Even with the aid of Google Translate, the articles about Tóni Béke, a fanatic restorer of Hungarian built Ikarus busses, make little sense to me. But, Tóni Béke is definitely a true boinero, wearing his beret in practically every picture I can find of him!
Ikarus is a bus manufacturer based in Budapest, Hungary. It
was established in 1895 as Uhri Imre Kovács- és Kocsigyártó Üzeme (roughly:
"Imre Uhri's Blacksmith Workshop and Coach Factory").
The company name Ikarus was officially established when it merged with
airplane manufacturer Ikarus Gép és Fémgyár Rt.
In 1955 and 1956 with the new front engine models (Ikarus
620, 630 and 31) the company's foreign sales were boosted and apart from
Eastern-European countries, China, Burma and Egypt started using them in
several of their cities.
By 1973, Ikarus became the world's fourth largest
manufacturer, but lacking raw materials, orders were not delivered in time on
several occasions.
Until the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the German
Democratic Republic was one of the most important trading partners of Ikarus,
but when Germany was reunified sales fell to about 10%.
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