(first posted 2/1/2014) I had some time on my hands recently with the MLK day holiday, so I went up to the Saratoga auto museum. It was pretty much your standard museum until I ran into this little gem, the 1947 Playboy Prototype.
The Playboy was the creation of three gentlemen from Buffalo, NY. Their idea was one that seemed to resurface from time to time, especially during the immediate post-war era: beat Detroit with a lower priced car (about $1000), aiming for the market that needed a cheap car or a second one, like King Midget, Crosely, Davis, Henry J, and a host of others that had tried before and since.
What the museum has is the original Playboy prototype with a rear-mounted Continental twenty-horsepower engine, four-wheel independent suspension, and an automatic transmission. The partners showed this at a hotel in Buffalo and generated enough interest that they decided to go into production.
image: playboymotorcars.com
As you can imagine, the car got a little less complex when that step happened: the motor moved to the front—although horsepower doubled to forty, via a Hercules side-valve four—and a conventional chassis was substituted, reminding me of the quote from Virgil Exner of how a stylist would design a car, and gradually all his work would be trimmed away until only the hub caps remained, and even they would be changed to a standard design to save ten cents a car. But despite the changes underneath, the production-ready Playboy did survive more or less stylistically intact, including its somewhat oddly-humped hood and tiny 13″ wheels.
image: playboymotorcars.com
It even managed to gain a folding steel hardtop (manually operated), and plans were made for a station wagon. But then problems set in: The backers had planned on raising the necessary capital through what we would call today an IPO, a stock offering. This was at the same time Tucker imploded through its own questionable stock floatation, and Playboy failed to raise enough to start. They did manage to put together ninety-odd ‘pilot’ models before reality set in and a trip to the bankruptcy court was in order.
The Playboy did leave one legacy: the company’s Chicago sales rep suggested the name ‘Playboy’ to a young Hugh Hefner for his new venture. And that’s not an empty claim; Hefner later confirmed that in writing. He was obviously smitten with the name, and perhaps the ease with which it went topless. But there’s no record of him giving a pink Playboy to the first Playmate of the Year.
Here’s a brief but quite well done tv story on the Playboy.
(Jana is our first female Contributor to CC. She has this to say about herself: I grew in a small town in Southeast Missouri, and currently earn a living as a contract COBOL (Classic programming language!) programmer for the State of New York in Albany. I split my time between there and Memphis, TN, where my 86-year old mother lives. My other hobbies are Cycling (to an extreme – I used to do Brevets – 120 to 200 miles in one day), and creative fiction, where I currently have two novels going, one on the early career of Elvis Presley, and another on George Rogers Clark’s Vincennes campaign (maybe one day I’ll be rich and famous–ha!).)
Another one of those coula/woulda/shoulda designs that were going to change the auto industry and break the stranglehold the Big 3 had on cars. And, like all the rest, completely rolled over by the Big 3 by 1949 . . . . . and by 1953 it was all over for just about everybody else that wasn’t GM, Ford, or Chrysler.
And mediocrity reigned. Forget different imaginative engineering, we can just change the styling every three years, with a minor update every year.
Well, it didn’t really take the Big Three to “roll them over”. Most of them rolled over dead quite well on their own, given their many limitations. Did they really offer something compelling? What was the point of a two-passenger convertible, if it wasn’t a legitimate sports car?
Yeah, but it gives you an idea of the postwar “can do” spirit that pervaded the US in the years before Korea.
Previously, I’ve only seen profile shots of these cars. The styling is very ungainly! It just doesn’t work from any angle.
It’s a heck of a story, though. Three gentlemen who thought they could take on the Big Three, or perhaps I should say three gentlemen who thought they could take on Powell Crosley.
Oh, and welcome aboard, Jana.
I went to the Saratoga Museum on my honeymoon in ’05 (yep, one of a few auto museums…how romantic!), and they had a Bugatti display going. One of them was the Atlantic coupe that is now in the Mullin Museum (I believe) now. I may be understating it a bit, but that was a nice looking car.
Here it is at the 2012 Retromobile…
Welcome aboard!
The Playboy is something I was aware of but knew nothing about it. Thank you for this piece of history. I also followed the link to your blog – it looks like you found some very good iron at the museum.
SE Missouri? I was born in Cape Girardeau and still have family in Scott County.
Strangely styled it doesnt appeal to me at all, there were plenty of cars that size being built elsewhere by outfits that knew what they were doing, this really didnt have a chance.
I don’t know, I see a bit of mid-60’s International pickup in the front end. The side profile, not so much. Congrats Jana, It’s been many years since I had to last look at cobol code. That, of course, was before I figured out I wouldn’t be a good programmer.
