Life, 1907-10-17 · page 31 of 44
Life — October 17, 1907 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **1908 automobile advertisement**, not a political cartoon. The page promotes the Great Arrow Six Cylinder car, manufactured by the George N. Pierce Company of Buffalo, New York. The advertisement features a side-view photograph of the 1908 Great Arrow automobile, shown as a luxury touring car with an open cabin and prominent wheels. The marketing pitch emphasizes the car's six-cylinder engine as providing superior comfort and smoothness compared to four-cylinder models—both cost $5,000-$6,500, making these luxury vehicles for the wealthy. The sales argument reflects early automotive technology: six cylinders were relatively new and marketed as eliminating vibration and providing "flexibility" and "luxury." This represents the nascent automobile industry's competition during the early 20th century, when cars remained expensive status symbols rather than mass-market transportation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
%Great Arrow Six Cylinder "THE 1908 GREAT ARROW CAR because of its six cylinders, has absence of vibration, quietness, flexibility, efficiency, en- durance, hill power and speed. These, added | together, can be summed up in one word— LUXURY. It is useless to add six cylinders | to faulty car construction, but given a perfect car, then six cylinders add to that perfection of construction the comfort and luxury that cannot be secured with four. HERE ARE THE 1908 TOURING CARS: _ 4-Cylinder Great Arrow, 40 H. P., Price $5,000 6-Cylinder Great Arrow, 40 H. P., Price $5,500 6-Cylinder Great Arrow, 60 H. P., Price $6,500 The GEORGE N PIERCE COMPANY. BUFFALO. N. Y. Licensed Automobile Manufacturere comicbooks.com