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Steyr-Puch Haflinger

Also known as Puch Haflinger, AP 700 and AP 703, Pathfinder (USA), Steyr-Puch 700 AP (Italy)

It weighs about 600 kg, carries about 500 kg, and four strong people can lift it. Austria’s army wanted its own small four-wheel drive to replace its old Jeeps, and Graz gave it a mountain horse.

Olive small 4x4 with a cream canvas top and green seats on brick paving under a blue sky.
An olive Steyr-Puch Haflinger 700 AP with a cream canvas tilt, AJM 678A, at the Haflinger meeting in IJmuiden, Netherlands, in April 2010.Photo: Alf van Beem, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

At a glance

The spec plate

Steyr-Puch Haflinger

AP 700 and AP 703 · Graz

Built
1959–⁠1974
Country
AustriaSteyr-Daimler-Puch, Graz
Maker
Steyr-Daimler-Puch AGNo Daimler-Benz involvement until after the Haflinger ended
Engine
643 cc air-cooled flat twinAt the back, driving all four wheels
Power
22 to 27 PS22 PS at first, later 24 PS, and finally 27 PS
Length
2,850 mm1,350 mm wide
Weight
600 kgAbout 600 kg by German Wikipedia; about 635 kg by English
Wheels
4Engine at the back, four-wheel drive, the driver right at the front
Production
16,6471959–⁠74, all versions; about 7,000 for armed forces
Top speed
75km/h75 km/h64, 58 or 52 km/h with the lower ones

Not yet recordedseats.

How big is it?

True proportion

2.85 m

It is 120 mm shorter than a Fiat 500, about 1.6 adults laid end to end, and twice the length of a Peel P50.

  • 1.35 m wide
  • 600 kg: about eight adults
  • A payload of about 500 kg, almost its own weight
  • 3.15 m long on the long wheelbase
Drawn at true proportion. The track is 3.6 metres long; the adult stands at the same scale. The Peel P50 is the smallest production car, on every page for comparison.

The story

History

After the war the new Austrian army ran on surplus Willys and Ford Jeeps, and about ten years later it went looking for a modern replacement, designed and built at home.12 By German Wikipedia’s account, the idea came out of conversations at a demonstration of Puch motorcycles to the army.3 The design was led at Steyr-Daimler-Puch in Graz by Erich Ledwinka, son of Tatra’s Hans Ledwinka, and it shows: a central tube for a chassis and independent swing axles. It was nicknamed both “a little Tatra” and “the Austrian Jeep”.132 Prototypes were built and tried in the field, and production began in 1959. The name is a mountain horse’s, the Haflinger breed.13 Despite the “Daimler” in the maker’s name, Daimler-Benz had no hand in it until after the Haflinger had ended.1

Like a micro van, it puts the driver right at the front, with a flat load platform behind; the 643 cc air-cooled flat twin sits at the back.132 Drive to all four wheels can be selected, and each axle has its own differential lock. The portal axles, with reduction gears in the hubs, give a large ground clearance on small wheels, and each half-axle moves about 250 mm (10 in).132 About 2,850 mm (112 in) long and weighing about 600 kg (1,320 lb), it carries about 500 kg and tows about 350 kg more; English Wikipedia makes it 635 kg and 515 kg.31 The engine first gave 22 PS, later 24 and finally 27 PS.3 Puch’s promotional film of about 1960 was called Mit 22 PS durch Dick und Dünn, “through thick and thin with 22 PS”.3

It was never fast. Depending on its gearing it reached 75, 64, 58 or only 52 km/h (47, 40, 36 or 32 mph), and owners today often take their Haflingers to meetings on a trailer.3 No road test from the period has been found.

