Citadel Motors in Halifax?

Winnipeg · Addicted!

Citadel Motors in Halifax?

gparis7 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

As I recall, Citadel Motors was still at its site on Brunswick Street just north of Citadel Hill when I worked in Halifax in the early 1980s. I thought they were a Chevrolet dealer but I could be wrong. I'm sure some of the Nova Scotia members will know more about it. I have also seen old pictures of the downtown when Citadel Motors were still on site, some of which have been posted on this site.

MC · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

I'll try to put together some info as I can dig it up. I had posted some pics here before, but I think they were in the vintage photos thread that was deleted a while back.

I don't have any personal history with the dealership, but do remember it and will try to help from that point of view. There was a thread posted by a fellow whose brother worked there and drove a GTO at the local drag strip for them:

http://canadianponcho.activeboard.com/mobile.spark?p=topic&topic=50544283

Also, interestingly enough, the photo in my avatar is Citadel Motors in the 1940s, on Doyle Street, before they moved to their last location at the corner of Brunswick and Sackville Streets in Halifax. I'll post some pics later, but none of them are of great quality, really.

There is a pic of the old location that you can buy from the Halifax Herald, here is the link: https://shop.thechronicleherald.ca/Vintage-Reprint-of-Citadel-Motors-Limited_p_3896.html

The old building on Doyle still stands intact, but long ago was converted from a car dealership to a strip of small businesses. The newer location on Brunswick and Sackville was torn down years ago and now houses the Cambridge Suites hotel. Here is the location on Google maps: https://goo.gl/maps/Y3WFaUnutaSpxiNS7

ashmore · Guru

Not a great pic but this one has the crest on it. I have owned a few the were originally sold at citadel but dont remember the dealership. This car was traded in on a 91 cavalier by the original owner at Oregans on Robbie st. It had 24k at the time and they retained it in their collection until 98.

carnut70ls4 · Addicted!

They were a Pontiac Buick Cadillac Dealership under the Citadel Motors trade name. I bought a new 1980 Blue Trans Am with the WS6 package there. Citadel was bought out by the Dean Myers Group of Toronto (Dean Myers Chevrolet Olds) right round same time I bought my car.

Unfortunate but they (Dean Myers) went into receivership a couple years later due to mismanagement, I believe it was last year the Chevrolet store in Toronto went Bankrupt as well same circumstances!

carnut70ls4 · Addicted!

ashmore wrote:
Not a great pic but this one has the crest on it. I have owned a few the were originally sold at citadel but dont remember the dealership. This car was traded in on a 91 cavalier by the original owner at Oregans on Robbie st. It had 24k at the time and they retained it in their collection until 98.

I remember the car in your picture very well, I drove it back then with Patrick O'Reagan.

if I remember correctly paint was faded but car was fairly mint.

Winnipeg · Addicted!

Hi folks and thanks for all of the information. Truly appreciated.
Now to keep my eyes open for a 60's trunk emblem from Citadel.

Thanks again

MC · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Here's a little more info on the dealership. I didn't have any personal experience with it, other than remembering it being there and walking around it a few times, so I don't have any related stories to pass along.

First of all, a local T-shirt company was selling shirts with their logo on it, which I believe is the same as, or similar to, the one they used on their badges.

These pics were cropped from photos on the local archives, and are from the 1950s, before my time. It looks like when they first moved there from the location I noted in my previous post, it consisted basically of two buildings, both of which seemed to contain service bays (the smaller of which looks like an Irving gas station). I'm not sure where the showroom was, but I'm thinking it would have been in the middle of the larger building.

Citadel Motors early fifties.jpg

I remember it as it is shown in the video below. At the left of the showroom you can make out a large neon sign, and I recall that it was situated such that when you were driving down Sackville Street towards the harbour, it would appear as you crested the hill - it was quite impressive to a kid like me, who was into cars and liked neon lights...

Citadel Motors comes into view around the 58 second point:

The layout of the dealership was kind of cool as it was built on the sloping streets of downtown Halifax. The front lot/showroom was on the top level at Brunswick Street, and I recall that there were bays on the level below, fronting on Market Street, due to the natural grade of the land. Not sure if the lower bays were for detailing or PDI or stock storage, as I was young at the time. I think the full service bays were beside the dealership to the right in the photos.

