The 2025 Great Race

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.