Life, 1908-10-29 · page 20 of 20
Life — October 29, 1908 — page 20: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a 1909 **automobile advertisement**, not a political cartoon. It promotes Oldsmobile's new five-passenger touring car. The ad's key selling points address what modern readers should understand: 1. **"Roadability"** was a crucial term—early cars were notoriously unreliable and uncomfortable on poor roads. 2. The comparison to 1907-1908 models suggests **rapid automotive improvement** during this period of innovation. 3. Pricing ($2,750 fully equipped) positioned it as middle-class aspirational—expensive but positioned as "logical" value versus luxury cars costing $4,000-5,000. 4. The emphasis on being **"silent" and "luxurious"** indicates early cars were loud, rough, and spartan. 5. Ten years of market presence suggests Oldsmobile's established reliability—important when automobile manufacturing was chaotic and many brands disappeared. The decorative Greek key border reflects the era's design aesthetic.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
OLDSMOBILE. HIS is the new Oldsmobile five passenger Touring Car. To say that it is better than the 1908 model Of the same capacity is suf- ficiently high praise. Even more silent; more luxurious in easy riding qualities and outward beauty;—it has all—and more—of that wonderful ‘‘roadability’’ which placed the 1907 and 1908 cars‘right in the four and five thousand dollar class. It is to-day, as it has been for 10 years, ‘the logical car at the logical price.’’ Fully Equipped, $2750 Meter Ancien OLDS MOTOR WORKS Licensed Automodite Manufacterers Lansing, Mich. ali Gas Ls La