First day of the commemorative stamp Puch motorcycles P800-MP

The powerhouse

Puch was once Austria’s best-selling motorcycle brand. The P 800, the most powerful model among the many Puch motorcycles, celebrates its 90th anniversary this year. 

In the 1930s, the long-established Puch works merged to form Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG, with motorcycle production remaining at the Graz plant. During the interwar period, motorcycles – unlike cars – were an important means of transport for a large part of the population. However, the successful Puch models with their two-stroke split single-cylinder engines, such as the powerful Puch 500, proved less than ideal for use with a sidecar. As a result, in 1936 Puch developed the P 800, featuring a side-valve four-stroke four-cylinder engine with an ultra-wide 170° cylinder angle, a displacement of 792 cc and an output of 20 hp. The model was primarily used as a sidecar motorcycle by the police, the military and other public authorities. In 1938, a revised version of the motorcycle equipped with a Solex carburettor was presented at the Vienna Spring Fair. However, following Austria’s annexation into the German Reich, production of the P 800 came to an end later that same year. In total, Puch produced 550 units of the P 800. 

The stamp depicts a P 800 with an MP sidecar from Vienna. “MP” stands for Max Porges, who was the largest producer of sidecars during the interwar period. From 1930 onwards, the various sidecar versions – known as “boats” – were also available with suspension. Particularly striking was the streamlined model known as the “Schlapfen“, with its enclosed mudguard. 

When?
13 February 2026, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Where?
Johann Puch Museum Graz, Puchstraße 85, 8020 Graz 

Picture of presentation: © Ö. Post AG