Life, 1911-10-19 · page 3 of 48
Life — October 19, 1911 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a cartoon or satire page** — it's a straightforward advertisement for the Thomas Motor Car Company, appearing in Life magazine. The page showcases the Thomas "Six-Forty" runabout, priced at $4,000 (substantial in 1905), featuring a side-view technical illustration of an early automobile with spoke wheels and open-air seating. The text emphasizes that Thomas's decision to manufacture exclusively six-cylinder engines allows concentrated expertise in that technology. The "Thomas Declarations" claim superiority in comfort and luxury for touring compared to competitors. The tagline "Nothing Counts Like Service" and the technical service promise reflect early automotive-era concerns: cars were unreliable, and dealer support was a genuine selling point differentiating manufacturers. This represents standard early-1900s automotive advertising, not satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THOMAS'SIX- FORTY” RUNABOUT $ 4000 It was in Nineteen Hundred and Five that the Thomas factory produced its first six cylinder car. Working entirely upon this one type of motor. enables. the whole organization to concentrate its thought and effort solely upon problems of six cylinder construction. \ TECHNICAL SERVICE or THOMAS OWNERS THOMAS DECLARATIONS (No. 2) We assert that the upholstery of the 1912 Thomas Six-Forty is deeper, softer, better shaped, more luxurious, more restful for touring than in ‘any other car made in this country or abroad. E. R. Thomas Motor Car Company, Dept. G, Buffalo Our catalogue “The Story of the Thomas”. gives full particulars. comicbooks.com