[reshz]

Good day, i did not find a suitable thread, so I am writing here.

Is there a list of famous Greek bus manufacturers and their models? Of particular interest are ELVO, Saracakis, Biamax and Sfakianakis - information differs depending on the sources. 

For example, Sfakianakis: i have noted models A100, S10.155, SS380L, SS400L, SS450L and SS500. But the SS500 had different bodies - SS500 / 50L, SS500 / B100, SS500LF. By analogy with the A100, I assume that the B100 is the body designation and the SS500 is the chassis designation? I also have photos of Sfakianakis Eurobus, but I do not know if this is the official model designation or just the name for sale. I have also seen pictures of the Sfakianakis NS300 and NSL 155.36, but this model designation is not like the others. What is the reason for this
https://www.bus-planet.com/bus/bus-europ...frame.html Also on the Bus Planet website, DES RODA buses that look like Sfakianakis SS500 / 50L are signed as Bussing Hellas. Did Sfakianakis use this name at that time or has it changed to a new one? What should you call the model - Bussing Hellas SS500 / 50L or is it Sfakianakis SS500 / 50L?
Did Sfakianakis use MAN chassis, or did he build them himself under license? MAN inscription on most buses says that some units from this company were used...
Are there photographs of the nameplates of at least a few Sfakianakis, how are the body and chassis models indicated there?

I will be glad to have any information and contacts of people to whom I could turn on these questions.

Thanks in advance!

[Giannis]

Hello reshz!

I answer to this thread because I have the same question as you. I have tried about a year ago to contact with ELVO and find information on their models but unfortunately the company is under liquidation at the moment and there is noone at the offices...

About Sarakakis, as far as I know, there were some models with specific names. For example:

This is a Sarakakis Macedonia:



You can find it's plate on the gallery:



This is a Sarakakis Athena:



And this is a Sarakakis Atrotos (in greek this means indestructible):


I personally arrange these bus types visually but I have no other information on other models.

Now about Sfakianakis, I know that until 1993 the company was called Bussing Hellas. I can answer your questions only about the midi citybuses (SS400L and so on). 

I have photographed a few manufacturer's plates of Sfakianakis buses as I was wondering about their model name and to find out where the chassis they were built on was produced. I have listed a few manufacturer's plates below:

   
This manufacturer's plate belongs to the bus below:




________________________________________

   
The plate above belongs to this bus:




________________________________________

   
This plate belongs to a bus similar to this (it belongs to YZX-9058 which was built a year earlier than the bus in the image below)




________________________________________

   
This plate belongs to the same time of bus as above but please note that even though both are called S10.155 their VIN format is different, the VIN of the bus above starts with 3067... while the VIN of the bus below starts with XG9...




________________________________________

You can see that the type is written on the manufacturer's plate. The VIN begins with XG9... so I suppose that the chassis of these buses was built in Greece, if it was manufactured by MAN itself I suppose it would begin with WMA...

In the beginning I had no idea how these buses were called, I started to write SS380L, SS400L, NSL 155.36 and so on after I found their VINs online or through taking photographs of the manufacturer's plates and by reading to other sites, as the Bus Planet website you mentioned. I noticed that Sfakianakis buses have a VIN format as follows XG9xxxx... where xxxx seems to be the model, so I took the model name of the bus from this. S10.155, SS380L and SS400L seem to be pretty much standardized buses (I mean their bodywork seems to be of just one kind, there where no facelifts) so I guess it is OK to recognize them visually and to describe them as such.

[vard_57]

About ELVO buses, from information, that I've also gathered from other websites and people, and from what I understand their name is a letter (eg C for city buses) a two number code for the year of design/ release (eg 08 for 2008) then a fullstop ( . ) and the chassis name. (But I don't know what's actually written on the manufacturer's plate)
For example in Thessaloniki we have: ELVO / Volvo C08.B9L, C08.B9LA, C06.B9LA, C04.B7LA, C03.B7L, C05.B7L-11M, ELVO / Scania C93.113CLL (based on the L113CLL chassis)
In Athens there are: ELVO / Mercedes-Benz C97.405N (based on the O405N2), C97.405GN (based on the O405GN2), C99.405N (based on the O405N2) and ELVO / Neoplan C97.4007 (based on the N4007)
There are also the ELVO Poseidon (Ποσειδών) coaches, being closely related to some Beulas model, on a Scania chassis, and model codes of T95, T97, T03 (T for Touristic)
There was also the ELVO C93.600 Midas midi bus, without a distinct chassis "code", but I'm pretty sure that was also based on a foreign model
In another's website gallery I've also seen a "P95.113" with the three last letters "unknown", but definitely not a low floor CLL, as a driving school vehicle, P probably coming from Personnel Transfer

[reshz]

Thanks for answers and for the large number of manufacturers plates!

As I understand it, Saracakis had body model numbering with A (A550, A692, A796...) and the chassis with SB (SB756, SB758...) and SBAV (SBAV50, SBAV90...) Particularly interested in the A550, I saw the nameplate with this body model, is it also called Alexandros?

I also tend to believe that Sfakianakis made buses on their chassis, but using some kind of MAN units. The Sfakianakis SS500 / A100 and Sfakianakis SS500/B100 buses, as I understand it, have the chassis model (SS500) and the body model (A100/B100) in the name. On the city buses that you sent, everything is easier, apparently, the chassis model is written on the manufacturers plates.

Thanks vard_57 for the listed models to, i saw information on the Internet about the T95, but not about the T03 and T97. Do you have any information about these models or photos? I also saw information about the ELVO C93.800 Europe, which was probably only built in a single copy. I saw the photo in very poor quality, but it did not provide any information. I think this is a pretty famous bus in Greece, since it was produced in one show copy, do you have any information about that?

I need time to understand this situation and to assimilate everything that you sent me.

Thanks again for your help