Life, 1911-08-24 · page 6 of 40
Life — August 24, 1911 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **paid advertisement**, not editorial satire. The Warner Instrument Company promotes their "Auto-Meter" speedometer as a quality indicator for automobiles. The ad's argument: a manufacturer willing to use cheap, inferior speed indicators suggests corners are cut elsewhere—so buyers should judge car quality by whether it has a reliable Warner speedometer. The piece includes testimonials that hundreds of owners have transferred their Warner meters to successive vehicles. The "point" is commercial rather than satirical: positioning the speedometer as evidence of manufacturer integrity. While it uses rhetorical appeals about quality standards, this is straightforward product advertising dressed in the language of consumer education, typical of early automotive advertisements in *Life* magazine.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SIE isi ehe Judge the Quality of an Automobil by the Speed Indicator It Carries Since we told the public where to look for the outward evidence of inward quality in a car the Automobile Buying and Using Public has been Looking for the Speed Indicator, NOW NOTE THE RESULT— ‘They have found (as we said they would) that the car with the Warner on the dash was almost invariably good and reliable. And on the other hand, that the great proportion of the cars they examined which had inferior and unreliable speed indicators on them were acknowledged by those who know cars to be inferior and unreliable auto- mobiles. The only excuse a manufacturer of a good car can offer for putting on an inferior and unreliable speed indicator as equipment is price. a mileage up to 90,000 and 100,000 miles—yet are as reliable as when new. The Warner on the dash in- dicates the intention of the manufacturer or owner to value quality above price—to give or have the best. Reliable manufacturers are consequently equip- ping or recommending the Warner Auto-Meter with their cars. Other manufacturers and their agents and dealers are figuring how to give a con- vincing answer to the buyer who asks this ques- Buyers reason that if such a manufacturer is tion: willing to save money so glaringly in one place that there is room for reasonable doubt as to the quality of the car in other respects. ‘* How can any car manufacturer claim that he uses the choicest and best of everything through- out his car when the speed in- dicator —the most-looked-at thing on the car—is known to be cheap, unreliable and inferior in every way ?”’ Motorists are becoming more and more per- sistent in asking this question and patiently wait- ing for an answer. Such have little difficulty in getting with their cars an accurate, reliable and wondrously durable WARNER 7M EEIR “The Aris’ at of Speed Indicators” To get a line on the real quality of an automobile, look for the speed indicator. The Warner Auto-Meter is the highest-priced speed indicating instrument made. It is a true instrument in every sense. It is known to be sensitive, accurate and reliable. Hundreds of users have transferred their Warner to the sixth and seventh car. These Warners have indicated HE Warner can be secured through reputable Automobile dealers in any city or town in the United States. Warner branches are maintained in all the principal cities for the convenience of these dealers and their customers. Inquiry to Beloit or at our branches is invited for Warner Literature. WARNER INSTRUMENT COMPANY Main Offices and Factory, - - 1186 Wheeler Avenue, Beloit, Wis. Branch Houses Maintained at Denver Kansas City Philadelphia Detroit Los Angeles Pitteburg Indianapolis New York Portland, Ore. Canadian Branch, 559 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ont. oy ||Model M2,Price S15 Other Models trom $59 $16) San Francisco Seattle St. Louie Atlanta Boston Buffalo Chicago Cincinnati Cleveland