A couple of screen grabs from the video:

I'm not sure when the dealership closed, though I do know that Cambridge Suites opened in 1987. So, giving a few years for planning and development, it must have been in the early to mid 1980s. Also, I'm not sure what happened to the dealership franchise, but I believe it may have moved to the Bedford highway as a Pontiac dealership had opened at a location there around that time, where there was more land area for storage lots. In the 1960s and 1970s, these downtown 'urban' dealerships tended to move further out in the city where there was more land available at a lower cost. I don't know the actual circumstances of this dealership, though.

Winnipeg · Addicted!

What a cool video.
That is the badge I remember seeing on the car. Looks very similar.
Thanks again

MC · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

carnut70ls4 wrote:
ashmore wrote:
Not a great pic but this one has the crest on it. I have owned a few the were originally sold at citadel but dont remember the dealership. This car was traded in on a 91 cavalier by the original owner at Oregans on Robbie st. It had 24k at the time and they retained it in their collection until 98.
I remember the car in your picture very well, I drove it back then with Patrick O'Reagan.
if I remember correctly paint was faded but car was fairly mint.

It was for sale in Ontario in 2018 with a big block Chevy in it. Don't know where it went from there.

carnut70ls4 · Addicted!

MC wrote:
carnut70ls4 wrote:
ashmore wrote:
Not a great pic but this one has the crest on it. I have owned a few the were originally sold at citadel but dont remember the dealership. This car was traded in on a 91 cavalier by the original owner at Oregans on Robbie st. It had 24k at the time and they retained it in their collection until 98.
I remember the car in your picture very well, I drove it back then with Patrick O'Reagan.
if I remember correctly paint was faded but car was fairly mint.
It was for sale in Ontario in 2018 with a big block Chevy in it. Don't know where it went from there.

I errored after speaking with my Wife, our Trans Am was a 1981. I had a couple of friends who worked there so got very familiar with the store. The store name was changed to Dean Myers Pontiac Buick after Mr Myers bought it. The building did have a bottom part dug out partly into the hill, It housed a small general office and a body shop. They had a second location a couple miles away but was their used car lot.

Body shop was accessed by a spiral wrought iron stair case from rear of showroom for customers. The main entrance from street that ran behind the bottom of building for cars to enter, was a very cool lay out.

MC · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Winnipeg wrote:
What a cool video.
That is the badge I remember seeing on the car. Looks very similar.
Thanks again

No problem! I probably posted more than you want to know, but I like to research old dealerships, photos, etc., and enjoy posting about them when the opportunity comes up.

-- Edited by MC on Thursday 11th of February 2021 08:01:26 AM

MC · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

carnut70ls4 wrote:
MC wrote:
carnut70ls4 wrote:
ashmore wrote:
Not a great pic but this one has the crest on it. I have owned a few the were originally sold at citadel but dont remember the dealership. This car was traded in on a 91 cavalier by the original owner at Oregans on Robbie st. It had 24k at the time and they retained it in their collection until 98.
I remember the car in your picture very well, I drove it back then with Patrick O'Reagan.
if I remember correctly paint was faded but car was fairly mint.
It was for sale in Ontario in 2018 with a big block Chevy in it. Don't know where it went from there.
I errored after speaking with my Wife, our Trans Am was a 1981. I had a couple of friends who worked there so got very familiar with the store. The store name was changed to Dean Myers Pontiac Buick after Mr Myers bought it. The building did have a bottom part dug out partly into the hill, It housed a small general office and a body shop. They had a second location a couple miles away but was their used car lot.
Body shop was accessed by a spiral wrought iron stair case from rear of showroom for customers. The main entrance from street that ran behind the bottom of building for cars to enter, was a very cool lay out.

Thanks for the info! I don't recall it changing to Dean Myers Pontiac Buick, but that was a long time ago.

I haven't seen a pic of Citadel's used lot yet, but have found a pic of Scotia Chev's used lot on the corner of Windsor and Young (behind the Halifax Forum). Apparently Citadel's lot was on the block diagonally across the street.

Here's the Scotia used lot:

Scotia Chev used lot Windsor Young.jpg