Life, 1912-03-07 · page 39 of 60
Life — March 7, 1912 — page 39: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily **advertising content**, not satire or political commentary. The Willys-Overland Company is promoting its Model 61 automobile at $1,500. The illustration shows a car full of fashionably dressed passengers (women in hats and coats, men in formal wear) with a small dog, depicting the car's five-passenger capacity and appeal to middle-class consumers. The text's rhetorical approach—urging readers to "Compare the Facts" and "Don't permit sand to be thrown in your eyes"—adopts a consumer-advocacy tone common in early automotive advertising. It positions the Overland as offering superior specifications (45 horsepower, Timken bearings, aluminum castings) at a competitive price compared to cars costing $2,000 or $3,000. The phrase about "sand" being thrown in eyes is a metaphor for deceptive marketing tactics, suggesting Overland's competitors used such tactics. This was typical competitive advertising language of the early automobile era, not political satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Compare the Facts A 5-Passenger 45-Horsepower Car—$1500 HILE making a mentai calculation as to the worth of an auto- mobile take a short cut direct to the facts. Don’t mince matters. Don’t permit sand to be thrown in your eyes. See that the car looks good to you, then get to the point. Get the essentials—the ‘ wheel base, the size and actual power of the motor, the seating capacity, what the car is made of and how, kind of bearings, etc. Balance all of these facts against the price asked as compared to other cars and you get your answer. q The Overland Model 61 at $1,500 is all anyone would want in a high powered car. It has a powerful forty-five horsepower motor, seats five large people. Has a wheel base of one hundred and fifteen inches, Timken bearings in axles —F & S annular bearings in transmission. Crank and gear casings are of pure aluminum. Pressed steel frame has a double drop. The magneto is a Bosch. Big tires and wheels. Its appearance could hardly be more striking, finished in that rich dark rewster green, with all of the bright metal parts heavily nickel plated. The lamps are massive things in dead black enamel nickel trimmed. Equipped with our simple, reliable self-starting system only $20 extra. No other similar car made with these specifications will be found at less than 3,000. If $1,500 will buy you about as much as $2,000, why pay $2,000? q See this car and be convinced. The Overland dealer in your city will give you all the facts and a demonstration. A postal to us will bring you a book. Please ask for catalogue D23. The Willys-Overland Company, Toledo, Ohio comicbooks.com