To the world’s armies

The 48th Haflinger built, chassis 5350048, left the works on 22 October 1959. It had been meant for the Austrian army, but was kept as a prototype for the American market, with big headlamps and an odometer in miles, for an attempt at a contract with the American forces that never came. On 24 October 1960 it was sold to Fiat and registered in Turin.4 The first Haflingers reached the United States that year, sold there as the Pathfinder.13

The armies came anyway. Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Indonesia, Australia and the Royal Navy used it.13 Some carried a machine gun, a recoilless rifle or, in Switzerland and Sweden, Bofors BANTAM anti-tank missiles.3 In 1966 the Australian Army bought 46, registered 101-816 to 101-861, each with a matching trailer, and they served mostly with the craftsmen of the RAEME; about 800 were assembled and sold in Australia from that year.1 The story that Australian Haflingers went to Vietnam does not hold: they are not in M. Cecil’s list of the army’s vehicles there, Mud & Dust, and English Wikipedia suggests a confusion with the American M274 Mule.1 About 7,000 Haflingers went to armed forces in all, and they were exported to 35 countries besides Austria.1

The Series 2 brought a five-speed gearbox with a crawler gear, more power and, if wanted, a longer wheelbase, the AP 703, 3.15 m (124 in) long.132 There was a closed cab of glass fibre, the Polycab; a stronger municipal Kommunalhaflinger with a brake servo and about 1,200 kg of payload; a Tropenhaflinger for the tropics; right-hand-drive, fire-brigade and mountain-rescue versions; and the Schneewiesel, the “snow weasel”, which ran on two small track units made by Kahlbacher, 81 of them.3

Production ended in 1974, after 16,647.13 The bigger Pinzgauer, as a four-wheeler and a six-wheeler, followed the same layout, and a planned “H2” became the Puch G, the Mercedes-Benz G-Class.13

A small open military 4x4 with a soldier at the wheel tilted on a steep rocky hillside below mountains.
Plate I · 1964 A Swiss Army Haflinger climbing a steep, stony slope at Thurwis near Wildhaus in 1964.Photo: Jack Metzger, Comet Photo AG (ETH-Bibliothek Zürich), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Olive small 4x4 with a soft-top cab and army number plate in a long museum shed.
One of the Australian Army’s 46, 101-825, in the military museum at Bandiana, Wodonga, in 2011.Photo: sv1ambo, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Light green small truck with a rounded plastic cab and a British plate parked on grass.
A 1963 Haflinger with the glass-fibre Polycab, at a show in Britain in 2017.Photo: Tim Green, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr
Olive small 4x4 with a canvas cab on a grass verge, a barn and snowy peaks behind.
A Haflinger with a canvas cab by mountain farm buildings in the Tyrolean Oberland, Austria, in June 2015.Photo: Ailura, CC BY-SA 3.0 at, via Wikimedia Commons

Pictures

More photographs, old and new

The car 22

  • Olive small 4x4 with a full canvas cab on grass in front of a white tent. Opens a larger view

    1 An Austrian Army Steyr-Puch Haflinger with a canvas cab at the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna, Austria, in June 2013.

  • Green small open 4x4 with roll bars and a black seat on grass, lorries and buses behind. Opens a larger view

    2 A green right-hand-drive Steyr-Puch Haflinger, DVK 250J, at a show in the United Kingdom in June 2008.

  • Green small open 4x4 with a black canvas roof and blue seats on dry grass under willows. Opens a larger view

    3 A green Steyr-Puch Haflinger 700 AP on a meadow at a military-vehicle show in Jouet-sur-l’Aubois, France, in August 2018.

  • Cream small 4x4 with a black canvas cab, a winch rope and a Union flag sticker. Opens a larger view

    4 A cream Series 2 Steyr-Puch Haflinger with a black tilt and Union flag at the Haflinger meeting in IJmuiden, Netherlands, in April 2010.

  • Pale green small open 4x4 with a Haflinger plate beside a display of old brochure covers. Opens a larger view

    5 A pale green Steyr-Puch Haflinger 700 AP before a wall of period Haflinger brochures at Techno-Classica, Essen, Germany, in April 2024.

