Saturday, November 7, 2015

The 1948 Playboy





Perhaps there was another more appealing car that came along at the exact peak time that it's design was in demand, but unfortunately for the Playboy Motor Car Corporation, it couldn't capitalize on the public's enthusiasm for it's novel look, economical design and mechanics.






The car came to fruition in New York under the auspices of Louis Horwitz, Charles Thomas, and Norman Richardson. So confident were they in their creation that, despite having scant automotive production experience, they teamed up to fund the production through the granting of dealer franchise fees.


Unfortunately, their offering came hard on the heels of the Tucker scandal, and the resultant tide of investor skepticism cooled the influx of funding needed to bring the Playboy to the mainstream. The result was a run of less than a 100, a few neat brochures, and the unfilled promise of the right car, at the right time, but that still couldn't succeed.