Judge — October 23, 1926 — page 21: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page satirizes the 1920s automobile market and the revival of open-air touring cars. The humor targets both car manufacturers' optimistic sales predictions and the actual poor condition of many vehicles on roads. The captions mock specific car models through absurdist descriptions: the "Mercy-Dees" is a "cussed-out body" from a wrecking company; the "Convertible Rueit" transforms from a functioning vehicle into "junk in a few seconds"; the "New Lickit" requires excessive ground clearance to avoid getting stuck under larger cars. The article's opening jab—that open touring cars can be "observed" cluttering ditches, astride fences, and "decorating telegraph poles"—sarcastically suggests these vehicles end up wrecked rather than successfully driven. The overall message mocks both manufacturer optimism about revival sales and the reality of poorly-built, unreliable automobiles that dominated the era. Modern readers should understand this reflects genuine frustration with early automotive quality and durability.