Life, 1911-05-04 · page 33 of 56
Life — May 4, 1911 — page 33: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a cartoon or satire page**—it's a straightforward automobile advertisement from Life magazine's advertising section. The Alco automobile company (American Locomotive Company) uses a full-page ad highlighting three selling points: safety, dependability, and builder stability. The ad emphasizes engineering rigor—mentioning a $51,700 investment in forging rear axles from single steel pieces and sixty-man inspection protocols. The text references real racing credentials: Grant's victories in the 1909 and 1910 Vanderbilt races, prestigious early automotive competitions. By invoking these races and the company's railroad locomotive-building expertise (established 1886), the ad positions Alco as trustworthy and engineered for durability. This reflects the early 1900s automotive market, when cars were novel luxuries and companies competed on technical merit and manufacturing credibility rather than style or marketing gimmicks. The tone is earnest persuasion, not humor.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
First of All Your Car Should Be Safe "THREE things you have a right to de- mand in your automobile—safety, de- pendability, the stability of the builder. Materials that stand all the tests it is pos- sible to devise, structural rightness and search- ing inspection, make for safety. The stecls that go into an Alco car have been tried, so that their last limit of endurance is known— then the load given them to bear is far below that point. The Alco factor of safety is an unprecedented one. A> NE detail of Alco construction will suffice to illustrate our high ideal of structural perfection. We bought the biggest drop hammer in the world to forge our rear axle from a single piece of steel. The rear axle is the key to safety in a shaft driven car, and we spent $51,700 to make the Alco rear axle safe. No Alco car goes out for sale before it has passed the inspection of sixty men. They are protecting you. for dependability, Grant drove a stock Alco an average of 65.2 miles an hour in’ the Vanderbilt race of 1910, which he won. But beyond the mere speed, the car came through that race and the Vanderbilt of 1909, which Grant won in the same stock Alco without strain, and a road race tries the very soul of a car. general type of engine and chassis. The Alco you buy is the same Finally the American Locomotive Company, builders of the Alco, is a fifty million dollar corporation, that can take ample care of your car after it is in your hands. have been moving the world’s goods in many lands for many years and c We know how to build motors that move vehicles either on We stand back of what we make. standing still re-order them. roads or rails. Our locomotives stomers of years, American Locomotive Company 1886 BROADWAY, NEW YORK 2501 MICHIGAN AVENUE, CHICAGO