Life, 1907-10-17 · page 3 of 44
Life — October 17, 1907 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a satirical cartoon** but rather a straightforward **automobile advertisement** from Life magazine's early 1900s era. The page advertises the Matheson touring car (50 horsepower, $5,500), manufactured by Palmer & Singer Manufacturing Co. in New York. The ad emphasizes the car's reliability and durability, claiming a 1906 Matheson set a record carrying seven passengers a mile in 50 seconds. The marketing pitch targets wealthy buyers seeking vehicles proven through racing victories and reliability contests rather than those wanting yearly model upgrades. The ad invites readers to visit their Madison Square Garden showroom and request a booklet titled "I Drove My Matheson," featuring testimonials from owners who reportedly drove thousands of miles with minimal maintenance. This reflects early automotive manufacturing when reliability and performance records were primary sales tools.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Matheson is standardized. The few changes for 1908 are unimportant refinements. Asa matter of fact, most of these were incorporated in mid-season, in our ’07 cars. This is the Matheson policy. We do not “save up” new features till the beginning of a new selling season. We neither expect nor desire Matheson owners to buy a new car every year, nor every other year. We are building today 1908 Mathesons, 1909, 1910, 1912 Mathesons and he who invests will have, years hence, a car which will, after the hardest use, be running as strongly, as reliably, giving as el cient and as economical road service as any high class car then offered for sale. A 1906 Matheson stock touring car still holds the world’s record for having carried seven passengers a mile in 50 1-5 seconds. Most cars are bought; Matheson cars are invested in. The salient Mathe: in one important respe speed records, hill-climbing n endurance records, its : e in reliability s, made, not only without need of repairs, but without even adjustment have repeatedly proven to us that there is no room for improvement in the Matheson. We have sought in vain for records of performance that would direct the improvement of a s 4 co F through the world’s output of high- powered cars, not excepting the best of the foreign makes, the nothing that can compare with the Mathe- son for performance over American roads. Write for our new booklet, “I Drove My Matheson,” by Matheson owners, some of whom have made thousands of miles without even an adjustment, some of whom have gone through an entire season with a repair bill of nearly five cents. Better still, visit our exhibit, Space No. 25, in the gallery at the Madison Square Garden Show. The Matheson sets a stand- ard by which you may judge other high powered cars. The Palmer § Singer Manufacturing Zo., 1619 Broadway, Ni. ¥. Formerly Matheson Co. of N. Y. comicbooks.com