Life, 1912-02-22 · page 43 of 44
Life — February 22, 1912 — page 43: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **luxury automobile advertisement**, not a political cartoon. The page promotes the Hupp-Yeats electric coach, a high-end town car. The "satire" is subtle and self-directed: the text humorously critiques traditional coach design, mocking how carriage makers clung to medieval high-suspension designs (originally built to cross mud and swamps) long after modern paved streets made this unnecessary. The Hupp-Yeats positions itself as the modern solution—low-hung, safe, and elegant. The illustration shows an affluent woman and man with a chauffeur beside the vehicle near a mansion, emphasizing luxury and status. The six models range from $1,750 to $5,000 (substantial 1910s prices). Note: The text explicitly distinguishes this Hupp Corporation from the Hupp Motor Car Company, suggesting a legal separation or dispute. This is essentially **high-end automotive marketing** dressed in the language of design progress.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
HUPP~ YEATS T is a curious fact that coach building was one of the last of the arts to be modernized. The coach body of the middle ages was hung high because the coach was designed to pass and did pass con- stantly through seasof mud, through bogs, swamps and shallow streams. Notwithstanding the wonderful transformation wrought by modern street paving, coach makers clung blindly to this design until the advent of the Hupp-Yeats. The Tesult was a top-heavy, awkward and dangerous construction, en- tirely out of place under modern conditions. The Hupp-Yeats introduced the safe, sane, low-hung construction which an authority has stamped as the first advance in coach con- struction in over a century. This design provides a car with which skidding and swerving is an im- possibility under ordinary condi- tions; a car that is as easy to enter or leave as to step from one room to another; and a car which pos- sesses a grace and beauty that the high-hung electric never had. The desirability of this design is shown by the wide attempts now being made to copy it. The appointments ELECTRIC COACH of the coach are in keeping with the exquisite beauty of the design. Regular equipment includes Hycap Exide Battery and Goodyear long distance No-Rim-Cut Tires; Motz Cushion Tires at additional cost. There are six models, designed to suit every town-car need. - $5000 $4500 - $4000 $3000 - $2500 $1750 Write for descriptive catalog or call at any of our branches. Imperial Limousine - - - Royal Limousine - - - - De Luxe Coupe - - - Patrician Coupe - - - - Regina Coupe - Regent Coupe - - - - - HUPP CORPORATION 3't'x%i" Detroit, Michigan DISTINCT FROM AND HAVING NO CONNECTION WHATEVER WITH HUPP MOTOR GAR COMPANY BRANCHES: Boston, 563 Boylston St.; Buffalo, 1225 Main S Cleveland, 2122 Euclid Av Chicago, 2021 Michigan Ave.; Denver, 1520 Broadway; Detroit, Woodward and Warren Aves.; Kansas City, 3501 Main St. os Angeles, 1242 So. Flower St.; Minneapolis, 1206 Hennepin Ave.; New York, 1989 Broadway; Philadelphia, 330 No. Broad St.; Atlanta, $48 Peachtree St THE WILLIAMS PRINTING COMPANY NEW YORK P J comicbooks.com