Australian Car Guide

16/4/2000: They call it a Treffen; it must be Austrian for a Plethora of Pinzgauers or a Herd of Haflingers.

The Pinzgauers are the big ones. There were four of them in this group planning to sample some of Victoria's mountain country over Easter. Prof-Pinz reckons 14 came to Australia in the 1970s, all (originally) air-cooled 6x6s, so this is a significant fraction of the local population. This white one came over from Tasmania and features metal bodywork with a "canvas" roof.

The little ones are Haflingers, with 650cc of throbbing power. As an (ex-)owner said, this is a feel-good four wheel drive - it is impossible not to have a smile on your face in the presence of a Haflinger.

The two-cylinder engine is mounted in the rear. The front end is so light that two, not very strong, men can pick it up - a useful trick for a quick U-turn in the bush.

This Haflinger (left) was trailered from South Australia; the cab is a genuine fitting.

- 4wd.sofcom.com/4WD.html -

Karen, girl Friday (and Monday, Tuesday, ...) from Peter Ward's Show-room of Steyr Spares at Whitby, Yorkshire, England, visited Australia for a busman's holiday. Here she is chatting, or perhaps commiserating, with owners and enthusiasts.

Below, essential supplies: Last minute purchases are stored in Sue and Tony C's family car.

- L. Allison   © 4/2000

And recently: The [Pinzgauer] is discontinued [at Steyr], Steyr sold the production facilities to a company in England which has been importer for Pinzgauers for a long time. They will continue the manufacturing at a rate of one car per day or so. (Probably only for Army purposes). The company is Automotive Technic Ltd. in Aldershot, Hampshire (the former importer for Pinzgauer in England, they have a contract from [the British] Army for new Pinzgauers and they hope that they will also be able to sell to communities and individuals.

[Steyr] sold everything, manufacturing + testing facilities, design, etc. Moving (starting July or so) and re-certification of production facilities is done by the engineers from Steyr Fahrzeug Technik (SFT). Parts for the production will come from the same (Austrian) suppliers. They plan on building about the same number of vehicles per year as Steyr did (around 1 per day)
The Pinzgauer will keep it's name.
- Michael Sommer

SFT will now concentrate on automotive systems rather than complete vehicles of their own design.

Go to the Haflinger, Pinzgauer and Steyr pages - 4wd.sofcom.com/Steyr/Steyr.html