Life — November 16, 1911 — page 2: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Pabtished every Dellars. ery Thursday, Anaval Subscription Single Copies, Tea Copyright in England and the Britian Possessions, Eatered at he Post Ofice at New York, N, lass Mail Matter. Motor Trucks How to Judge a Motor Truck UYING a motor truck is like hiring a man. You are not interested in the color of his eyes, the tilt of his nose, or his height and weight. You want to know what this man has done and what he can do. Just so with the motor truck. It’s what a truck will do that inter- ests you. Price alone sells few trucks. It's what you “get for the money” that sells them. In other words value. Four things determine value. One of them is good design. The only sure way to tell good design is by results. If a truck is not well designed the owner soon knows. If it is well de- signed, and if he can use more trucks in his business, he buys more of the same make—naturally. Thus you may judge a truck by the number of repeat orders or re-orders. In the case of the Alco Truck 62 per cent. were purchased on repeat orders. Nine-tenths of this number are in the service of firms and corpor- ations listed in Bradstreet’s at over $1,000,000. Before purchasing, many of these large firms carried on extensive ex- periments to determine which motor truck was best. If only one Alco had been purchased by each of these con- cerns, its place among motor trucks would be clear. But each of these bought more than one. The Ameri- can Express Company has 40; the American Locomotive Company, 1882 Builders also of Alco Motor Cars and Alco Taxicabs Chicago Branch: 2501 Michigan Avenue. Boston Branch: 567 Boylstor, Street. Gulf Refining Company 16; Gimbel Brothers 13; the Long Island Express Company 10; and so on. The second point on which value depends is the experience of the manufacturer. Good design means little unless ex- perience in building is back of it. The thing to know is “how long has the manufacturer been building trucks.” “What does the manufacturer know about the problems of transportation?” For the American Locomotive Com- pany, builders of the Alco Truck, the experience began in 1905. The Alco Truck was marketed in 1908, The experience of the American Locomo- tive Company in problems of trans- portation dates back to 1835 as movers of the world’s goods. The problems of the locomotive and the problems of the motor truck are parallel. One is a power driven vehicle running on rails, The other a power driven vehicle running with- out rails, The experience of the American Locomotive Company is rare. Value is again determined in the way the truck is built. The Alco factory Tepresents a very large investment in equipment. In it are built 95 per cent. of the parts of the Alco Truck. It has the most com- plete heat treating plant of any motor truck factory in the world. It has large chemical and physical laboratories to analyze and test the metals that go into the AlcoTruck. Many of the tools Movers of the World’s are not tools in the ordinary sense of the word, but are fine instruments— like those of a surgeon—and are kept in flannel when not in use. In this factory is the largest drop hammer in the world. It weighs 250,000 pounds. The fourth consideration in deter- mining value—and one that is most decisive is the responsibility of the manufacturer. The safest thing in the world to buy is reputation. Buying a truck from a manufacturer without reputation or responsibility is like making a loan without security. The American Locomotive Com- panyis capitalized at $50,000,000. It dates back to 1835 as movers of the world’s goods. It has built 50,000 locomotives. Its reputation is indelible. These tour considerations—Good Design, the Experience of the Manu- facturer, Good Building and the Responsibility of the Manufacturer— provide an “acid test” for judging a motor truck. There are a few trucks that can stand this test. Of these the Alco Truck is one. You should investigate the Alco for one vital reason, if for no other: — the latent experience—of itsbuilders in manufacturing powerdriven vehicles. The new Alco catalog tells you what the Alco Trucks are doing in many lines of business in many cities, possibly in the same business as yours. It is a 64 page book. White for it today. Broadway, New York Canadian Headqu 596 St. Catherine Street V Goods since 1835 Capitai, $50,000,000 a |