Life, 1913-05-08 · page 5 of 48
Life — May 8, 1913 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a political cartoon or satire** — it's a straightforward automobile advertisement from *Life* magazine (page 913). The page advertises the Peerless automobile, specifically their "48-Six" seven-passenger touring car priced at $5000. The ad emphasizes the vehicle's elegant design, highlighting "long, straight lines and beautiful areas" and praising the craftsmanship of wood and steel components. The copy describes Peerless's mechanical superiority: six-cylinder engines, electric starting and lighting, smooth operation, and steering flexibility. Multiple chassis options ("38-Six," "48-Six," "60-Six") are offered at varying prices ($3500-$7200). The Peerless Motor Car Company was based in Cleveland and also manufactured trucks. This represents early-twentieth-century automotive marketing targeting affluent buyers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE BEAUTY OF THE PEERLESS HE beauty of the Peerless has no prototype. It is too subtle for imitation. It is a harmony of long, straight lines and beau tiful areas, a deft composition in wood and steel and brass that makes the beholder feel that these hard elements must have been plastic when the modelling was done. Through this beauty is seen the majesty of the perfect machine—not the obtrusion of mechanical details — but the latent power, the fitness of parts, the flexibility like that of a living animal, all wrought into refractory materials and controlled by the light pressure of a finger. PEERLESS NEW MODELS Three Six-Cylinder Chassis: ‘‘38-Six,”? ‘‘48-Six,”” “60-Six,” each a car of matured details, Electric Starting and Dynamo Lighting. Long stroke motors, silent, vibrationless and fl: xible in control at low speeds; irreversible steering gear; heat treated parts; choice of seven distinctive body types, Prices $4300 The Peerless Motor Car Co., Cleveland Makers also of Peerless Trucks THAT NAME TMF comicbooks.com