Playboy Automobile Company


Playboy Motor Car Corporation was a Buffalo, New York-based automobile company, established in 1947. The company only made 99 cars including 1 prototype, 97 finished serial numbered production cars, as well as 1 unfinished car numbered 98 which has survived with zero miles on the odometer before going bankrupt in 1951.

The company

Company founder Lou Horowitz was a Packard dealer who after World War 2 saw a need for a new smaller car for postwar America, a cheaper car than the Packards he sold. It would be built from outsourced parts and cost around $900. Horowitz recruited friends Norm Richardson and Charlie Thomas.
In the wake of Preston Tucker's bad press they had difficulty forming a dealer network, and only finished 97 production cars before declaring bankruptcy in 1951.

The Playboy convertible prototype

The original prototype shares the same general shape as the production model, but features a rear mounted engine layout and a soft folding top.

The Playboy prototype today

It is owned and has been restored by company founder Lou Horowitz's grandson David Kaplan. According to Kaplan, "The black one never had an official number. When I restored it I put a PR on it for prototype." and "I finished it in the early '90s and I don't drive it much but I do drive it."

The Playboy convertible production model

The Playboy had a Continental four-cylinder sidevalve engine driving a three-speed manual transmission. It would get. It would accelerate from 0- in six seconds, and 0- in 17 seconds. Advertised top speed was.
With a wheelbase less than the Rambler American), the Playboy measured long overall, and was priced at just US$985. It ran on rims, and weighed. It was offered as a three-passenger convertible with a folding steel top.
Under-capitalized, Playboy could not compete with better-financed companies offering more conventional cars.

Playboy cars today

Of 97 production cars sold, only about 43 are believed to survive today. Five are owned by David Kaplan, grandson of company founder Lou Horowitz. Today Kaplan is an authority on his grandfather's car.