Life, 1911-11-23 · page 33 of 44
Life — November 23, 1911 — page 33: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **luxury automobile advertisement**, not political satire. The Willys-Garford Sales Company promotes their "Forty" Town Car (priced at $4,800—extremely expensive for the era) by name-dropping wealthy socialites: **Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish and Mrs. Potter Palmer**, famous society figures who allegedly drove only Garfords. The ad's rhetorical strategy relies on **conspicuous consumption and social aspiration**: the text argues that "Society is our great pace maker" and that owning a Garford signals membership among "the most aristocratic people." The illustration shows well-dressed passengers in an elegant automobile outside an urban apartment building. For modern readers, this reflects early-1900s advertising's direct appeal to **status anxiety**—the implicit message being "buy this car to be like the richest women in America." The ad assumes readers recognize these socialites' names as meaningful status markers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
MOTOR CARS Society is our great pace maker. It selects and rejects for the whole nation. It decides the correct and incorrect. It sets style and regulates fashion. It chooses impartially and answers to no one. Its choice is always a positive indication of that which is right and best, For years the Garford has held the right of way among the most fashionable folk in America. Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish for five solid years would have no other car. She always drove in her Garford whether in this country or abroad. Mrs. Potter Palmer, another social leader of two continents, always chose the Garford. And these two women had every motor car in the world at their disposal. They chose the Garford not alone for its luxurious com- fort, but for the fact that it had proved itself a practical,reliable utility. Besides that, the Garford must have fitted in with their idea of conservative exclusiveness and proper individ- uality. It has always looked and performed as a thoroughbred. It is now an established fact, among the most aristocratic people of the civilized world, that the Garford is the finest and most distinctive American car built. Here we show the “Forty” Town car priced at $4800—correct in every detail—mechanic- ally as perfect as the most eminent engineers can make it, with a magnificent body—rare in ts design—rich in its hand polished coach finish. The Garford line now includes a “Four-Thirty” and “Six-Fifty.”” We would like to send you a handsome book which shows the complete line. When you write please ask for Book C. THE WILLYS-GARFORD SALES COMPANY, TOLEDO, OHIO We will show a polished chassis of the most advanced six-cylinder car made, at both the New York and Chicago automobile shows. If interested in trucks ask for a truck book. mS comicbooks.com