Life, 1909-09-02 · page 47 of 48
Life — September 2, 1909 — page 47: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a cartoon or satire**—it's a straightforward advertisement for the Detroit Electric automobile, placed in *Life* magazine. The page promotes the Detroit Electric carriage as a luxury vehicle for affluent, "discriminating buyers." The ad emphasizes elegance and efficiency: features like forward-opening doors, large plate-glass windows, silver trim, and deep upholstered seats. It claims owners average 80-100 miles per battery charge. The Anderson Carriage Company (Detroit) is positioning the electric car as a status symbol. The text notes that electric car owners "constitute a sort of social calendar" in their communities—meaning ownership signals social standing. **Context for modern readers:** This reflects the early 1900s when electric vehicles were actually popular among the wealthy, seen as cleaner and more refined than gasoline cars. The electric car's association with affluence and femininity (quieter, no hand-crank starting) made it desirable before gasoline engines dominated the market. There is no satirical content here—just vintage advertising.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
There was never an electric carriage like this before. The best of the type, hitherto, have merely pointed toward perfection—the aa% Electric has attained it; and revealed new delights and new possibilities. The electric carriage is widening its sphere of usefulness every day and numbering new admirers by the hundreds—and the concentration in the .# Electric has hastened that result. nds. Electric ownership-lists in almost every community constitute a sort of social calendar which includes the ma- jority of discriminating buyers in that particular place. And this turn of the popular tide toward the 48% is reasonable and logical—this carriage actually does embody a degree of elegance and efficiency hitherto un- attained. For instance:— The .2##£ gives mileage and speed higher than any other car. .2@#¢ owners average 80 to 100 miles per battery charge; and accept this excess mileage as a matter of course. The mileage range is greatest for the least bat- tery upkeep. The frame is pressed channel steel, with each side of one piece. Instead of loading the rear axle with the dead weight of the motor, the motor is mounted on a subframe underneath the body, with double chain drive to the rear wheels. All upholstering and interior trimming in heavier, higher grade material than used in other cars. Seat cushions are from one to four inches deeper. Raising the Electric Carriage to New Heights of Efficiency and Elegance if ANDERSON CARRIAGE COMPANY, Dept. F., Detroit, Mich. Doors open forward instead of back, and are larger. All windows are larger and of the highest grade of plate glass. Metal trimmings are all silver finish. These are features found only in the ae; and there are nearly 50 more. If you intend purchasing an electric, write for the Det. \iterature before you decide on the make you will buy. the manufacture of electric carriages— ctric plant. The largest factory in the world ¢ the De comicbooks.com