Formerly a gendarmerie vehicle, but now in new hands!

As if to show that the tiny car made in Steyr could do everything better than a car built in Turin, the manufacturers in Graz stepped up to the mark in 1960 to help the estate, in Italian Giardiniera, onto its legs. The result was the Puch 700 C, fuelled by the large 650 cc engine rated at 25 HP. Popular amongst many public services and authorities, it was used by the Federal Gendarmerie for hunting criminals, by the mail services for delivering mail, and for providing assistance in breakdowns by the Austrian Automobile, Bike and Touring Club (ÖAMTC). Only about 9,000 of these tiny power-packs were produced, making it a true and coveted collector's item today!

This Puch 700 C was registered in the City of Vienna in September, entering the service of the Gendarmerie where it spread fear amongst the underworld. Before it was demobbed in 1972, its mission was to uphold the law in the city, after which it was put out into the pastures of civilian life, presumably through the Dorotheum auction house. In 1985 is was registered again for three months to a keeper in the 2nd Viennese district, until the current holder purchased it in an unrestored state at the end of the millennium. The new owner adorned it with a new coat of Gendarmarie grey, otherwise leaving it in its original state, although with just one small exception: the engine can now also take up the hunt with criminals of the 21st century with its health being monitored using three instruments on the dashboard. As far away as Sicily the Puch accompanied him on his travels. For these purposes, a folding roof was fitted in place of the screwed-on hardtop. The owner also presented his Puch with a new blue light and reactivated the searchlight, held (or maybe not) with the help of a suction cup on the windshield. The Puch’s appearances have always been enthusiastically greeted by the public, although not necessarily by the police during spot road checks. Since then the owner has taken to rubbering up the blue light with a condom. Its congeniality has now outstripped that of many other civil servants!

VIN: 504.8824 Mileage: 83,196 km (read) Displacement: 643 cc / B2 Gearbox: 4 speed Colour: Gendarmerie grey (synthetic leather) Power: 25 HP according to papers Papers: Austrian typing licence