Life, 1909-05-13 · page 32 of 32
Life — May 13, 1909 — page 32: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is **purely advertising**, not satire or editorial content. It's a full-page Oldsmobile motor car advertisement from Life magazine. The image shows a nighttime scene: a couple in an early automobile preparing for or returning from a moonlit excursion, with another vehicle visible. The ad copy emphasizes the car's reliability and versatility—suitable for both spontaneous romantic trips and practical shopping errands. The pitch targets affluent buyers by claiming Oldsmobile offers the service quality of expensive cars at better value. Prices listed ($2,750 for four-cylinder, $4,300 for six-cylinder) indicate luxury vehicles. The "efficiency" angle reflects early-1900s marketing language emphasizing automobiles as practical, dependable machines rather than mere novelties. The moonlit picnic imagery appeals to leisure and romance—social aspirations of the car-owning class.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
OLDSMOBILE EFFICIENCY ‘Yo run over into the next county, or state, for an unpremeditated picnic supper and hone by moonlight, with a car that is just. as ready for a lc ‘our as fora shopping expe m the next morning—this is the kind of service which you may obtain from a very high priced motor car; which you are sure to obtain from an Oldsmobile. Four-cylinder touring car, roadster or toy tonneau, $2750. Siv-eylinder cars, $4300. OLDS MO'TOR WORK f MICH. Old: « comicbooks.com