My first thought was Panhard meets International Harvester!
Jason, I’m the poster formerly know as RustInPeace. That nom de auto has gone to Johannes like Jack Lord did :), and yes, I may spin a couple of more tales based off that visit (I’m thinking about what’s sitting behind our centerfold, so to speak)
Thanks all. I agree, it does look they should have spent some capital on a stylist. At least Preston Tucker hired Alex Tremulis.
Awesome! I wondered if there was a connection.
Speaking of which, I drove by Johannes just last week. I even took pictures.
Wunderbar! Look forward to seeing them.
Thank you for posting this; I am smarter, having read it. We’re delighted to have you here!
Oh man, someone from Albany! I think a New York/northeast meetup is possible. Any takers?
technically, I live in Rensselaer(Can see Empire State Plaza from my bedroom window in winter).
Ed – maybe bring it up in summer. As you know, travel here can be iffy this time of year.
I’m in Rochester!
Nice feature Jana,I learn something new on here every time I’m on.I’d never heard of the Playboy
Me neither – I think it looks OK
ADD JANA TO CURBSIDE GIVING MORE_GOODNESS.
WTF is this for?
Meant as a friendly welcome to a new contributor. Jana is a COBOL programmer, that was a COBOL statement. Cheers!
We use iSeries-based COBOL at the office — I still tinker with the “dead” language occasionally because it’s just fun.
When I’m home I tinker with the “dead” machines in the driveway which is even more fun.
A really interesting piece. Never heard of these, but could this name have been a resurrection of the 1920’s Jordan Playboy (“Somewhere west of Laramie…”) moniker? It somehow reminds me of an old Swedish Saab. And that emblem looks to have been a predecessor to the Mini Cooper’s.
“The Playboy did leave one legacy: the company’s Chicago sales rep suggested the name ‘Playboy’ to a young Hugh Hefner for his new venture.”
Mr Hefner was smart enough to grab the name, but I seriously doubt that he saw himself picking up any future bunnies in it, however in 1926 Jordon understood what a playboy was. Unfortunately, Hugh Hefner wasn’t born yet
From the future, six years later: The combination of art and copy in that and other Jordan Playboy ads is just amazing and has never been equaled.
I almost put a line to the effect that most folks who read Playboy magazine wouldn’t be caught dead in a Playboy car (at least this iteration).
I see a bit of Nash Metropolitan in the Playboy…. or a bit of Playboy in the Nash.
Exactly, how many weird little bathtub cars could the public absorb?
Although the Met came along later, so they wouldn’t have been contemporaries unless the Playboy had survived another five or six years.
I can see it now, in the alternate universe: Crosley, Kaiser/Fraser, Tucker, Davis and Playboy all survive. Hudson, Nash, Packard and Studebaker continue as independents. Ford doesn’t decide to play nuclear option in 1953 . . .
While I’m impossibly dreaming, the British and French imports also make it.
That could have been an interesting world.
…and the little Volkswagen becomes the biggest selling car in the world, oh, wait…
The dilemma the little guys would have faced first was surviving the Korean War. Materials were restricted and production was capped proportionally to 1950 volume. There were also heavy federal restrictions on car loans until mid-1952. Not an easy time to get started…
A friend has one that appears to be complete. The car isn’t in driving shape, but it’s eminently restorable.
Welcome aboard Jana! I wonder if it occurred to them to make them into a real sports car? Then again it didn’t really work for the Muntz Jet about then either.
Welcome, Jana, and thanks for this very interesting piece. I vaguely recall reading something about these cars in Special Interest Autos back in the 70s, but had long forgotten about this car until now.
The car leaves me with a “Crosley goes to Finishing School” vibe. Now, when will someone find a King Midget?
It looks French. French cars have always had it tough here.
Jana’s writing was a wonderful addition to CC.
She is missed, taken from us way too young.
The lady I lived with over 50 years was a model that posed in a Playboy ad, there was an age difference, I was 19 and she was 41 when we met, she looked 20. Had a good life together, she passed away in 2017. We met after she moved to Paradise, CA, she loved it, would have broken her heart when the whole town burned in 2018. Still have the ad poster for the Playboy with her in it.
I’m sad I missed this article the first time around and being born and raised in B-lo, I don’t remember even knowing the Playboy existed. I remember looking at Pierce Arrow as a kid and wondering how they built cars in a relatively residential neighborhood in that old building next to FWS furniture. My father retired from GM, working in a Saginaw Plant that became American Axle before transferring to Tonawanda engine. Wonder if it was the same plant where these were formerly built.