|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I Worked for Puch Too |
|||
|
|
 |
Nobody Could ever figure out how it was pronounced, but their products were great! |
|
|
|
I was District Sales Manager in Southern Ohio, for Steyr Daimler Puch in the 1980's. This Picture was taken at Montgomery Cyclery's (Cincinnati) West Chester Storage Facility in approximately 1983. Willie & Judy Grieb had one of largest Bicycle and Moped shops in the U.S. I tried to count the mopeds in this picture, somewhere over 100. I can't remember whether there were more but I could only take an angle shot. Also note the many bicycles. This number does not nearly replicate the stock that his dealerships kept on hand. Willie had three retail stores with lots more product in each. Cincinnati had to have had more mopeds per capita than anywhere in the US. At age 14, every kid wanted a moped. However, Ohio, changed the moped law to age 15 around this time, and the business took a sharp nose dive. And Puch eventually left the United States. My moped, and later bicycle dealers were some of the nicest, most honest, friendliest people you would ever want to work with. I even had Amish dealers--nothing electric in their stores!
|
||
|
|
Click the image above for Puch Catalogs |
||
|
|
Andy, riding the Little Puch 50 Motocrosser This was an indestructible little bike that all three of my sons rode
|
||
|
Puch Products |
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
A Short History of Puch in the United States |
|||
|
Puch. No one knew how to pronounce it. The company was named Steyr Daimler Puch. It was an Austrian Government owned industry. The Austrian pronunciation would be Puck like Book with a P. Most people said POOK. You did hear people say: Poosh, Pooch, Puckie, and even derisively--Puke. Great product, not much thought into the branding awareness in the US. During the early 1980's. I was District Sales Manager for the US Corporate operation selling Mopeds and Bicycles in Southern Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. The dealers that I worked with in that industry were some of the nicest people you would ever want to meet. This was a very interesting company. The products were high quality made in Austria, and marketed worldwide and in the United States. In the 60's they made mopeds for Sears. You may remember them as red/white with a two speed gear box. They also made two cycle motorcycles worldwide and occasionally seen in the United States. Subsequently in the 1970's they also imported a line of enduro motorcycles (like mine in the picture above) sized 125, 175, and a few 250's into independent dealerships the US. Going against the Japanese Motorcycle giants made it difficult to compete. This effort, unfortunately folded. Then after the Arab Oil Embargo, Puch saw a market opportunity in the US for mopeds. They set up headquarters in Greenwich Connecticut--I think because the president lived there, and had distribution locations in Secaucus NJ and Jacksonville, Florida. They also imported Austrian bicycles under the name Austro Daimler, and Puch. These products were absolutely the best quality mopeds you could buy. They also imported lower end bikes from Japan and Taiwan. They also imported a line of high quality firearms through a separate distribution channel, Guns South which I think was in Alabama. They had fine rifles and even finer shotguns which sold for thousands of dollars each. Check out the picture below of their "M-16 like" assault rifle! They also made a full range of Military equipment Tanks, Personnel Carriers, and Howitzers. I have no idea where they were sold. Every once and a while you will see a Pinzgaur which was a small four wheel drive military vehicle. The products were great, however their business skills and marketing were an failure leading to their pullout of U.S. corporate operations in the early 1980's.
|
|||
Puch
Pinzgauer 4 Wheel Drives. You still see a lot of these out west.
