Life, 1912-01-04 · page 3 of 108
Life — January 4, 1912 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a satirical cartoon** but rather a **luxury automobile advertisement** for the Peerless Motor Car Company of Cleveland, Ohio. The image shows a high-end "48-Six" six-passenger torpedo automobile parked beneath an ornate architectural entrance (labeled "Entrance to Hotel St. Regis, New York"). Well-dressed passengers and attendants surround the vehicle. The advertising copy emphasizes that fine motor cars must combine aesthetic qualities—"beauty, richness, and refinement"—with mechanical reliability and smooth operation. The prestigious hotel setting and elegantly dressed figures signal this vehicle's appeal to wealthy consumers. This represents typical early 20th-century luxury automotive marketing, targeting affluent buyers by associating the product with sophistication and refined living.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ing can red | eet, Of those material things having to do with the art of good living, there is rightly expected beauty, richness, and refinement. In a fine motor car, to produce pleasurable ease in riding, they must be combined with usefulness founded in a smooth-running mechanism. The Peerless Motor Car Company Cleveland, Ohio Makers also of Peerless Commercial Cars l A j COMIEDOOKSEEOM -