17 more picturesFewer pictures
  • Olive small 4x4 with a cab top and a bull bar parked on brick paving, other Haflingers behind. Opens a larger view

    6 An olive ex-Swiss Army Steyr-Puch Haflinger with a hard top at the Haflinger meeting in IJmuiden, Netherlands, in April 2010.

  • Lime-green small 4x4 with a black canvas cab on a show stand, an information board in front. Opens a larger view

    7 A lime-green Steyr-Puch Haflinger 700 AP with a black tilt on the club stand at Techno-Classica, Essen, Germany, in March 2018.

  • Side view of a small open olive 4x4 with roll bars and red racing seats on brick paving. Opens a larger view

    8 An olive Steyr-Puch Haflinger 700 AP with roll bars and red seats at the Haflinger meeting in IJmuiden, Netherlands, in April 2010.

  • Side view of a small olive 4x4 with a short cab top and a flat load platform behind. Opens a larger view

    9 An olive ex-Swiss Army Steyr-Puch Haflinger in profile at the Haflinger meeting in IJmuiden, Netherlands, in April 2010.

  • Small 4x4 with a bright green canvas tilt and white bodywork on a show stand. Opens a larger view

    10 A 1971 Steyr-Puch Haflinger with a green canvas tilt at the Classic Motor Show, NEC Birmingham, England, in November 2025.

  • Rear of a grey small 4x4 with a pale blue load bed and rails, parked on grass among old vans. Opens a larger view

    11 A pale grey 1974 Steyr-Puch Haflinger 700 AP with a light blue platform at a car show in Australia in January 2016.

  • Rear of a green small 4x4 with a black canvas tilt standing on a meadow before trees. Opens a larger view

    12 A green Steyr-Puch Haflinger 700 AP with its tilt closed from the rear three-quarter at Jouet-sur-l’Aubois, France, in August 2018.

  • Rear of a small olive 4x4 with a canvas tilt and a Liechtenstein plate, parked by a fence. Opens a larger view

    13 An olive Steyr-Puch Haflinger 700 AP with a canvas tilt parked in Schaan, Liechtenstein, in October 2018.

  • Front of a pale grey small 4x4 with a cab, roof rails and badges on its bumper, on grass. Opens a larger view

    14 A pale grey 1974 Steyr-Puch Haflinger 700 AP head-on at a car show in Australia in January 2016.

  • Front of a small olive 4x4 with a ribbed nose, round headlamps and a fold-down windscreen. Opens a larger view

    15 A Steyr-Puch Haflinger 700 AP, AL-87-76, head-on at the Haflinger meeting in IJmuiden, Netherlands, in April 2010.

  • Front of an olive small 4x4 with a ribbed nose, glazed windscreen and a winch hook. Opens a larger view

    16 An olive Steyr-Puch Haflinger 700 AP head-on at the Payana Vintage Museum, Karnataka, India, in November 2025.

  • A small olive 4x4 with soldiers aboard crossing a row of logs, spectators and army tents behind. Opens a larger view

    17 An Austrian Army Steyr-Puch Haflinger driving over a log ramp at the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna, Austria, in June 2010.

  • Green small truck with a rounded cab and lights on in deep snow among frosted trees. Opens a larger view

    18 A green Steyr-Puch Haflinger Polycab with its headlamps on in deep snow, December 2009.

  • Olive military 4x4 with a soft top and a ribbed nose in a museum, another vehicle behind. Opens a larger view

    19 An olive 1968 ex-Swiss Army Steyr-Puch Haflinger 700 AP at the Lane Motor Museum, Nashville, Tennessee, in April 2009.

  • Olive small 4x4 with a cream canopy and bench seats, a 1967 museum label in front. Opens a larger view

    20 An olive Steyr-Puch Haflinger 700 AP with a cream canopy at the Payana Vintage Museum, Karnataka, India, in November 2025.

