This is a 1978 Steyr-Puch Pinzgauer 712K, it’s a six-wheel-drive vehicle from Austria that’s famous for its ability to go just about anywhere you point it. As a result, it became a staple military vehicle for a slew of countries.
This Pinzgauer was originally deployed with the Malaysian military before being imported into Australia where it’s now road registered. It has a custom steel cargo cover that would make a great starting point for a camper conversion if the new owner decides to go down that path.
Fast Facts: A 1978 Steyr-Puch Pinzgauer 6×6
- The Steyr-Puch Pinzgauer was developed in Austria during the 1960s as a larger, more capable successor to the Haflinger. Designed by Erich Ledwinka, it entered production in 1971 with a central backbone chassis, independent suspension, portal axles, and either four-wheel drive (710) or six-wheel drive (712) – making it exceptionally capable off-road.
- The first-generation Pinzgauer used a 2.5 liter air-cooled petrol inline-four producing 89 bhp and 136 lb ft of torque. Power passed through a 5-speed manual transmission and dual-range transfer case. Hydraulic differential locks, portal hub reduction gearing, and excellent ground clearance allowed it to tackle difficult terrain that stopped conventional military vehicles.
- The Pinzgauer served with numerous military forces, including those of Austria, Switzerland, Britain, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia. A diesel-powered second generation arrived in 1986, with production eventually moving from Austria to Britain in 2000. Many retired military examples have since entered civilian ownership, where they’re particularly popular for expedition travel and camper conversions.
- This 1978 Pinzgauer 712K reportedly served with the Malaysian military before arriving in Australia during the 1980s. It features tropical ventilation, a distinctive snorkel, and a custom steel cargo cover. Recent mechanical work includes rebuilt carburetors, brake repairs, replacement axle seals, and fresh fluids. It’s offered with substantial spare parts reportedly worth over $5,000 AUD.
History Speedrun: The Steyr-Puch Pinzgauer
Steyr-Daimler-Puch built the first-generation Pinzgauer in Graz, Austria from 1971 to 1985, in four-wheel drive 710 and six-wheel drive 712 forms. The Pinzgauer was the second vehicle Erich Ledwinka designed for the company around a central-tube backbone chassis and swing axles, after the earlier Haflinger, and it was named after the Pinzgauer horse – a hardy breed ideally suited to life in the Alps.
This is a 1978 Steyr-Puch Pinzgauer 712K, it’s a six-wheel-drive vehicle from Austria that’s famous for its ability to go just about anywhere you point it. As a result, it became a staple military vehicle for a broad range of countries.
Why The Haflinger Wasn’t Enough
When the Austrian Bundesheer (National Army) was established in 1955 as the occupying powers were withdrawing, it inherited a fleet made up almost entirely of American military vehicles. Steyr-Daimler-Puch’s Haflinger model started replacing the smallest of them in the early 1960s, but at 643cc it simply couldn’t do the work of the US-built Dodge trucks the army still ran in large numbers.
From 1962, the Graz factory began developing a heavier military vehicle to fill that gap, and the first 4×4 prototype was shown to the public in 1965.
The Pinzgauer carried over many of its core design principles from the Haflinger, it had a load-bearing central tube with the drive housings bolted to its ends, swing axles and independent suspension at every wheel. It was a Ledwinka family formula, Erich Ledwinka, Steyr-Daimler-Puch’s Chief Engineer from 1950 to 1976, had worked alongside his father Hans at Tatra, where the same backbone-and-swing-axle principles had gone into the Tatra 11 all the way back in the 1920s.
A Backbone Chassis + Portal Hubs
The standard military engine was a Puch design built specifically for this vehicle – it was an air-cooled, pushrod inline-four of 2.5 liters, running a 7.8:1 compression ratio and breathing through two Zenith 36 NDIX downdraft twin-choke carburetors. It was good for 89 bhp and 136 lb ft of torque, these are humble numbers, but the Pinzgauer wasn’t meant to be fast.
The engine sat between the front seats, above the front axle. Behind it was a ZF S5-18/3 5-speed gearbox with synchromesh on every forward gear, then a dual-range transfer case flanged to the central tube, essentially giving it 10 forward speeds.
This Pinzgauer was originally deployed with the Malaysian military before being imported into Australia where it’s now road registered. It has a custom steel cargo cover that would make a great starting point for a camper conversion if the new owner decides to go down that path.
