Not long ago, I took you to see the Unimog U500 snowplow in the Mercedes-Benz Museum, and there are many classic Mercedes-Benz models here, which are not to be missed. The car I want to talk about today is a masterpiece, the body painting adopts the Argentine "fileteado porte o" style, which was recognized by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage in 2015 and is one of Argentina's cultural labels. Look at today's protagonist, a 1969 Mercedes-Benz LO1112 short-headed bus.
Speaking of this car, we have to say mercedes-Benz's 1112 series, which was introduced by Mercedes-Benz Argentina in early 1965. The series includes L1112 for trucks, LS1112 for semi-trailers and LO1112 for buses, and covers three wheelbases of 3600mm, 4200mm and 4830mm, which can help the vehicle adapt to different uses and increase market share.
Mercedes-Benz 1112 poster on the back cover of Automundo magazine Issue 4, April 22, 1965
Mercedes Benz LO1112 bus poster
The regular Mercedes-Benz LO1112 bus is just as decent as other short-headed buses, but there are some owners who will customize the modification, which is not the year 1969 when a Need for Speed bus appeared. The car is now in the collection of the Mercedes-Benz Museum, which originally belonged to Hector Prieto, a private bus operator in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After purchase, the vehicle was painted and decorated according to local customs. This "fileteado porte o" style design is a local tradition, originally used to decorate horse-drawn carriages at the end of the 19th century, including various lines, garlands, flowers and many bright colors.
Playing cards and dice are colorful drawings of local representatives of luck
In addition to the paintings inside and outside the vehicle, these decorations also include various accessories such as lucky charms, mascots, and souvenirs. The painting and decoration of each car is unique, and there are three benefits to doing so. The first can make the vehicle more beautiful, the second can bring more passengers, and the third is to play an anti-theft role. But this reminds me of the situation in India, and maybe they decorate their vehicles for these reasons.
Mercedes-Benz LO1112 in the city of Buenos Aires in the 80s
This tradition lasted until 1975, when the city banned "fileteado porte o" style buses in order to standardize public transportation, and although the ban was lifted in 2006, few people bothered to customize the modifications.
Speaking of today's Mercedes-Benz LO1112 bus, in the 1950s Europe began to have a debate between short-head and long-head models, and Mercedes-Benz directly took the middle and launched a series of short-headed models, which is also one of them. The curved roof increases the height of the head in the middle of the car, the single front windshield is modified, and the prototype is a two-piece split front windshield.
Customized blind spot indicator stick
On each side of the windshield there is a side window facing the side front, and the mirrors on both sides of the front of the car are swung in front of the side windows and in front of the side, and in front of the mirror side is the blind zone indicator pole. The three-section front is a curved hood, with a wide-body base with headlights in the middle, and a bumper connecting the lower wide body to the front fender is also a modified version.
A wide sun visor was added to the windshield, the trim on the grille made me almost unable to find the Mercedes-Benz star logo, and the prototype headlights on both sides of the logo were not obvious. However, it can still be seen that the overall shape is the mainstream design of Europe at that time, whether it is Prague in the Czech Republic or Uniq in France in the 1950s there are vehicle cabs using a similar style, which we have introduced before.
The vehicle is an early non-loader chassis model, the door opens in the left side of the body center front, through the door can see the body interior floor is relatively high. Here by the way, a brief introduction of the meaning of this Mercedes-Benz LO1112, where "L" stands for "Lastwagen", the German meaning of truck, "O" stands for integrated bus, the front "11" indicates that the total weight of this car is 11 tons, and the rear "12" represents the maximum power of the vehicle of 120 horsepower.
"1112" model id on the side of the hood
The short head of the hood has a logo nameplate on the side, "1112" represents the vehicle model, and other words represent Mercedes-Benz certification. The vehicle is powered by a 5.424-litre 6-cylinder engine with a maximum power of 120 hp (88 kW) and a top speed of 97 km/h.
There are three doors on both sides of the vehicle, one on each side of the front, which is located behind the driver, and the right rear door is close to the rear of the vehicle. The driving area and the passenger area are simply separated by a fence, the interior of the car is painted on the top of the head, the side or the floor, the original owner of the vehicle, Hector Prieto, has carried out a full range of customization without dead ends, and even the body glass has been etched.
Beautiful steering wheel with double large watch dashboard
Custom gear handles and trims
Mercedes benz logo on wood grain floor
The configuration of the driving area is actually very simple, and the sofa seat is mounted directly on the floor bracket. The three-spoke star steering wheel is standard for Mercedes-Benz, but it is also painted. The instrument panel in the front double large table layout is bi-colored, making it easier to distinguish between different functions. The most worth saying is this gear, the head is a customized model, but also made the overall package.
The passenger area is not overly decorated, but the overall wood grain effect is also done. The sofa seats in the carriage are arranged in a single row of 1+2, providing a total of 21 seats for passengers.
Portrait of tango singer and composer Carlos Gardell at the rear of the car
I remember there was a saying on the Internet that was "please get out of the round", so when you see the rear of the car, you will understand. First of all, the rear of the car is very rounded, and there are painted around the oval rear window. In the middle of the tail is a portrait of the person, and below it is where the license plate is mounted. On both sides of the license plate are the rear tail lights that protrude from the body, and the most important is the three horizontal and four vertical collision barriers below. Look at the thick rivets on the vertical stripe, is it telling the rear car that please don't talk nonsense, or hit me or don't roll away.
Hector Prieto, who already owns a large fleet, leaves the text above the rear bumper of the car as "Gracias Hector", meaning thank you Hector, and this line of letters will continue to flow with the car.
The Mercedes-Benz LO1112 was retired in 1984, but owner Hector Pretto immediately thought of it when he heard that the Mercedes-Benz Museum was looking for exhibits, and in 1999 successfully restored its beautiful appearance. It was also in the same year that the car came to Europe by boat, from the port to the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany, and has since become a dazzling exhibit in the pavilion.