Life, 1912-02-22 · page 2 of 44
Life — February 22, 1912 — page 2: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a cartoon or satire**, but rather a **straightforward automobile advertisement** from *Life* magazine. The page promotes the Stevens-Duryea Model AA, a seven-passenger touring car manufactured in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts. The advertisement makes historical claims: that the "Duryea wagon" was America's first successful automobile, and that Stevens-Duryea produced the first marketable six-cylinder car. The illustration shows well-dressed passengers (including women and children) enjoying the vehicle, emphasizing its spaciousness and family-friendly design. The "Three Point Support" logo indicates a technical selling point. This represents early automotive industry marketing, when manufacturers competed partly through historical legitimacy claims about their founding innovations.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Model AA Seven Passenger Six-Cylinder Touring Car HE first successful American automobile was the “Duryea wagon”— the original Stevens-Duryea. The first marketable six-cylinder car was a Stevens-Duryea. The first car to show practically every important improvement in motor-car construction has been the Stevens-Duryea. The development of the Stevens-Duryea is coinci- dent with the history of the American Motor Car. Why th: Stecens-Duryea kas always maintained its leadership is consincingly set forth in ou: 1912 Art Ca‘alo:. Our dzalsrs will gic: demons'ra'ions a your conv:nience. STEVENS-DURYEA COMPANY, Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts Pioneer Builders of American Sizes comicbooks:com