Day 5 decision day

At the end of Day 4's competition we drove back to the hotel to do some maintenance on the car.  The clutch has been getting progressively worse since the competition started.  I also noticed that when driving on the  70 mph interstate highways as I was traveling at 50 mph which is just about the maximum speed for car with the flashers on both cars and trucks were getting right on my tail and not slowing down or moving over.  I decided to check the flashers after we changed the oil and it turned out that they were not functioning.  We attempted to fix the flasher issue but was unsuccessful as we needed a new switch and we didn't one one available.  In the best interest of safety and the health of the car we decided to withdraw from the race.  This was a difficult decision but the correct decision.

I really enjoyed participating in the race.  It was so much fun driving the car down all these country roads in Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and Kentucky.  It was amazing scenery and I saw many large farms and corn fields.  It was awesome to see how much attention the car drew at all the lunch and dinner stops. Most people that we met had not heard of or seen a Playboy car before and asked many questions about Lou Horwitz, the  company, the car and my connection to it.

I can't possibly thank Chuck, Dennis and Todd enough for making this adventure come true.  Chuck worked tirelessly to get the car ready for the race.  He had to engineer a disc brake system and rebuild every system in the car.  Chuck also had to put up with my endless questions and attempts at helping him ( I'm sure I slowed him down tremendously by trying to be helpfull!!) He is a brilliant mechanic, engineer and friend. Dennis a master mechanic was there every step of the way and we couldn't have done this without all his time and effort.  Dennis was also  an excellent navigator who had to put up with me in the car all day!!  If it wasn't for his quick thinking and  ingenuity in making a new throttle spring out of zip ties we would have been stuck on the side of the road for hours.  The Great Race was Todd's idea and we couldn't have done this without him.  It was very dissapointing that we had to withdraw before he had a chance to participate in the race.

The Great Race was a great experience for me.  Although we didn't make it to South Carolina we drove the car well over 800 miles in 5 days and  I enjoyed every minute of it.

My only regret was that I was naive to the realities of how the Great Race was run.  I assumed that we were driving the car over country roads at a maximum speed of 50 mph.  We did do that , but we also had what was called transits that got you from one  segment of the race to another.  Unfortunately the majority of these transits occurred on 70 mph highways and they could last for between 30-80 miles a day.  My car is 77 years old and is very comfortable driving at 50 mph. Unfortunately my car is not able to travel safely at speeds higher than that which makes it unsafe to travel on 70 mph highways.  With my flasher's not working I didn't feel safe continuing our participation in the race.

 Day 4 of the Great Race was a very difficult  but interesting day.   We were able to complete the course for the day but ran into many challenges.  We were running smoothly approaching Ramsey Illinois when the throttle spring broke and  I had no control of the throttle.  Dennis jerry rigged a throttle spring out of zip ties that allowed us to travel at a slow speed into Ramsey on the course.  Ramsey Illinois is a very small town and as we approached a stop sign we came across a NAPA parts store.  We were able to get a new spring and continue on although around 20 minutes late for that segment.  Later on on the interstate we came across a huge rainstorm for around 10 minutes where luckily my vaccum wipers worked to perfection.  After 10 minutes of torrential rain we only had 2 drops of water leak through the convertible hard top making this car more watertight than when it left the plant.  Playboy was still working on making the convertible tops leakproff and thuDays redesinged the convertible top on the production model playboy before the went bankrupt.  After a wrong turn and emergency delay with a major traffic jam at an intersection we successfully completed the course and drove into Owensboro Kentucky.

It is awesome to see that every lunch and end of day stop the people looking at and asking about the car and it's history.

We are proud to announce that we have entered Playboy #92 in the 2025 Great Race.  The great race is a speed controlled, timed, endurance race that starts in St. Paul Minnesota and ends in lake Murray, South Carolina.  The race starts on Saturday June 21 and ends on Sunday June 29, 2025.  We will post updates and information on our progress through the race.  This is the first time that a Playboy car has been entered in the race.

I purchased car #92 in 1989 from Donald Moore who was an original Playboy dealer in 1948.  He loved the cars even though he lost money on the dealership when the company went bankrupt.  Whenever he saw a car for sale he would purchase it.  When I purchased the car the last inspection sticker that was on the car was from 1965.  It was a solid car in original condition.  We got the car running in 1992 and I was able to drive and enjoy the car in this condition.  We decided that this car would be a good candidate to enter into the great race.

We took the car down to metal, while working on the car I got the chance to see firsthand the talent and craftmanship of the Playboy employees.  All cars were hand built and  Playboy made the dies  that they used to form the body panels.  The cars were made of unibody construction and they were all welded and leaded together to form the curves and shapes.

Playboy used both Continental and Hercules engines in their cars.  The engines ranged from 40-48 horsepower and all later model cars came equipped with a Borg Warner 3 speed transmission with overdrive.  This car has a  continental engine which was completely rebuilt to ensure reliability and safety for the race.

The Great Race wants to ensure that all competitors are able to compete safely in the race.  In order for this to occur they allow certain upgrades to the cars to  make a safe and fun experience.  Per race rules we have made some upgrades to our car.  The Playboy car originally had a 6 volt system.  We were recommended to ugrade to a 12 volt system with an alternator replacing the generator and adding turn signals so the lights could be better seen.  They allow upgrades to the braking system.  Playboy had 4 wheel drum brakes but we upgraded to disc brakes on the front wheels to ensure good stopping ability on the hills that we will be traveling.  We kept the drum brakes on the back wheels.  We upgraded the radiator and added an auxiliary cooling fan to ensure that the car would not overheat.  The great race recommended adding a 2nd gas tank to accommodate more fuel and less fuel stops during the daily race segments.