winter. David was in the furniture business here in Toronto and Arnold believes that his business went broke. He lost track of him some years ago but he remembers the car and he knew David.

Only a few DS cabriolets were ever sold in the Toronto area, let alone a white one, and we know the history of almost all of them.  The fact that it turned up with André Pol and is now with Serge in France solves the mystery on our end as to what happened to it.  

I find it fascinating that an inquiry about a Citroën from half way around the world can solve a long standing puzzle here and answers a history question for the new owner there.