  • Olive small 4x4 with a full canvas cab behind a yellow rope on a tiled floor. Opens a larger view

    21 An olive Steyr-Puch Haflinger 700 AP with a full canvas cab in the Johann Puch Museum, Graz, Austria, in May 2004.

  • Olive small open 4x4 with a folded screen on a dark floor, a museum sign on its bumper. Opens a larger view

    22 An olive Steyr-Puch Haflinger 700 AP at the Top Mountain Motorcycle Museum, Timmelsjoch, Austria, in August 2017.

Inside and details 4

  • Steering wheel, gear lever and simple dashboard of a small military 4x4 seen from the open side. Opens a larger view

    23 The driver’s seat and controls of an Austrian Army Steyr-Puch Haflinger, Austria, 2011.

  • Large steering wheel, gauge and metal data plates on the dashboard of a small military 4x4. Opens a larger view

    24 The cockpit of a Steyr-Puch Haflinger, with data plates and steering wheel, at the Haflinger meeting in IJmuiden, Netherlands, in April 2010.

  • Raised badges and a flowing ‘Haflinger’ script pressed into olive-painted metal. Opens a larger view

    25 The embossed Steyr-Puch roundels and ‘Haflinger 700 AP 4-Wheel Drive’ script on a Haflinger at Bandiana, Wodonga, Australia, in April 2011.

  • Close view of two round metal badges and a ‘Haflinger’ plate below an army badge on olive paint. Opens a larger view

    26 The Steyr and Puch roundels and Haflinger nameplate on an Austrian Army Steyr-Puch Haflinger, Austria, 2011.

Variants and relatives 6

  • Olive small 4x4 carrying a stretcher and kit beside a camouflage net, an army ambulance behind. Opens a larger view

    27 A 1968 Steyr-Puch Haflinger fitted as a military stretcher carrier at the War and Peace Show, England, in July 2010.

  • Olive small 4x4 with a long enclosed cab and short load bed parked on grass before bushes. Opens a larger view

    28 An olive Steyr-Puch Haflinger with an extended crew cab in Hohenems, Austria, in April 2009.

  • Orange small 4x4 with a black canvas crew cab parked on paving beside red tractors. Opens a larger view

    29 An orange Steyr-Puch Haflinger with a black canvas crew cab on a town square in May 2009.

  • Front of a pale green small 4x4 with large round sealed-beam headlamps and an Austrian plate. Opens a larger view

    30 A pale green Steyr-Puch Haflinger Pathfinder, TU 369 BL, head-on at the Haflinger meeting in IJmuiden, Netherlands, in April 2010.

  • Pale green small 4x4 with large headlamps, a soft top and a flag, parked on brick paving. Opens a larger view

    31 A pale green Steyr-Puch Haflinger Pathfinder for the US market at the Haflinger meeting in IJmuiden, Netherlands, in April 2010.

  • Red small 4x4 with a black canopy and bench seats on a grassy slope by a stone wall. Opens a larger view

    32 A red Steyr-Puch Haflinger with a canopy on a mountain lawn at Monte di Carate above Lake Como, Italy, in February 2022.

Variants and relatives: Polycab 6

  • Front of a pale green small truck with a rounded cab, Steyr and Puch badges and round headlamps. Opens a larger view

    33 A green 1963 Steyr-Puch Haflinger Polycab, DEM 7, head-on at a show in Britain in August 2024.

  • Front of a grey small truck with a rounded plastic cab, round headlamps and a French plate. Opens a larger view

    34 A grey Steyr-Puch Haflinger Polycab, AJ-103-XD, head-on at the Haflinger meeting in IJmuiden, Netherlands, in April 2010.

  • Grey small truck with a long rounded cab and a canvas load box, people standing behind. Opens a larger view

    35 A grey Steyr-Puch Haflinger with a Polycab cab and a canvas-covered body behind, at the Haflinger meeting in IJmuiden, Netherlands, in April 2010.

  • Turquoise small truck with a rounded plastic cab, flags and red wheels on brick paving. Opens a larger view

    36 A turquoise Steyr-Puch Haflinger with a glass-fibre Polycab cab at the Haflinger meeting in IJmuiden, Netherlands, in April 2010.

