Life, 1905-01-19 · page 37 of 38
Life — January 19, 1905 — page 37: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a full-page advertisement, not satire. It promotes Columbia automobiles for 1905, featuring the company's logo (a woman representing Columbia, the personification of America) and an image of one of their vehicles. The ad emphasizes domestic manufacturing ("wholly made in our own works") and lists their product line: gasoline cars ($1,500–$5,500), electric vehicles ($900–$1,350), and commercial trucks. The company highlights the artistic quality of their catalogs and offers separate publications for gasoline cars, electric carriages, and delivery wagons. The page reflects early automotive history when electric vehicles were competitive luxury options alongside gasoline cars—a detail modern readers often find surprising given electricity's later disappearance from consumer vehicles.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
OLUMBIA automobiles are wholly made in our own works, insuring that uniformity of excellence in design, materials, and workmanship which has built up the Columbia name and reputation. The COLUMBIA line for 1905 includes 35-40 H.P. 4-cylinder Gasoline Cars with Side Entrance Tonneau, Royal Victoria, Landaulet, or Li- mousine bodies, $4,000 to $5,500; 18 H.P. 2-cylinder Gasoline Side Entrance Tonneau, $1,750; 12-14 H.P. 2-cylinder Gasoline Tonneau, $1,500; Electric Victoria-phaeton with hood and “de luxe” features throughout, the handsomest and most efficient light electric carriage ever offered to the public, $1,350; light Electric Runabout, $900; Electric Town Carriages of the coach class and Commercial Vehicles. We issue three catalogues describing respectively Columbia Gasoline Cars, Columbia Electric Carriages, and Columbia Electric Delivery Wagons and Trucks. Both in print and in illustration these are the most artistic automobile books ever distributed. In writing please state which Catalogue is desired.