Judge, 1922-05-13 · page 29 of 36
Judge — May 13, 1922 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **Kelly Tire advertisement disguised as humor** from Judge magazine. The cartoon depicts a car accident where one driver offers to compensate the other. The punchline itemizes the settlement: five dollars for the fender repair, and $14.90 for a Kelly tire, suggesting Kelly tires are such high-quality they'll outlast the vehicle itself ("stand all the grief you can give it"). The accompanying text counters a common misconception: that Kelly tires are luxury products for expensive cars. The ad argues that since Kelly now manufactures tires for **Ford vehicles** (the mass-market car of the era), production costs have dropped, making Kellys affordable to ordinary Ford owners—yet still maintaining their superior reputation compared to cheaper competitors. The satire is gentle: the joke sells the product by positioning Kelly tires as dependable investments that justify their cost, appealing to the practical Ford-driving middle class.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“Sorry I backed into you, old man; you must let me pay for the damage. dollars ought to straighten that fender, and $14.90 will buy you a you'll have at least one tire that will stand all the grief you can give it.” Five 30x314 Kelly. Then ANY people have the impression that Kell - high-priced tires used mostly on big cars. As ct, nearly half the pneumatic tires and now that greatly enla ties have brought our production a matter of make are Ford manufacturing fa costs down, the Ford owner pays no more for his Kellys than he would haye to pay for many other makes of tires that have never borne so high a reputation. size