The Largest Collection of Classic Citroëns May Well Be in Canada

Just outside the small Ontario town of Verona, about 40 km northwest of Kingston, lives Angus MacDougald, who has quietly been amassing Citroëns of the company’s golden era, that he has been purchasing for the last 60+ years.

While some in Europe claim to have the most Chapron Citroën models, Angus has them beat by good measure. In fact, when it comes to any Citroën model, Angus has undoubtedly the greatest number – presently over 200 Citroëns that, considering the small size of Verona, one has to wonder how the collection has remained obscure for so long.

Angus’s secret was to go underground. Beneath his and his wife Kaye’s modest home is sufficient space to not only house the full collection of Citroëns, but other classic models he has acquired such as; Alfa Romeo, Hispano-Suiza, Rolls-Royce, Bugatti, Duesenberg, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Talbot-Lago, Delahaye, Mercedes Benz and Horch.

His daily summer driver is a 1971 SM.

Angus MacDougald poses with his 1971 SM.
Angus and Kaye in their 1971 SM.

In the harsh Canadian winters around Verona, Angus drives a VW Golf wagon.

Every now and then, Angus takes one or two of his Citroëns up to his cottage on a remote lake about another 20-minute drive northeast of Verona, where he likes to photograph their gorgeous lines along with the spectacular nature of Ontario summers. Here are a couple of photos he took last year.

1956 DS19.
Henri Chapron Le Leman and Le Dandy coupés.

Angus says that he not done collecting yet, there is still space reserved for a couple of dozen more rare Citroëns – if he can locate them somewhere around the world!

1921 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Tourer w/ Solid Copper Body by Brockman.

Update – April 2, 2019: As you may have guessed, this was our April Fool’s story. Granted, Angus really does drive a lovely 1971 SM and his other daily driver car is a VW Golf, but if we left the impression that ALL his other cars were full size – well, that’s the joke! The photographs are real and Angus does have an amazing collection of classic Citroëns (over 200) and hundreds of other vintage cars, but they are all scale models of the originals that occupy a good deal of the basement space in his home!

2 comments

  1. Fwiw,
    I am equally surprised with his collection:)
    Whenever I have chatted with him and his brother , he had been super quiet in a good way, as I think that I had once chatted to him with reference to my having a LA Dandy Coupe and a Majesty , both were stored behind a cousin’s Citroën dealership that had closed down due to aging family members – I had acquired the two , one with hydraulic issues and the other with a missing engine- this latter was found to have been rebuilt elsewhere – I didn’t keep them as one of the nephew’s son had wanted a deal in the action – his late father’s will didn’t name him, rather it was my name , so to keep good with the family at large, both were bought by either Christies or other Auctioneer , hands changed very quickly even without going to the auction – almost like someone internal hand – cherry pick in’ 😉

  2. Yes, I had realized it that it must be the fool to take it seriously, lol

    I knew that he had been collecting the model Citroëns, I have seen a number of them whilst he and Phil Devingt had parked close to one another at the Bastille day that was on the Lakeshore Road , I forget the exact location, it was downtown , TO many moons ago,
    I wouldn’t be surprised if he truly has the complete collection ; I.e
    certainly Collectors editions 1:18 scale models

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