PLAYBOY

Playboy Motor Car Corp. (1946-1951)
Buffalo, New York

This is a Playboy hood emblem (1946-1951)    mjs
Size: 145mm wide 64mm high     MM: None

Lou Horowitz was a Packard dealer, who recognized a need in post-war America for a smaller, cheaper car for use mainly as an around town second car. 

The Playboy Motor Car Corporation was established in 1946 and a prototype car produced. The design chosen for production was a 40 hp four-cylinder, compact three-passenger convertible with automatic transmission and a retractable steel top. 

The Playboy was advertised and there was some interest but sufficient finance was not forthcoming and a willing dealership could not be found. Lou Horowitz filed for bankruptcy in 1949. The company struggled on until 1951. Total production of the Playboy was one prototype, 97 completed cars and one unfinished car.

Emblems

The Playboy carried a brightly painted, red emblem mounted on the hood, see the Playboy emblem shown above at the top of this post. This Playboy hood emblem is rare.

There is also a version of this Playboy hood emblem with the gloves finished without chrome, see example shown below:

This is a Playboy hood emblem (c1947)   stan f

Playboy emblems were also mounted on the dash board or instrument panels of some Playboy models, see example shown below:

Playboy dash showing Playboy emblem (c1949)  martysprague