By the mid-1960s the Austrian Army started looking for a replacement for the aging Dodge light trucks left behind by the US occupational forces upon their departure in 1956. Austrian manufacturers Steyr-Daimler-Puch and ÖAF responded to this request and started development of light trucks with 1 (and later 1-½) ton payload. While ÖAF based their development on a downsized version of their heavy truck family, Steyr decided to expand its well-proven light Haflinger high-mobility vehicle with its central tube chassis. The two resulting vehicles were the ÖAF 2-90 „Husar“ (see also the history of our Husar on this homepage) and the Steyr-Daimler-Puch Pinzgauer, and first prototypes were tested by the Army starting in 1966/67.
Steyr produced a first Batch of ten pre-series Pinzgauers, our vehicle was the prototype of the closed cab version which would later be designated as type „K“, another prototype of the open cap version (later designated as type „M“) was presented at the same time. The two vehicles received the license plates W177.362 and W177-363 and were extensively tested by the Army until the first large order for serial production was placed in 1970 (the first presentation of the Pinzgauer to the general public took place in 1969, shortly thereafter also the Swiss Army decided to adopt this new vehicle concept). The long and extensive history of the „Pinzaguer“ series shall not be covered here in detail, hence this article only covers this prototype.
Chassis number 575-0001 was first road-licensed by the Austrian MoD on October 2 1967 under plate number W177.362. This was one of the last Army vehicles to still receive „W“ (for „Vienna“) license plates as the new „BH“ plates (for „Bundesheer“ or „Federal Army“) had been introduced in late 1967. According to its registration documents it retained these plates until the end of its active service in February 1984, however an official Army picture shows it with a set of „BH“ plates.
After extensive trials of the prototype (mostly under the stewardship of the Army Driving School), the vehicle was initially issued to the Salzburg Army Command for Service on the Hochfilzen Training Base. An official Army picture dates back to this time.
The later part of its service life was spent with the 3rdr Staff Tank Battalion, part of the 3rd Tank Grenadier Brigade in Mautern.
After its discharge from the Army in 1984 the vehicle remained in private hands for the next three decades, before it came to us and was completely restored to its original condition.
In 2017 we could proudly present it at the „On Wheels and Tracks“ military vehicle gatherin