The Case of the Mysterious DS Model

By Chris Dubuque….

Back in the 1980’s, I visited the home of a Citroënthusiast in Portland, Oregon named Bill Lonseth. He lived in an old white house a few blocks east of the Willamette River, not far from downtown Portland. I remember that every corner of his house was crammed with Citroën memorabilia, but there was one piece that stuck with me. It was a large-scale model of a single-headlight DS, about two feet long (600 mm). It was red with a black roof. Such large-scale models were rare in the 1980’s so it remained in my memory. I would not see this model again for 40 years.

BILL LONSETH

Before we get to the model, let’s take a quick look at who Bill Lonseth was. Bill became involved in Citroëns at an early age and by the late 1960’s, he had landed his first automotive job working for a Citroën dealership in Springfield, Oregon called, S.L. Motors. This dealership handled several marques, including Citroën, Peugeot, Renault, Studebaker, Mercedes, and Datsun. Within a year or so of working for S.L. Motors, Bill was asked by Citroën Cars Corporation to move to Los Angeles to help run the parts department at Citroën’s flagship dealership in Beverly Hills.

Bill accepted the position and moved to L.A. where he worked at Citroën for several years. Around 1974, as Citroën was starting to wind down their operations in the USA, Bill moved back to Oregon to work for Portland’s Citroën dealer, Roger Sagner’s Motor Mart.

Sagner’s operation was ramping down in the late 1970’s and therefore Bill needed to look for another job. After Sagner’s, Bill spent five years in London working for a Citroën dealership called, BWB Motor Services. However, he kept his Portland roots and returned there after his London experience.

By the early 1990’s, Bill had pretty much retired. For his remaining years, he hung close to his Portland home. Bill’s health gradually slipped away and he died in early 2023.

THE ESTATE

It turns out that Bill did not have many close relatives, so after he passed away, a person with an automotive background was brought in to help liquidate Bill’s cars, memorabilia, and parts.  This estate manager contacted the local Citroën club (NWCOC) and offered many of Bill’s belongings to club members. This is where my memory flashed back to the 1980’s and the red DS model. I asked the estate manager if the model was still available and he said it was. Without hesitation, I bought it from the estate, having not seen it for 40 years.

THE MODEL

I was quite stunned how substantial the DS model was. It is 24 inches long (600 mm) which makes it 1:8 scale. It is quite heavy – I carefully turned it over and found that much of its structure was wood. The level of detail is astounding, very uncharacteristic of toys of the era. It was mounted on a wood base, with scale-appropriate gravel. At this point, I was beginning to think that this model might be something really special.

MARTEN BOERSMA

Some number of years ago, I bought a book that catalogued virtually every DS toy that was ever made. It is called, Citroën DS in Miniature, written by an old friend, Marten Boersma with help from Marc Hermans. This book has over 450 pages and thousands of photos of DS toys and models, listed in alphabetical order by manufacturer.

I looked through this book to see if I could find this particular model and I did find something similar, but it was not made by any of the toy manufacturers. Instead, the manufacturer is listed as Citroën. More specifically, the model is listed in the book under the heading:

Citroën: Flaminio Bertoni, France, Prototype and style exercises

Does this mean that Bill Lonseth’s red DS model was built inside the secretive walls of Citroën in Flaminio Bertoni’s studio? At this point, I was getting excited. I decided to email Marten Boersma to see what he thought about Bill’s red DS.

For many years, Marten Boersma has had access to Citroën’s archives and he has been slowly building a detailed history of design concept models, wind tunnel models, and display models that Citroën built in-house in the early days of the DS. The recent re-discovery of Bill Lonseth’s red DS re-ignited Marten’s research into Citroën’s early model making. The following is a brief version of Marten’s story about a few of these models, including Bill’s red DS. Note that Marten is still researching these, so more details may eventually emerge.

It turns out that Citroën built several 1:8 scale models in the mid-1950’s for 3D visualization and wind tunnel testing. These models were made from wood, fiberglass, and plasticine (a form of clay). The internal structure and wheels/tires were made of wood. Marten reports that two mold segments were used to manufacture these cars; an inner and an outer mold. A resin-impregnated cloth was put in the outer mold, followed by layers of plasticine. When it came out of the mold, the craftsmen added more detail by hand.

Below are two such models, both thought to have been built for wind tunnel testing.

WIND TUNNEL MODEL #1

Marten found this long-forgotten green model stored in a box in Citroën’s archives. It dates from late 1955 and he believes that it was used for early wind tunnel testing. Note that the model is missing a lot of detail, so it is clearly an early version. Marten thinks that this model was made very soon after Bertoni had finalized the DS’s roofline and rear window, something that happened quite late in the development of the DS.

WIND TUNNEL MODEL #2

A beige wind tunnel model that has also survived is more refined than the green one. Notice that it has a very accurate front bumper installed on an otherwise featureless body. If you look closely, you can see small holes at the bottom of the tires. Marten indicated that these holes were used to secure the model in the wind tunnel.