  • Turquoise small truck with a rounded cab, script on the door, chrome exhaust stack and red wheels. Opens a larger view

    37 A turquoise Steyr-Puch Haflinger Polycab with ‘Haflinger’ script from the side at the Haflinger meeting in IJmuiden, Netherlands, in April 2010.

  • White small truck with a rounded plastic cab and a red Belgian plate, other Haflingers behind. Opens a larger view

    38 A white Steyr-Puch Haflinger Polycab with Belgian registration at the Haflinger meeting in IJmuiden, Netherlands, in April 2010.

Picture credits (38)
  1. 1 GuentherZ, CC BY 3.0
  2. 2 Bryn Pinzgauer, CC BY 2.0
  3. 3 Cjp24, CC BY-SA 4.0
  4. 4 Alf van Beem, CC0
  5. 5 Thomas Vogt, CC BY 2.0
  6. 6 Alf van Beem, CC0
  7. 7 Thomas Vogt, CC BY-SA 2.0
  8. 8 Alf van Beem, CC0
  9. 9 Alf van Beem, CC0
  10. 10 Andrea Boano, CC BY 4.0
  11. 11 Jeremy, CC BY 2.0
  12. 12 Cjp24, CC BY-SA 4.0
  13. 13 Matti Blume, CC BY-SA 4.0
  14. 14 Jeremy, CC BY 2.0
  15. 15 Alf van Beem, CC0
  16. 16 Gpkp, CC BY-SA 4.0
  17. 17 Pappenheim, Public domain
  18. 18 Julian Berry, CC BY-SA 2.0
  19. 19 dave_7, CC BY 2.0
  20. 20 Gpkp, CC BY-SA 4.0
  21. 21 Dnalor 01, CC BY-SA 3.0 at
  22. 22 KlausNahr, CC BY-SA 2.0
  23. 23 High Contrast, CC BY 3.0 de
  24. 24 Alf van Beem, CC0
  25. 25 sv1ambo, CC BY 2.0
  26. 26 High Contrast, CC BY 3.0 de
  27. 27 Alf van Beem, CC0
  28. 28 Böhringer, CC BY-SA 2.5
  29. 29 Jaeger-Meister, CC BY 2.0
  30. 30 Alf van Beem, CC0
  31. 31 Alf van Beem, CC0
  32. 32 Kaitu, CC BY-SA 4.0
  33. 33 Tim Green, CC BY 2.0
  34. 34 Alf van Beem, CC0
  35. 35 Alf van Beem, CC0
  36. 36 Alf van Beem, CC0
  37. 37 Alf van Beem, CC0
  38. 38 Alf van Beem, CC0

Variants

Platforms, cabs and tracks

The Haflinger’s versions, as German and English Wikipedia list them
VariantYearsWhat differsHow many
AP 700, Series 1From 1959Short wheelbase, four-speed gearbox, 22 PSPart of the 16,647
Series 2 (AP 700 and AP 703)1960s–1974Five speeds with a crawler gear, more power; a long wheelbase as an option, the AP 703Part of the 16,647
PolycabNot recordedA closed cab of glass fibreNot found
KommunalhaflingerNot recordedFor towns: a stronger frame, a brake servo and about 1,200 kg of payload, usually with the plastic cabNot found
TropenhaflingerNot recordedA cyclone air filter on the nose, for the tropicsNot found
PathfinderFrom 1960The American version, with large sealed-beam headlampsNot found
SchneewieselNot recordedThe “snow weasel”, on two small track units built by Kahlbacher81
Australian Army1966Truck, Utility, 1/4 Ton, GS, Lightweight, with a matching trailer each46

Specification

From German and English Wikipedia unless noted; the sources differ by a few per cent

Engine and drive

EngineAir-cooled horizontally opposed twin, at the back132
Capacity643 cc132
Power22 PS, later 24 PS, finally 27 PS3Manro Classic gives “around 25 hp” and 27 hp
GearboxFour speeds in the Series 1; five, with a crawler gear, in the Series 213
DriveFour-wheel drive, selectable, with separate locks on the front and rear differentials132

