[2] The company was nationalized in 1972 and in 1986, during the government of Raúl Alfonsín, it was dismantled and sold separately to three private business groups (Techint, Pérez Companc and Aurora).

[2] Founded in 1911 by Torcuato di Tella, an Italian Argentine immigrant, the firm began as a manufacturer of bread making machines, which came into great demand by local bakeries in the 1920s.

[3][4] The firm established a facility making commercial freezers under license from Westinghouse in 1935, and their trademark household refrigerator unit in 1948.

Advertised as la reina del frío ("The Queen of Cold"), these became popular among Argentine consumers and their production expanded from 11,000 units annually in 1948 to 70,000 by 1958.

This initially consisted of a deal to import 2,000 obsolete model A's that had failed to sell in Italy, 75 of which were donated to President Juan Perón's youth group UES.

The proliferation of domestic subsidiaries of U.S. and European automakers led to the bankruptcy of Siam's vehicle line in 1966; in all, around 61,477 units had been produced between 1959 and 1966.

The March 1976 coup and the free trade and deregulatory policies enacted by the last dictatorship's Economy Minister, José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz, affected the company adversely, however.

Located on Buenos Aires' Florida Street during its heyday in the 1960s, the institute became the leading Argentine venue for avant-garde art and experimental theatre.

The center closed in 1971, but reopened in the Belgrano neighborhood in 2007; the Torcuato di Tella University, established in 1991, is located nearby.