The brainchild of Louis Wurwitz, a Buffalo, New York-based Packard dealer; Pontiac engineer Charles Thomas; and service station owner Norman Richardson, the Thomas-designed Playboy debuted at Buffalo’s Statler Hotel in the fall of 1946. While the prototype for their car was a tiny three-passenger runabout with a canvas top, propelled by a rear-mounted Hercules four-cylinder engine, the eventual production model featured a front-mounted engine, either Hercules or Continental, as well as a clever manually operated retractable hardtop—some 10 years before the Ford Skyliner, and significantly simpler to maintain!

Some 97 Playboys were built before the enterprise fizzled out, leaving behind a pioneering American “compact car” that had dared to be different from all the rest. The marque’s lasting impact on history was not automotive at all: a former employee’s son later suggested the Playboy name to their friend planning a new men’s magazine…one Hugh Hefner.

The Playboy offered here, the 65th production car, was acquired from Harrah’s Automobile Collection in 1970 by John Dudley, a longtime enthusiast who installed it in his roadside attraction, the Roaring Twenties Antique Car Museum in Hood, Virginia. It was displayed there until the museum’s dispersal in 2019, at which point it was acquired by a buyer in Missouri, and shortly after was purchased for The Boeckmann Collection. While cosmetically refinished decades ago, it remains in its well-patinaed condition from many years of display, and would benefit from servicing prior to use. Alternatively, it would be an excellent basis for restoration, after which it would be the hit of many concours and AACA events.

An unusual automobile that was a bit too far ahead of its time, the Playboy has a secure place in American history, both in the automotive and pop culture realms. Surviving examples very infrequently come to market, so the opportunity to acquire this one should certainly not be missed.