Playboy Motor Car Corporation was a Buffalo, New York

Buffalo, New York

Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...

-based automobile company, established in 1947. The company only produced 97 cars before going bankrupt in 1951.

The Playboy had a 40 hp Continental

Continental Motors Company

Continental Motors Company was an American engine and automobile manufacturer. The company produced engines for various independent manufacturers of automobiles, tractors, and stationary equipment from the 1900s through the 1960s. Continental Motors also produced Continental-branded automobiles in...

 four-cylinder sidevalve

Cam-in-block

The cam-in-block valvetrain layout of piston engines is one where the camshaft is placed within the cylinder block, usually beside and slightly above the crankshaft in a straight engine or directly above the crankshaft in the V of a V engine...

 engine driving a three-speed manual transmission

Transmission (mechanics)

A machine consists of a power source and a power transmission system, which provides controlled application of the power. Merriam-Webster defines transmission as: an assembly of parts including the speed-changing gears and the propeller shaft by which the power is transmitted from an engine to a...

. It would get 35 miles per US gallon. It would accelerate from 0-30 mi/h in six seconds, and 0-50 mph (80.5 km/h) in 17 seconds. Advertised top speed was 75 mph (120.7 km/h).

With a 90 inches (2,286 mm) wheelbase (10" {250 mm} less than the Rambler American

Rambler American

The Rambler American is an automobile manufactured by the American Motors Corporation between 1958 and 1969. The American was the second incarnation of AMC's forerunner Nash Motors second-generation Rambler compact that was sold under the Nash and Hudson Motors marques from 1954 and 1955.The...

), the Playboy measured 156 inches (3,962.4 mm) overall, and was priced at just US$985. It ran on 12 in (30 cm) rims, and weighed 1900 lb (861.8 kg). It was offered as a three-passenger convertible

Convertible

A convertible is a type of automobile in which the roof can retract and fold away having windows which wind-down inside the doors, converting it from an enclosed to an open-air vehicle...

 with a folding steel top. (A station wagon

Station wagon

A station wagon is a body style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door , instead of a trunk lid...

 was planned, but never built.)

Under-capitalized, Playboy could not compete with better-financed companies offering more conventional cars.

Legacy

This company, indirectly, was the source for the name of Playboy

Playboy

Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...

 magazine. The name was suggested to Hugh Hefner

Hugh Hefner

Hugh Marston "Hef" Hefner is an American magazine publisher, founder and Chief Creative Officer of Playboy Enterprises.-Early life:...

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.

Source

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