Austro~Daimler(PUCH)
Austro~Daimler(PUCH)
Austro-Daimler/Puch
Graz, Austria
“…the bicycle manufacturing aspects of the consortium were sold in 1987 to Piaggio & C. S.p.A. of Italy, the Puch trademark was conveyed however, the rights to the name Austro-Daimler were not sold. Since then no bicycles have been made bearing this trademark.”
Aldo Ross
charter Classic Rendezvous mailing list member
A short lived marque, made by Austro-Daimler Puch, and which had success particularly in the USA in the 1970s and early 80s. There were two lines simultaneously marketed; Austro-Daimler and Puch. A-D was a “fancier” line with medium price to high end offerings, while Puch was aimed at a broader range including models at lower price points.
“Johann Puch was a well-known bicycle manufacturer in Austria-Hungary at the endof the 19th century. In 1906 he formed “Johann Puch Erste Steiermarkische Fahrrad-Fabriks-Aktiengesellschaft” (whew!) in Graz, Austria. The company produced bicycles, motorcycles and small automobiles. In 1914 the name was simplified to “Puchwerke AG”. Puch merged with Austro Daimler in 1925 – Puch car production ended, though Austro Daimler continued making cars until merger with Steyr in 1934, forming Steyr-Daimler-Puch. Steyr carried on with cars until 1977, when the last license-built FIATS rolled off the line.”
Frank Schaaf
“…jersey once was worn by Andrew Weaver in the year 1977 when the US national team of the Juniors prepared in Europe for the forthcoming championships in Vienna.I was a 13 year old guy when I met him in Oberhausen/Germany, where we had a training course at that time. Andrew wanted to throw away his jersey which was frazzled due to a massive crash in a race at Huttenheim. I bought the jersey from him for 2 DM and was very proud having a jersey from a US national team member.”
Nino Gaudino's AD Super Leicht #5619303
Jerry Moos' Customized AD
“This was purchased as a frameset (orig. color suggests the Superleicht model) in the early 80’s. The cream colored sections are original. The chocolate brown parts are a repaint by the late Ray Gasorowski of Romic Cycles in the mid to late 80’s. At my request, he masked off the original parts so as not to destroy the original decals.”
“I didn’t realize at the time what a pain that was, but he didn’t charge me a lot extra. Of course, I had bought a junior road frame and a custom built track frame from him shortly before, so maybe that is why he humored me.”
