Life, 1910-04-21 · page 10 of 44
Life — April 21, 1910 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a cartoon or satire page**, but rather a **straightforward advertisement** for Detroit Electric automobiles, placed in *Life* magazine. The page showcases four electric car models (Roadster, Victoria, Coupe, and Brougham) with prices ranging from $1,700 to $2,500. The ad emphasizes reliability, citing an official Munsey Tour test where a Detroit Electric traveled 671 miles with a "perfect score." The marketing pitch targets affluent readers concerned about range anxiety—a then-contemporary concern about early automobiles. The ad promises a full day's travel "with current to spare" and highlights the Edison Battery's 225 ampere-hour capacity. This represents early 20th-century electric vehicle promotion before gasoline engines dominated the market.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LIFE: These cars will carry you a whole day with current to spare Your confidence in an electric demands $1,700 a car you may depend on to carry you on a single charge over town and country further than you will reason- ably care to travel in one day. Phat you can rely on a ‘Detroit’? to meet this requisite with absolute cer- tainty has been proven by official test. In the Munsey Tour last fall Model “F" Victoria a ‘Detroit,”? under official observ- ance, followed the gasoline cars from Washington to Boston, 671 miles with a perfect score, averaging over 100 miles a day. For this perform- ance the ‘Detroit’ received the only official certificate ever issued to an electric in a reliability contest. We made this run, not to demonstrate the possibilities of a ‘Detroit’? as a touring car, but to make you realize that the “Detroit”? would take you anywhere that an automobile may go, that it can travel a d journey on a single charge with power to spare; that the sturdiness of the ‘Detroit’ is going to keep up its high standard of mileage long after other types of ceeee electrics have begun to slow down. Dept. LM. Incidentally, this and other overland tours were of inestimable value to our engineers in’ reaching the splendid mechanical development of our 1910 models. There are nine of them, de- signed to meet your several require- ments of use or pleasure. Perhaps the finest tributes to. the “Detroit”? are the friendly expres- sions of its owners everywhere you meet them. Their personal experi- ences will not only corroborate the results of our public tests; they will absolutely convince you that you can rely on the ‘Detroit’? to answer every reasonable demand that you will ask of a motor car. The literature that we will send on your request will detail some two score advantages of reliability, mile age capacity and low cost of main- tenance that will open your eyes to the possibilities of pleasure and ser- vice that you will find in a ‘Detroit Electric.” Due to the forethought of our engine the 1910 “Detroit’’ may be equipped without alteration with the wonder ful Edison Battery of 225 ampere hour capacity, which is now on the market. Detroit, Michiga comicbooks.com