Life — November 19, 1908 — page 2: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is **not a cartoon or satire**, but rather a straightforward advertisement for Baker Electric Vehicles, a real automobile manufacturer based in Cleveland, Ohio. The ad promotes the "Baker Four Passenger Coupe" as luxury transportation for wealthy, discriminating consumers ("the best"). The illustration depicts elegantly dressed women in elaborate Edwardian fashion (large feathered hats, formal gowns) admiring or boarding the electric vehicle, positioning it as a status symbol appropriate for high society. The text emphasizes the car's ease of operation, safety, and mechanical perfection—practical selling points for early electric automobiles, which were quieter and cleaner than gasoline vehicles and appealed particularly to affluent female drivers during the early 1900s.