Life, 1911-01-05 · page 87 of 104
Life — January 5, 1911 — page 87: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **product advertisement**, not political satire. It appears in *Life* magazine promoting Hartford Rubber Works Company tires from Hartford, Connecticut. The ad features a man crouching beside a large tire, smiling at the camera. The central message uses a metaphor: "A Car Is No Stronger Than Its Weakest Tire," arguing that even the best automobiles are only as good as their tire equipment. The advertisement emphasizes Hartford's experience and reliability—claiming to be "the oldest tire in America, made for Americans." It contrasts careful car selection with the common neglect of tire choice, positioning Hartford tires as the solution to this oversight. The extensive list of regional distributors at the bottom indicates this was a major national brand competing in the early automotive tire market. The mention of various tire types (Dunlops, Clinchers, Quick Detachables, Non-Skid) reflects the diverse tire technologies available during this era of automobile development.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
That Lasts” A Car Is No Stronger Than Its Weakest Tire The very best car imaginable is a good car or a poor car exactly in proportion to its tire equipment. This is another way of emphasizing the importance of careful discrimination in specifying the tires. 3uying a car is an event which calls for and is given painstaking study, investigation and judgment. Usually little or no question is raised with regard to the tires. To say the least, the best car in the world is only an indifferent car equipped with indifferent tires. And any car is a better car the minute there is between it and the road a set of tires bearing the trade name HARTFORD “The Tire That Lasts” 3ecause of the years of experience behind this product—and experience, by the way, is the most important ingredient in any pneumatic tire. Experiment is a thing that the user of Hartford Tires does not have to contend with. The Hartford Dunlop Tire is the oldest tire in America, made for Americans, American Cars and American Road conditions. Buy the best car your best judgment tells you is best, and equip it at once with the best tires you can buy—Hartford Tires. We make Dunlops, Clinchers, Quick Detachables, Non-Skid (Midgley) Tires—all of the very best material, tested and proven by years of experience on the road on all sorts of cars under all sorts of conditions. THE HARTFORD RUBBER WORKS COMPANY HARTFORD, CONN. Shanslor & Lyon Motor Supply Co., San Francisco, Cal., Los Angeles, Cal., Fresno, Ca ttle, Wash., Spokane, Wash; F, P, Keenan ‘tland, Ore.; Jos, Woodwell Company, Pittsburg, Pa.; Mercantile Lumber & Supply Co., sas City, WE SELL CONTINENTAL DEMOUNTABLE RIMS comicbooks.com