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Bburago

Bburago
Industry Diecast Model Cars
Founded 1976
Headquarters Burago di Molgora, Italy
Key people
Mario, Ugo, and Martino Besana, Founders
Number of employees
130
Parent May Cheong Group
Website www.bburago.com

BBurago is a diecast metal brand of toy model cars. Originally the company was based in Burago di Molgora, Italy, where all products were made from 1976 to 2005. At its most popular, Bburago's main competition were Politoys and Maisto, the latter of which was to become dominant in the 1:18 market segment around 2000. Bburago has been a brand under the Maisto umbrella since 2007.

Called Martoys from 1974 to 1976, the company was founded by Mario, Ugo, and Martino Besana, who had previously started Mebetoys, which they sold to Mattel (Force 1992, 124). While Mebetoys had been 1:43 scale, Martoys, however, focused on larger toys in 1:24 and 1:18 scales. Martoys was renamed BBurago in 1976. BBurago (with two "B's") is the correct spelling, ostensibly standing for both the town name as well as the name of the Besana family. It is an easy detail to miss, even a book presented by the revered auction house Christie's misspells the name (Richardson 1999, p. 173).

One of the earliest BBurago lines were a series of 1:43 scale Fiat trucks, but these seem to have disappeared by about 1980, according to Force (1992, pp. 22, 124 to 125). Continuing the Martoys lineup, however, most models were produced initially in 1/24 scale and mostly represented contemporary European sports and saloon cars. Most were well detailed, and included many opening features. Later, a range of 1/18 vehicles were produced which was to become the "bread and butter" of BBurago offerings. In the mid 1980s, a new 1/43 scale line was begun. As they were held together by screws, models in 1/24 and 1/18 were also commonly issued in kit form (later, 1/43 kits appeared as well).

While vehicles in the kit ranges used the same castings as their contemporaries in the fully assembled ranges, the kits often depicted different versions, usually in racing or rally style. BBurago kits were notorious for featuring waterslide transfers which never adhered properly to the models, making well built examples of the kits rare. Clearcoat could be sprayed over the unassembled model to "seal in" the decals. Conversely, the transfers on factory built cars were of the 'stick on' variety, rather than the 'tampo' printing used by the likes of Maisto.

Originally, the 1/18 scale range was aimed more at collectors, and BBurago was the link between European niche marketing in 1/43 scale and the 1/18 scale surge that occurred during the 1990s. BBurago was the first manufacturer to make this scale the main offering of the company, after Schuco, Gama, and Polistil pioneered larger offerings, but who by the late 1970s were going out of business. BBurago was also a contemporary of the mail order offerings of Franklin Mint Precision Models which were pricier, but sometimes of spotty quality.


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