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Playboy Motor Car Corporation was a Buffalo, New York-based automobile company, established in 1947. The company only produced 97 cars before going bankrupt in 1951.

The Playboy had a 40 hp (30 kW) Continental^[1] four-cylinder sidevalve^[2] engine driving a three-speed manual transmission. It would get 35 mpg_-US (6.7 L/100 km; 42 mpg_-imp). It would accelerate from 0-30 mph (48 km/h) in six seconds, and 0-50 mph (80 km/h) in 17 seconds. Advertised top speed was 75 mph (121 km/h).^[3]

With a 90-inch (2,300 mm) wheelbase^[4] (10" {250 mm} less than the Rambler American), the Playboy measured 156 inches (4,000 mm) overall,^[4] and was priced at just US$985.^[4] It ran on 12 in (30 cm) rims, and weighed 1,900 lb (860 kg).It was offered as a three-passenger convertible with a folding steel top.^[4] (A station wagon was planned, but never built.)^[4]

Undercapitalized, Playboy could not compete with better-financed companies offering more conventional cars.^[3]

Contents 1 Legacy 2 Notes 3 Source 4 External links

[edit] Legacy

This company, indirectly, was the source for the name of Playboy magazine. The name was suggested to Hugh Hefner by his close friend, co-founder and eventual executive vice-president Eldon Sellers, whose mother had worked as a secretary for the automobile company's Chicago sales office before it went bankrupt.

[edit] Notes

[edit] Source

• Flory, J. "Kelly", Jr. American Cars 1946-1959. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Coy, 2008.

[edit] External links

• http://www.playboymotorcars.com/