DISPLAY MODEL #1

In addition to the wind tunnel models, Citroën also built three or four display models, using the same molds and build techniques. These models started out the same as the above wind tunnel cars, but had many, many hours of additional hand-detailing to make them suitable for display purposes.

It is thought that the first display model is the one that was used for a series of publicity photos with the little boy.

This model was originally painted Champagne with an Aubergine roof. It is not known when it was made, but probably quite early (perhaps in the 1956-1957 time-frame). This model is much more detailed than the wind tunnel models and includes door handles, bumpers, windows, exterior brightwork, and a full interior. Marten indicates that it is from the same molds that made the wind tunnel cars.  

Marten discovered that this model still exists, and has been sporadically on display in Citroën’s Conservatoire. At some point in the early 1960’s, Citroën converted if from the first-generation nose to the second nose for 1963. At this time, it was repainted blue. If you look at it closely, you can see that in places where the blue paint has chipped off, it reveals the original Champagne color underneath.

DISPLAY MODEL #2

The second display model is one that was photographed in Pierre Bercot’s office. Bercot was Citroën’s managing director at the time. This model was originally painted Green with a Champagne roof.

Marten discovered that display model #2 also still survives, but it has been significantly modified. Sometime in the early 1960’s, Citroën modified this one into the vertical rocket ship motif that Citroën was intrigued with at the time for marketing purposes. It also had the front end converted to the second-generation nose, which was new for 1963. It was repainted silver. (Although it was modified to have a second-generation nose, it still has the first-generation dashboard, a clue to its earlier roots.)  

Citroën still owns display model #2 and it was most recently displayed at Retromobile 2025, right next to its full-sized equivalent, which has also survived (although the full-sized version is no longer owned by Citroën). It is theorized that display model #2 was converted to a rocket ship as a concept to show management before the full-sized version was approved.

Display model #2, now silver, with a new nose, and turned into a rocket ship. It is sitting next to the full-sized version at Retromobile 2025.

DISPLAY MODEL #3

This brings us to display model #3. Marten had been aware that a third display model may have existed, but he wasn’t sure. Well, he wasn’t sure until I sent him detailed photos of Bill’s red DS. Marten was excited and astounded. Flabbergasted would be a more appropriate word. It is indeed one of Citroën’s in-house models, built from the same molds as the others shown above.

Display model #3, red with 2^nd generation nose and new dashboard.

Display model #3 is a bit different from the first two. It has no visual indications that it started out with a first-generation nose or a different color. It has the newer dashboard and is mounted on a display stand, something the other two don’t seem to have ever had.

These observations suggest that it was most likely made later than the others, perhaps in 1962 in preparation for the new 1963 models (the first two display models started out in a 1950’s configuration and were later modified to have the newer 1963 front end). Perhaps Marten will someday find more details about it in Citroën’s archives.

HOW DID IT END UP IN PORTLAND?

These models were most likely never intended to leave the secretive walls of Citroën’s headquarters. They were undoubtedly very expensive to create, since they were 100% hand made by craftsmen in Citroën’s design studio. Very few were made. They seemed to have been built for either wind tunnel testing, for design reviews, or for internal display purposes. Remember that back then, a sub-scale model was the only practical way to show your bosses a 3D view of the teams’ creations.

How did this particular model slip out of Citroën’s hands and end up in Portland, Oregon? Well, we may never know the full story, but we do know a few details:

I know that this red DS model was on someone’s desk at Citroën’s flagship dealership at 8423 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles in the mid-1960’s. How do I know this? Because I found an eye-witness who saw it there in the 1963-1965 time-frame, when he was just a kid.

Fast forward about 10 years. By 1974, it was clear that Citroën was finished with their North American adventure, and they were starting a gradual decline of their operations in America. This is where Bill Lonseth comes in. In 1974, Bill left his job at Citroën L.A. and decided to head back to Oregon. Bill was able to take with him a bunch of memorabilia from Citroën that they no longer wanted or needed. One such item was…..the red DS model.

When Bill’s estate was being cleaned out, a photo emerged of Bill holding the red DS in front of his Portland house. I suspect this photo was taken at the time he first brought it home, in 1974.

Fortunately, Bill took very good care of this model. Dust is very detrimental to models – but fortunately Bill kept it in a glass cabinet, thus preventing any contaminants from sticking to its 60+ year-old paint. Also, this one is in better condition than the two that Citroën owns, both of which have been handled more and have a few battle scars.

What I have shown above it not a complete story. Marten has many more photos and details of Citroën’s in-house models and I understand he is working on a new book. I can’t wait!

For now, this model will be displayed in our living room, under a new plexiglass cover that I had custom-made to fit the original base. For now, I will be a good steward by keeping this interesting piece of Citroën history safe. I would like to thank Marten Boersma for helping uncover the history of Citroën’s early models, including Bill Lonseth’s red DS.