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PUCH (1903 – 1987)
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1974 – Leitgeb's 250 returned from the USA wrapped in its packaging and Dalton was its last official race, despite a near perfect engine able to produce a lot of power even at low revolutions.
At this time the main mindset at Puch was to shut down the entire motorcycle division and to exit from competitions, to such an extent that the 250cc was forgotten, still in its packaging in the warehouse. To this day it forms an important part of an Italian collection.
The 1974 season started amongst drastic upheavals, despite this Gualdi was still number one in the team in the saddle of the best that Graz was able to produce.
On his 175cc (24 hp) front Marzocchi forks with magnesium sleeves appeared and rear Marzocchi shock absorbers.
Unfortunately only Gualdi and a handful of others were given machines produced in Graz, most riders had to be content with standard models which were customized in Italy; still great motorcycles, but unable to perform as well as the official racing motorcycles.

At the Valli Bergamasche (Bratto, 1/2 June) the Puch team had near misses with Sergio Belussi and Bernardino Gualdi, 3rd and 4th respectively in the 175cc class, while Bruno Birbes finished 2nd in the 250cc class.
At the Six Days of Camerino (9/14 September) despite the Belgian team being equipped with Puch 125cc and 175cc motorcycles and vying for the Trophy, the best results were once again achieved by Bernardino Gualdi, who finished 11
th in the 175cc class.
The run of bad luck on the international circuit was, however, redeemed by the great "Tino" Gualdi's great win at the Italian Championships, for the third consecutive time on his 175cc.
As far as mass produced models were concerned, marketing and production of the three models, namely the MC125, MC175 and 50GS went ahead as had been decided in Milan during the previous year.
Frame in black chrome vanadium steel, fuel tank in red nylon (yellow for the 50cc), lowered silencer and white Nonfango mudguards were the main aesthetic characteristics of these motorcycles.
While the silencer of the 125cc and the 175cc had an elongated and sinuous end point, the 50cc had the straight "basset" type silencer.
The filtering area was protected by a vinyl apron with yellow disc onto which racing numbers could be applied, this feature could be found on all models and unified the look of the motorcycle.
Aided by a closer resemblance to the winning racing models, these motorcycles were a hit with the public.


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