Life, 1911-01-05 · page 83 of 104
Life — January 5, 1911 — page 83: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a satirical cartoon** but rather a **full-page automobile advertisement** for the Cunningham motor car, appearing in Life magazine. The page advertises that Cunningham won the "Perfect One-Thousand Mile Road Score" and the Standard Oil Trophy for fuel economy in a Chicago Motor Club reliability contest (November 7-11, year unclear from visible text). The advertisement includes: - A detailed illustration of the vehicle (a seven-passenger touring car) - Claims of superior dependability and fuel economy - Competitive positioning against "three or four American cars" of comparable reputation - Extensive technical specifications - The manufacturer's Rochester, New York address This represents **early automotive advertising**, where companies used prestige awards and technical claims to market luxury vehicles during the automobile industry's formative years. The $3,500 price tag indicates this was a high-end product. There is no satire present—this is straightforward commercial promotion.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
dows, d like a re one, overt re of Cen- tasies epple- n the joder- ide to rmid- etired Alden le in- riants amily ulture sides. from parlor me is nt to man’s in a passa- ce of awed ss of *ption ndors il was n en- f the con- were came narch Aus- > pre- lience pend- : par- polit- taste er in When great name ere is is de- We a the Baedehe ible paper. 2 Fourie o travelers 8 used. Fon request Y xico. , Boston 7 Perfect One-Thousand Mile Road Score For and Greatest Fuel Standard Oil Trophy Economy WON BY THE In designing and developing the Cunningham car our aim has been to produce an automobile of absolute de- pendability. In that respect we have succeeded well. and this, too, without sacrificing economy in operating ex- penses. Both of these statements are borne out by the fact that the Cunningham not only won a perfect road score in the Chicago Motor Club’s five-day reliability con- test, November 7-11, but won the Standard Oil Trophy for greatest fuel economy in the same event as well. We are thoroughly familiar with the high quality and merits of the three or four American cars which are justly greatly esteemed by discriminating motor car buyers, and with this knowledge we do not hesitate to say that any man with an open mind, who will investigate theCunr ham, will find that it suffers in no feature by comparison with the best, and that, moreover, it is quite a step ahead in features tending to comfort, reliability, accessibility and economy of operation and maintenance. Long Stroke, Large Valve Motor 434 x 534 inches, 124-inch Wheel Base, 36-inch Wheels, Unit Power Plant, Imported Mohair Top, Wind Shield, 5 Lamps, Prest-o-lite Tank, Tire Irons, 2 Extra Demountable Runs, Speedometer, Bosch Magneto, Shock Absorbers, Complete Set of Tools, Tire Kit, Robe and Foot-rails, Seven- passenger Touring Car, as shown in above cut, $3,500. We equip the same chassis also with Five-passenger Close-coupled Runabout, Limousine, Landaulet, Coupe. The literature descriptive of the Cunningham will be of great interest to anyone desiring an acquaintance with the latest design and engineering practice. The James Cunningham, Son & Co., Desk H, 20 Canal St, Rochester, N.Y., U.S.A. Responsible and established dealers write for open territory. comicbooks.com