Oct 16: Playboy and Playmate thoughts

Yes, it's true. You've no doubt heard the news that, at one time would have struck fear in the hearts of young men (and boys?) everywhere. The news? Starting next year, Playboy magazine will no longer feature nudes! What you say, but isn't that the sole reason guys buy the mag? Oh yeah, I know, it's for the articles. "What, it also has naked ladies? I never noticed." Sure, we all read it for the articles. Even an editorial writer in this morning's Globe & Mail, said he read it for the articles. Ok, so if that's your story, go for it.

But, I'm a car guy, so I bought it to see what car the Playmate of the Year would win (sure, Barry). Now, that was interesting. Starting back to 1964, the Playmate of the Year would be given a ton of prizes including a new car........

.......and back then, what would be a better choice than the brand new Mustang and make it Playboy Pink (Playgirl Pink?). Let the world know who you are and what you won. The cars reflected the hot models of the day, so not unusual that, the sporty, big engined coupes would feature large in these giveaways......

 

.......cars like the '66 Charger and then a '69 Shelby. All pink, of course and all hot. In between those two, was the 1968 AMX giveaway. I mention this, since this car was recently found and restored. I believe the '68 Playmate of the Year was sought out as well, but unfortunately she wasn't restored.

Lucky ladies. But what happened in 1970, the penultimate year of the muscle car?

I mean, this poor lady won a Capri, the little English coupe imported by Mercury. Probably the least expensive car that Playboy ever gave away. Well, maybe she also got the Lear jet in the background (yeah, right!). Or, maybe she refused Hugh Hefner's advances? We'll never know.

But thankfully, things got back on track in a big way in the following years, with this Pantera in 1972 and later this Porsche 911. Now, they were cars worth posing nude for. No wonder Hugh had a sly smile that was bigger than normal during those years.

Chauvinistic or cliched? What, you mean the pink cars? Well, I guess Playboy decided that, pink was not a necessity, as future cars were a variety of colours, like this expensive Porsche 928 in 1979.......

But once again in 1985, the Playmate was given an underwhelming car as her prize......

......a lowly, little Toyota MR2. Nice car, to be sure, but after cars like the Porsches, I bet that it was a bitter disappointment to Miss 1985. "But, at least I got a microwave and a full set of the encyclopedia Britannica.", she says, with a forced smile.

Then over the years, the winners' cars were all over the map..........

 












The only thing that, they had in common was that they were free to the winner. Not sure I understand why that bright and smiling Miss 2006, chose a Dodge Charger. A sedan? Let me guess......it was donated by Dodge?

Now, thank goodness, someone got also got a Caddy back in '08 and later that, cute girly car, the Mini........

 

But probably the one that, is the most perplexing of all, was given to the Playmate of the Year in 2009......

Let's get serious. You are hot, talented(?) and you beat out all those other gorgeous ladies and all you get is a Mazda6? Almost as bad as the Capri back in 1970. At least, it wasn't a Camry.

So, as we say good-bye to those Playmates of the Month and the ultimate, Playmate of the Year, one last look, in this case, Miss 1965..........

But, now that Playboy is going to focus more on the articles (after all, isn't that what we bought it for, all those many years ago?), maybe they should have a Writer of the Month award? Cap off the year, with the Writer of the Year award. Give them great gifts and if the winner had been Tom Wolfe, give him a white Cadillac......

Now, we're talking!

Until next time.......