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The August, 1963 issue of
Playboy
featured a red Cobra roadster on the
cover. The car was brand new at that
time; it was exciting and was receiving
wide recognition in the automotive
world.
Playboy’s
editors rightfully saw
the car as compatible with the “Play-
boy lifestyle.” Shelby American real-
ized that
Playboy
magazine was,
perhaps, the perfect venue to reach po-
tential Cobra buyers: upscale, sophis-
ticated, knowledgeable and with the
disposable income sufficient to pur-
chase a car that cost as much as two
new Ford Galaxies.
Shelby American’s advertising
budget was very modest at that time;
by August (when an ad would have
had to be placed), only a handful of Co-
bras had been sold. Shelby hitched up
his pants, took a deep breath, and
committed to a full-page, full-color ad
in
Playboy’s
October 1963 issue. The
cost of the ad was probably more than
the list price of a Cobra.
Getting the car in the pages of
Play-
boy
was hitting the right target, but it
was very expensive. Better than an ad-
vertisement, and infinitely cheaper,
was getting a car included in
Playboy’s
editorial mix. Because the Cobra was
such an exciting and powerful sports
car, it played right into the magazine’s
macho ideology. Cobras (and later
GT350s) from Shelby American’s pub-
lic relations pool occasionally found
their way to the magazine’s offices.
One drive would keep the car on the
mind of an editor for a long time. It
was not a coincidence that Cobras be-
came no strangers to the pages of the
magazine.
By the time new GT350s had
been in dealer’s showrooms for about
eight months, a full-page black and
white ad was placed in the November,
1965 issue of
Playboy
for the 1966
model. This was followed, three
months later, by a second ad which
was only run in the magazine’s West
Coast edition. No matter: the Cobra,
and later the GT350, had shown them-
selves to fit into the magazine’s tenets.
By 1967, everything was ramping up
at Shelby American: production, sales,
cash flow, and increased color choices
and options for the cars.
Playboy
read-
ers were still excellent targets, so ad-
vertising continued.
By 1968, Shelby Automotive took
out four full-page color ads and, in an
attempt to lower their advertising
costs, they entered into a marketing
cross-promotion. Shelby would provide
a few cars from their press/public re-
lations pool to Playboy executives and
personnel at the Playboy Club Resort
in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. In return
the cars would get editorial mention.
In the 1960s, Playboy expanded their
magazine/publishing empire to in-
clude a series of “key club” restaurants
in the larger cities. These were, essen-
tially, upscale bars and restaurants
The SHELBY AMERICAN
Summer 2016 79
– Rick Kopec