Body and chassis

ChassisA central tube, as on a Tatra13
SuspensionIndependent swing axles with portal hub reduction gears and coil springs; about 250 mm of travel each side13
BodiesAn open platform with a folding screen and canvas; the Polycab; a municipal chassis; the Schneewiesel on tracks13

Dimensions

Length2,850 mm3About 2.8 m in English Wikipedia; 2,830 mm by Silodrome
Long wheelbase3,150 mm long132
Width1,350 mm321.3 m in English Wikipedia
WeightAbout 600 kg3About 635 kg in English Wikipedia

Performance and running

PayloadAbout 500 kg3515 kg in English Wikipedia and Silodrome
TowingAbout 350 kg3
Top speed75, 64, 58 or 52 km/h, by gearing3Silodrome: a little over 42 mph, governed
Price newNot found

How many were built?

Every figure, with its source

16,647 builtBoth Wikipedias give 16,647 of all versions, 1959–⁠74, without a source that could be read; a dealer’s page gives about 16,600. No figure by year has been found.

  1. 16,647all versions, 1959–⁠74One source

    German and English Wikipedia, neither citing a source that could be read; they may share one31

  2. about 16,600all versionsUnconfirmed

    Manro Classic, an Austrian dealer and museum, read through a summary5

  3. about 7,000for armed forces in Switzerland, Austria, Australia and Britain’s Royal NavyOne source

    English Wikipedia1

  4. about 800assembled and sold in Australia from 1966One source

    English Wikipedia1

  • Two sources agreetwo good sources give the figure
  • One sourcea good source, alone
  • Unconfirmeda lead only, not yet checked

Famous for

Three points

  1. Lift it with four

    About 600 kg, a payload of about 500 kg, and light enough for four strong people to lift.

  2. Portal axles, under 3 m

    Two differential locks and portal hubs on a four-wheel drive about 2.85 m long.

  3. Missiles on a mule

    Swiss and Swedish Haflingers carried Bofors BANTAM anti-tank missiles.

On screen

Confirmed appearances only

Survivors and collecting

Today

Many ex-army Haflingers were sold to enthusiasts. They have a strong following in southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and owners in Britain, North America, Australia and Asia; among the most important club meetings is the one held every year at Hafling, Avelengo in Italian, near Merano in South Tyrol.13 Austria, Britain, France, Italy, Switzerland, South Tyrol and North America have clubs.1

The Austrian travel writer Ernst Wiese described a four-month round trip in one from Vienna to the southern tip of Arabia, in 10,000 Miles Through Arabia, and in 1983 one was driven from Vermont to California.1 The film director Nikolaus Geyrhalter says his could take film equipment up almost any mountain where a helicopter was not allowed.3

Chassis 5350048, the American-market prototype that went to Fiat, was sold without reserve by Artcurial at Rétromobile in Paris in 2025 for €21,456, under its estimate of €28,000–38,000.4 Haflingers have been photographed in Graz’s Johann Puch Museum, the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum in Vienna and the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville.

Sources

Numbered as in the text

Most of this history rests on the German and English Wikipedia articles, whose own references have not been checked; no period road test and no Puch or Magna heritage source has been found. Sources are given as plain text; the links are on the Credits page.

  1. English Wikipedia, Steyr-Puch Haflinger, read in full in a plain-text copy without its references.
  2. Silodrome, “Steyr-Puch Haflinger 4×4”, read through a summary.
  3. German Wikipedia, Steyr-Puch Haflinger, read in full in a plain-text copy.
  4. Artcurial, Rétromobile sale 2025 (sale 6144), lot 34, “1959 Steyr Puch Haflinger 700 AP”, read through a summary.
  5. Manro Classic, Austria, “Steyr-Puch Haflinger 700AP”, read through a summary.