The 710 version (4×4) used 0.88:1 road and 1.69:1 off-road transfer gearing, the 712 (6×6) used 1.00:1 and 1.92:1 respectively. Front drive engaged hydraulically on the move, and hydraulic locks were fitted to the differentials of every axle. At the wheels, a 2.266:1 reduction gear in each portal hub lifted the axle line above the wheel centers resulting in excellent ground clearance.
Springing was by coils on the 710, whereas the 712 used a pivoted longitudinal leaf spring across its rear bogie. Brakes were 285 mm drums all round, with an unusual disc parking brake on the driveshaft behind the rear axle.
The 710M, the soft-top troop carrier, was 4,175 mm long, weighed 1,950 kgs empty and could carry 1,000 kgs, with two in the cab and eight on the bench seats in the back. Adding an axle created the 712M, now 2,400 kgs, and rated for 1,600 kgs of payload or twelve passengers behind the cab. Swiss figures put top speed at 104 km/h for the 710 and 88 km/h for the 712.
When the Pinzgauer reached Britain, Commercial Motor’s Graham Montgomerie tested one for its June 1974 issue. He laid out a route of steep gradients and water-filled gullies and reported that he couldn’t bog it or find a slope it wouldn’t climb, and that the sealed brake drums worked no differently after the vehicle had been driven fully submerged.
He said the handbrake was “the most effective I have encountered on any vehicle,” holding the fully-laden truck on a 1-in-3 slope. He was less taken with the rest. The main gearchange was vague enough that he repeatedly found fifth when reaching for second, the brake pedal felt dead, the steering kicked back hard with the front axle driven, and fuel consumption over nearly 400 km worked out at about 11 mpg. At £6,995 plus VAT, he noted, the Pinzgauer cost as much as roughly three Land-Rovers, and he expected it to sell accordingly. In other words, not very well.
The Pinzgauer’s Main Customers
The vast majority of Pinzgauer customers were militaries, perhaps predictably, including Britain, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Malaysia, Norway, Venezuela, Cyprus and Yugoslavia.
Power comes from a naturally aspirated, air-cooled 2.5 liter petrol inline-four, paired with a 5-speed manual transmission and a dual-range transfer case driving all six wheels.
In 1985 the vehicle was reworked for the diesel-powered second generation, with the 716 (4×4) and 718 (6×6) entering production in 1986, and those kept the Graz line running through to the year 2000. Sources seem to disagree on total Graz factory production, the number seems to vary between 24,000 up to 30,000.
In mid-2000 production moved to Automotive Technik in Guildford, England, whose main customer was the UK Ministry of Defence, which had bought its first batch of Pinzgauer 4×4s in 1994. The rights then passed through Stewart & Stevenson and Armor Holdings to BAE Systems, which announced in early-2008 that it would end UK manufacturing once the remaining Pinzgauer orders were completed, citing workload, production costs and duplication across its sites.
The Pinzgauer remains in service with a number of militaries around the world, but most European nations have now sold theirs off as military surplus, and as a result they’re now in civilian hands. They make popular camper/RV conversions – particularly for those who plan to head into more remote regions.
The 1978 Steyr-Puch Pinzgauer 6×6 Shown Here
This is a 1978 Steyr-Puch Pinzgauer 712K 6×6, it’s believed to have originally served with the Malaysian military before being imported into Australia during the 1980s. The seller describes it as a rare Malaysian-modified example, with its origins supported by its chassis number, tropical ventilation system, and its unusual front snorkel that rises up through the center of the snub-nosed hood.
Power comes from a naturally aspirated, air-cooled 2.5 liter petrol inline-four, paired with a 5-speed manual transmission and a dual-range transfer case driving all six wheels. This Pinzgauer is finished in blue with an olive green cabin, black and green vinyl upholstery, it has four inward-facing rear bench seats, and VDO instrumentation. A custom steel cargo cover has also been fitted, providing a potential starting point for a camper conversion if the new owner so wishes.
This Pinzgauer is finished in blue with an olive green cabin, black and green vinyl upholstery, it has four inward-facing rear bench seats, and VDO instrumentation. A custom steel cargo cover has also been fitted, providing a potential starting point for a camper conversion if the new owner so wishes.
Over the past four years, the vehicle has reportedly received a light mechanical overhaul. Work included replacing the axle seals and boots, overhauling the front wheel cylinders and brake master cylinder, and renewing the fluids in the engine, gearbox, transfer case, differentials, and all six portal hubs. The twin Zenith 36 carburetors were also rebuilt and balanced, and a new fuel pump was installed.
It’s now being offered for sale with one ignition key and a substantial collection of mostly new and usable secondhand OEM spare parts, reportedly valued at more than $5,000 AUD. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid, you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Collecting Cars
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
