Life, 1907-05-02 · page 5 of 48
Life — May 2, 1907 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **automobile advertisements** from the early 1900s, not political satire. The only cartoon element is a small humorous illustration showing a rooster and stork, captioned "Mr. Chick: WHAT IN BLAZES DO YOU MEAN BY BRINGING DUCKLINGS TO US?" This appears to be a simple visual joke about mismatched offspring—unrelated to the advertisements surrounding it. The ads promote three vehicles: Oldsmobile (emphasizing reliability and durability), Brewster & Co.'s Landaulet Limousine (luxury automobile bodies), and Witherbee ignition systems (claiming to double a car's value). The humor is modest and domestic rather than political—typical of early 20th-century magazine content mixing advertising with light entertainment.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Uda ce ‘OLDSMOBILE Don't overlook the real value of Performance or Roadability. You may not care to run your car from New York to Poughkeepsie with your high-speed- clutch sealed in; you may not be ambitious to establish a record from New York to Daytona, Florida, in midwinter, over 1,500 miles ikable roads; nor at the end of a perfect score performance in the Glidden Tour, without adjustments of any kind, feel inclined to make a sco mile dash from the White Mountains to New York City without a stop— Bu it’s worth while—it gives you a sense of security, a feeling of pride, to know that your ismobile can do these things—that it is identical in every particular with the machine h accomplished these and other equally strenuous exploits ‘ou know the value of Roadability—know that Readability means all that should be in a nd you also know or can easily find, that Oldsmobile Roadability has been demonstrated ‘Coast to Coast by cars taken from the dealer's stock, just the kind of a car he would Jeliver to your order. TELEGRAM. San Francisco, Cal., March 30—Oldsmobile 35-40 H. P. Touring Car, carrying four ers, arrived in Oakland 3.50 a. m. winning the $6,000 road from Los Angeles to this city. Details of this and other exploits on request. Wr'te for our speclal Motor Talk " ofer and sample copy. Adviress Dep. Ly OLDS MOTOR WORKS, Lansing, Mich., U.S. A. Member AL. A.M. Canadian Trade Sappiied from Canadian Factory, Packant Electric Co., Ltd., St. Catherioes, Ont. 628 ADDANs = Mr. Chick: WHAT IN BLAZES DO YOU MEAN BY BRINGING DUCKLINGS TO US? Brewster & Co. AUTOMOBILES LANDAULET LIMOUSINE All styles of bodies ready for mounting. Cars complete with the best makes of chassis in stock and ready for delivery. All caginw’aad body cepstestdoae tn micamuama tiaies Brewster & Co. Broadway and 47th Street. New York Add a Witherbee to Your Car and Double Its Value Perfect ignition subtracts the majority of the automobilists’ troubles. Perfect ignition gives better speed, and a smoother running car, with less wear and tear on the tires and less pounding and knocking of the engine. Imperfect ignition does mote to shorten the life of an automobile than any other agency, and adds fully 75% to the cost of upkeep. Every time your engine misses fire it receives a shock that does more to shorten its life than hundreds of miles of road wear. Every time your engine misses fire, the recoil from the piston racks and jars your chassis and all your uipment. The WITHERBI BATTERY furnishes a perfect source of ignition, It will Tengthen the life of your car by eliminating all ignition troubles‘and it will make the purchase price of your car more of an investment. NO CAR IS BETTER THAN ITS IGNITION “There are some things about ignition which you should know in order to get greater speed, greater safety, greater value out of your car: drop usa line requesting No. 11 and we will send you a fittle booklet which will be of inestimable value to you; it's free. WITHERBEE IGNITER CO., Main Office, 541 W. 43d St., New York City BRANCHES: CHICAGO, 1429 Michigan Ave. DETROIT: 260 Jefferson Ave. BALTIMORE: 510 Continental Building comicbooks.com