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Playboy - American innovation bundle or revolutionary?

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Created on July 19, 2020

Text:

Bruno von Rotz

Photos:

Jeff Creech - Courtesy RM/Sotheby's

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Jeff Creech - Courtesy RM/Sotheby's

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Archiv

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Playboy (1948) - in two-tone paint, cropped

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Playboy A48 (1948) - one of the last cars to be built

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Playboy A48 (1948) - with closed tin roof

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Playboy A48 (1948) - rear view

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Playboy A48 (1948) - View of the elegantly designed cockpit

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Playboy A48 (1948) - there was room for three people on the bench seat

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Playboy A48 (1948) - Speedometer

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Playboy A48 (1948) - A look under the hood

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Playboy A48 (1948) - Chassis badge - Number 88

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Playboy (1947) - the prototype with fabric top

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Playboy (1948) - with the roof up

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Playboy (1948) - open

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Playboy (1948) - with folded-down steel roof

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Playboy (1948) - on a rare color photograph

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Playboy (1948) - next to a 1932 Ford Model A

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Playboy (1948) - size comparison with the Ford Model A from 1932

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Playboy (1948) - with folded-up steel roof

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Playboy (1949) - longitudinally mounted four-cylinder engine

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Playboy (1949) - Drive train and suspension designs

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Playboy (1948) - New York-Los Angeles - 3114 miles in 62 hours of driving

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Playboy (1948) - at the Amsterdam Motor Show in May 1948, the start of the export business?

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Playboy (1948) - modern appearance

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Playboy (1948) - front view

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Playboy (1949) - Factory photo

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Playboy (1948) - in two-tone paintwork

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Playboy (1948) - with the steel roof folded down

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Playboy Station Wagon (1948) - presented in December 1948

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Playboy Station Wagon (1948) - sports station wagon

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Playboy (1947) - the prototype

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Summary

There have always been car manufacturers who did not follow the tried and tested paths, but instead sought new ones. Tesla is the example of modern times; a good 50 years earlier, the Playboy Motor Car Corporation was founded in 1946 with the mission of building an advanced compact sports car in America. The signs were good that the Playboy would take the hearts of consumers by storm, but things turned out differently. This report tells the brief history of the compact Playboy and shows it in current and historical images as well as in the sales literature of the time.

This article contains the following chapters

The good idea ...
... by three car enthusiasts
Innovative approaches
Coupé and convertible in one
Big "hello"
Big numbers
And then a station wagon
Early end

Estimated reading time: 8min

Preview (beginning of the article)

There have always been car manufacturers who did not follow the tried and tested paths, but instead sought new ones. Tesla is the example of modern times; a good 50 years earlier, the "Playboy Motor Car Corporation" was founded in 1946 with the mission of building an advanced compact sports car in America. Regarding the choice of name, it should be noted that the magazine "Playboy" was only founded by Hugh Hefner in 1953, with Marilyn Monroe naked on the "centerfold" of the first issue. Incidentally, Hefner is said to have received the idea for the name from an employee of the Playboy Motor Car Company. Today, hardly any car manufacturer would still call their brand "Playboy".

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