Judge, 1912-04-06 · page 19 of 28
Judge — April 6, 1912 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a cartoon or satire**—it's a straightforward automobile advertisement placed in *Judge* magazine. The Rambler Cross Country, priced at $1,650, is being marketed by the Thomas B. Jeffery Company with an unprecedented 10,000-mile guarantee. For early 1900s readers, this was a remarkable selling point: automobiles were still novel and unreliable, so a manufacturer's confidence in durability was noteworthy. The ad uses vivid cross-country journey descriptions (New York to Chicago to San Francisco, etc.) to demonstrate the car's capability and the guarantee's meaningfulness. The text emphasizes the company's "eleven years of success" and "manufacturing and financial resources" to assure buyers of the guarantee's legitimacy—crucial since many early automakers went bankrupt. The equipment details (Bosch ignition, self-starter, demountable wheels) highlight modern features that justified the premium price. This represents how early automotive advertising worked: emphasizing reliability and company stability rather than performance or style.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Rambler Cross Country Has Made Good The Rambler Cross Country—$1650 We Guarantee Every Rambler for Ten Thousand Miles Subject to the conditions of our signed guarantee which we will give with each car Ten thousand miles! Think what it means! Step into the Rambler in New York and journey across four states to Chicago. Take your bearings and strike due west across seven states to the Golden Gate. Run down the Coast to Los An- geles. Turn back over the moun- tains and on through eight hundred miles of desert to El Paso. Then on to New Orleans and back, by way of Atlanta, through eight states to the city ot New York. Strike out again cross country for Chicago. Then drive your car straightway across the American continent to San Francisco. Yet you —Bosch duplex ignition, Fine Equipment 7y°s. oie a tail off lamp: folding robe rail; foot rest, jack, p Roomy, have not exhausted the ten thousand mile Rambler guarantee backed by a company of known stability. We give this guarantee to prove to you our unbounded confidence in every single part that goes into every Rambler car. The first Rambler Cross Country that left the factory made a three thousand mile test trip through nine states, over the mountains of Penn- sylvania to New York, Albany, Bos- ton and back to the factory. Since then the fame of the Cross Country h nd its service has extended to every state in the Union, to every province of Canada, to Mex- ico, to Australia, South America, Europe and the Orient. and tire kit. e, black and nickel headlights with gas tank. ; large tool box; tool roll with complete tool out Top with envelope, $80—wind shield, $35: Everywhere this Rambler has gone its performance has strengthened our confidence in its ability to fulfill this guarantee. That is why we do not hesitate to give it. Eleven years of success in motor car building has so established the stability of this company in manufac- turing and financial resources as to make definitely known the responsi- bility back of this guarantee. Such a car with this guarantee, backed by such a company whose liberal policy is so widely known, are the reasons why you should have a Rambler. A postal card will bring you a catalog at once. Black demountable wheel, less tire, with brac ats and tools, $30—gas operated self-starter, $50, The Thomas B. Jeffery Company Main Office and Factory, Boston, Philadelphia, Branches: Chicago, Cleveland, Sacramento, 19 Kenosha, Wisconsin Milwaukee, New York, San Francisco In answering advertisements please mention JUDGE. It will be appreciated. comicbooks.com