History of Galgo, Part 8: Buses

By Fedor Eliseev and Fernando Rey

After the previous article about the Galgo trucks, we move on to more large vehicles, buses.

The history of scale model buses at Galgo started at the end of 1970s. By that time, this segment of the toy market was really empty in Argentina. Most large toy car manufacturers like Buby, JET, Muky, and Aguti did not offer buses in their ranges. Some small tin toy companies had produced buses in small quantities and were expensive and it difficult to find in stores.

Looking at the current market, Luis Biasatti as production manager thought that it would be a good chance for Galgo to increase sales with buses. The Peckareq brothers, Galso’s owners, provided him with financial support. By the end of the 70s or the beginning of the 80s, Galgo introduced a range of Argentinian bus models: Mercedes-Benz LO 1114, Nahuel 2, and Neoplan double deck, the last two made in Argentina by CAMETAL bus manufacturer.

The Mercedes-Benz LO 1114 is an iconic bus for Argentina. Based on the L series truck chassis, it was a medium class bus created especially for domestic conditions. The production lasted through out the 70-80s, and even nowadays it’s possible to see this bus working on current routes. The Argentinian plant exported it to Bolivia, Chile, Peru and other South American countries.

The model by Galgo copied a variant for long distance routes between the cities and towns, equipped with one door. The city versions had two doors, but Biasatti never tried to model those. Why? At first, the castings for the LO 1114 consisted of 5 parts, and all models were being produced using electro erosion diecast. A second door would make the body’s construction very fragile. Secondly, it was very difficult to add decals to the 2 doors version. As usual for the company, this miniature was represented in several different transport company liveries. Among them are Rio de la Plata, Chevalier, Boca Juhinas, and River Plate.

The model of the LO 1114 became very popular. According to a Biasatti interview, the plant produced 300 units per hour. In fact this bus by Galgo is considered to be one of the most sophisticated models by the company. Looking at it you can notice that the body shape is captured very well and the interior is rather pretty. But what about scale? It’s not easy to answer this question correctly. In the official catalog, 1:43 scale was declared, but it’s not true. Comparing this bus with 1:43 car miniatures, we realized that its real scale is about 1:60.

Other buses modeled by Biasatti represented another important domestic manufacturer- CAMETAL coachbuilders (Carrocerías Metálicas). CAMETAL was founded in 1947 and still specializes in producing bus bodies based on different chasses. At the end of the 70s, they ordered the two buses from Galgo: Nahuel 2 and double deck Neoplan. CAMETAL also paid for the creation of all the production tools – Galgo received sales money for the buses and CAMETAL got good advertisement.

The Nahuel 2 bus was based on a Scania chassis. Its main purpose was routes between cities or suburbs. It was much larger than the Mercedes- Benz LO 1114. The series production of the Nahuel 2 started in 1978, and it became very popular in transport companies.

The full-scale double-deck Neoplan was a very ambitious project for the German company. In 1980 Neoplan chose CAMETAL as a strategic partner in South America and asked them to assemble bodies for the heavy 4-axle chassis. During 1980-81, 12 buses were built. Their main purpose was very long distance routes, for example 400 km between Buenos Aires and Mar del Plata or the routes between Argentina and Peru. To create a scale model of double deck Neoplan, Biasatti visited Germany to photograph and measure the first prototype buses.

The Nahuel 2 and double deck Neoplan were made in 1:66 scale. The bodies were diecast and the baseplates, interior, and tyres were plastic. The detail to the castings were very similar to many European brands of that time. Of course Galgo provided their customers with dozens of liveries of different transport companies.

The packaging was the norm for Galgo. Early models had individual three-color ( black, red, yellow) boxes, where on the top side was illustrated with a bus in the actual livery. Later models were packed in the common blue-checkered box, with a picture of a dog driving a racing car on the left side.

Here are two catalog pages that showed buses.

After the economic situation had changed in Argentina and import goods invaded to the Argentinian market, the Peckareq brothers decided to close the toy and model department. The last trucks and buses were produced at the end of 80s or early 90s.

The molds of Mercedes-Benz LO 1114 and Nahuel 2 were acquired by Buby. This company continued their production until the mid 90s. There were no changes to the models except for the packaging. Buby introduced its own yellow box. On the top side, you can see the image of 3 buses – LO 1114, Nahuel 2, and OA 105. The last one was designed and made by Buby itself. This series of 3 buses became a special Buby edition. On the box you can read nuevo buby bus ( new Buby bus indeed).

In fact by the mid 90s, Buby, owned by Haroldo Mahler, was also in financial crisis due to the government’s economic policies. Their Collector’s Classics series for export was very successful but did not bring enough profit and also caused royalty problems. Their new buses allowed them only to postpone bankruptcy for several years. By the second half of the 90s, the former Galgo buses disappeared from the market and soon Buby stopped production forever.

We hope that our research into Argentinian toy and model companies is interesting for our HobbyDB Blog readers and can help them understand the magnificent history of the models that live in the hearts of many people from Argentina.

The next part about the history of Galgo will be the last. There, we will discuss TV series and film models and draw some final conclusions.