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which were open only to members (a
Playboy “key” was initially required
but was later replaced with a plastic
credit card). Hostesses and waitresses
were Playboy Bunnies in their unique
“uniforms.” There were about a dozen
or so clubs across the country and by
the late 1960s they were joined by
three resorts: Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
(just north of Chicago); Great Gorge,
New Jersey (ninety minutes west of
Manhattan); and in Jamaica.
Shelby Automotive’s marketing and
advertising departments were con-
vinced that the readers of
Playboy
magazine were the perfect target au-
dience. Their advertising agency had
conducted an exhaustive survey of po-
tential magazines, demographics and
cost analysis. The research showed
that Playboy magazine was the single
best place to advertise. However,
Shelby Automotive’s advertising
budget was nowhere near large
enough to allow them to do more than
one ad every couple of months. They
were able to negotiate with
Playboy
to
use of some of their cars in return for
placing full-page, color ads. Having
Shelbys readily available to Playboy
photographers greatly increased the
opportunity of getting them in the
magazine as part of an article, instead
of as a paid-for ad. Also part of the con-
tract was that Playboy would supply
Playmates to Shelby Automotive to
make personal appearances at dealer-
ships and car shows.
SAAC has identified eleven 1968
models (ten convertibles and one fast-
back) which went to Playboy Enter-
prises. The paperwork consists mostly
of warranty claims for small problems
such as replacement of non-function-
ing components, or various misalign-
ments and adjustments. The warranty
forms showed that the cars were as-
signed to Shelby Automotive’s Market-
ing Manager, George Merwin. The
convertibles were all shipped to
Shelby franchised dealers closest to
the Lake Geneva Resort: Northwest-
ern Motor Car Co. in Milwaukee, Wis-
consin and Minar Ford in
Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The SHELBY AMERICAN
Summer 2016 80
A brief article in
Playboy’s
November, 1965 issue containing a chart of comparison data on “Playboy cars” was turned into a piece
of showroom literature by Shelby American. This is an example of the cross pollination between Playboy and Shelby American.