AACA magazine - article on Playboy cars

[Dosmo]

I really enjoyed the current issue of AACA magazine featuring the piece on the Playboy Automobile Corporation.  A lot of information about how the company was formed, how it tried to stay viable, and how it came to an end.  Several interesting photos, to boot.

 

Cool stuff, if one is interested in such things.  I really like the magazine.

[victorialynn2]

I didn’t even have any idea they exsisted until I saw the article. 

[Pomeroy41144]

Found my issue and finished it up.  Good reading.  

 

 

Edited February 7, 2018 by Pomeroy41144 (see edit history)

[cxgvd]

The Pierce Arrow Museum downtown Buffalo NY has Playboys cars on display.  An interesting article with family history.  Regards, Gary

[Dave Henderson]

I was surprised to see the AACA Playboy article, because a similar article had just appeared in Old Cars Weekly. 
 I recall seeing a Playboy abandoned on a dirt lot where bus drivers parked their cars in Arlington, Va. ca. early '50's.  A '34 Plymouth convertible likewise was once left there to decompose.  Ah for a time machine...
 

[Dosmo]

It looks as though some of the Playboy cars used contemporary Mopar radios, distinctive due to their vertical configuration versus the more common horizontal type.  The speedometer/instrument cluster is tantalizingly familiar, but, so far, I can't figure it out.  I've attached three different images, and I wonder if a knowledgeable person,  such as Keiser31 or another like-minded expert, might recognize it almost instantly.

 

Additionally, the clutch and brake pedal arrangement seem to suggest that this might be a suspended pedal setup, rather than the more common pedal through the floorboard type.  Were there any other Amurrican autos with suspended pedals at this time?  Thoughts? 

 

Thanks in advance for your responses. 

[Rusty_OToole]

I wonder if they may have bought those radios cheap from the manufacturer?  The supplier of radios to Chrysler was stuck with a large number of them when auto production stopped in April 1942. They built some of them into furniture (think of an end table or smoking stand with built in radio). They may have had a few hundred, or a few thousand in the warehouse when Playboy came looking for radios. It was a very smart purchase if they did. Chrysler had a better, more expensive radio than cheaper cars like Plymouth or Ford. Nice to get a deluxe radio for the price of a cheap one.

 

Those do look like suspended pedals. If so, Playboy should get credit for a first. Up until now 1952 Ford was supposed to be first but Playboy had them 5 years earlier. Then again you could argue the Playboy was not a production car.

Edited February 7, 2018 by Rusty_OToole (see edit history)

[Dosmo]

9 minutes ago, Rusty_OToole said:

Those do look like suspended pedals. If so, Playboy should get credit for a first. Up until now 1952 Ford was supposed to be first but Playboy had them 5 years earlier. Then again you could argue the Playboy was not a production car.

 

 

Yeah, the Ford products from 1952 are supposed to be the first PRODUCTION cars with suspended pedals, I guess.  But, these appear to be the earliest ones I've seen - period -  on an American car.  Not familiar enough with foreign brands to know about them.

[SC38dls]

I have this pic of a Playboy located in Lexington Ky. My grey hair has pulled a lot of the memory cells from my head (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it) but I believe this car has been in the owners family since new. I will try to locate the rest of the pictures I have of it. It sits in a company showroom that has a glass garage door so you can see it walking by the building. Nice people that are willing to let you look it over and read info they have on it.  Notice the dual spotlights.