Life, 1911-12-21 · page 6 of 44
Life — December 21, 1911 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a political cartoon or satire**—it's a straightforward advertisement for Packard Motor Car Company's commercial trucks, published in *Life* magazine (which contained both satirical content and ads). The page shows two Packard truck models: a 2-ton and 3-ton chassis with interchangeable bodies. The ad emphasizes their widespread commercial use (154 trade lines, 213 cities) and promotes a promotional book called "The Trail of the Lonesome Truck," which documented a Packard three-ton truck's cross-country journey from New York to San Francisco—a feat presented as the first heavy-duty motor vehicle to accomplish this route. This represents early automotive marketing highlighting industrial capability and reliability.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Used in 154 lines of trade and in 213 cities Two and three-ton chassis, each in several lengths. Bodies to suit the hauling Send for book, “The Trail of the Lonesome Truck,” which tells about the unprecedented a from New York to San Francisco of ackard three-ton truck, the first heavy- duty motor vehicle to cross the continent Packard Motor Car Company, Detroit comicbookeom com