Judge — August 1, 1925 — page 22: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This futuristic satire depicts early 1900s Americans testing flying automobiles in a bustling cityscape. The title references Henry Ford's "Model T" (colloquially called the "flivver"), suggesting this is a Judge magazine piece from the 1910s-1920s. The cartoon mocks the era's optimistic predictions about automobile technology and urban life. Multiple drivers navigate impossible spiral roads around skyscrapers and landmarks, creating chaotic, dangerous conditions—satirizing both the predicted prevalence of automobiles and anxieties about traffic congestion and safety. The exaggerated architectural detail and crowded composition emphasize how absurd such a future would be: turning cities into vertical traffic zones where vehicles endanger pedestrians (visible at right). It's a humorous critique of unchecked technological enthusiasm and urban planning assumptions of that era.