Life, 1908-06-04 · page 31 of 44
Life — June 4, 1908 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **product advertisement**, not satire or political commentary. It promotes the Studebaker "Suburban" automobile by emphasizing its versatility—marketed as "the adaptable car." The ad showcases the vehicle's convertibility: with a regular rear seat it's a four-passenger touring car; remove the seat and add a rumble seat for a "smart runabout"; remove both for a cargo vehicle. The pitch targets affluent suburban and country-home owners, emphasizing practical uses: fetching train-arriving guests and their baggage, transporting party attendees, hauling beach gear, and serving as a golf-club or hunting-trip vehicle. The visual demonstrates these three configurations with illustrations of well-dressed passengers in different scenarios. This reflects early-20th-century automotive marketing, where automobiles were still luxury items promoted to the wealthy as essential for suburban living. The "adaptable" concept was genuinely novel—cars that could transform for different purposes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
a XS [ear AS ALIGHT FOUR PASSENGER CAR HEN EQUIPPED with regular rear seat, a light four-passenger touring car; rear seat removed (can be done in a moment) and rumble seat substituted, a smart runabout; without rear or rumble seat, a combination passenger and baggage car. A necessary adjunct to every suburban or country home The Studebaker ‘Suburban’? is adaptable to numerous uses that will readily suggest themselves. For instance: When your home is located at a distance from the railway station and you have a visitor arriving on a late train, you can remove the rear seat and, if you wish, bring home your visitor and his baggage in one trip; of, if there is a party you can send your man back to the station for their baggage. Your baggage can be carried to the beach in your Studebaker ‘¢Suburban.’” Itis just the car fora hunting, fishing or other outing trip, for running out to the golf or country club as a light four-passenger touring car or as a smart runabout. The Studebaker ‘Suburban’? is a car you will use every day in half a dozen different ways—it is literally the adaptable car. The Studebaker Suburban’? chassis is identical with that of the regular Studebaker «#30? touring car, which is a sufficient guarantee that from a mechanical standpoint the car will give satisfactory service. Write for full description of the Studebaker **Suburban’* and ether gasolene and electric models. Studebaker Automobile Co., south Bend, ind. Cleveland, 0. BRANCHES: Boston, Mase. Studebaker Bros, Co, of New York, 1920 Boylston Street (Sub Branch) New York Citz—Studebaker Brot. Co, of New York, Broadway and 48th Street Chicago, II—Studebaker Bros. Mfg. -388 Wabash Avenue a. Studebaker Bros. Co, of New York, 330 North Broad Street (Sub Branch) ‘Ohio—Studebaker Ai tomob '0,, 2064 Euclid Avenue Stud 330 East Morrison Street yeas—Studebaker Bros. Mfg. Co, 317-319 Elm Street rudebaker Automobi AE ae Sinise Ae PES . ‘and Fremont Streets thwest, 308 First Avenue, So (Sub Branch) comicbooks.com