Life, 1913-08-14 · page 31 of 40
Life — August 14, 1913 — page 31: 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's advertising section (page 283). The Hudson Motor Car Company is marketing their new Six 54 model, a seven-passenger touring car priced at $2,250. The advertisement emphasizes modern design features: streamlined body, low-hung chassis, left-side drive, electric self-cranking, and powerful electric lights. The text claims this represents "the ideal of the time" and compares the Hudson favorably to European luxury cars. It appeals to connoisseurs and those wanting the latest automotive conveniences. For a modern reader: this represents early 1910s-era automotive marketing, when such features were genuinely innovative. The price ($2,250) was substantial — roughly equivalent to $60,000-70,000 today. The advertisement's confident tone reflects the era's optimism about technological progress and consumer automobiles as status symbols.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
HUDSON SIX 54—$2250 SEVEN-PASSENGER The New Ideal of a Distinguished Car ERE now is a car which typifies the ideals of the time. This streamline body—this long, sloping hood—this ab- sence of angle at the dash—this low-hung chassis—these owned fenders —this placing of extra tires so the front doors are két dear—these things belong to the car of today. The consensus of the world’s best opinion is that this type of body marks the coming ideal car. These are radical changes but they are coming as surely + foredoors came—and as suddenly. All the best foreign cars—Englich, French and German—will this year aahbit exclusively this new streamline body. And all men know that what cane body design becomes the world-wide vogue. Our designers have added a bunched minor effects. ae They have American- aed—have Hudsonized—the So the car is distinctive. There will be wo cther just like it. But it embodies what we regard as the highest conception athe modern trend in bodies. And we believe that every connoisseur will consider this new HUDSON Sa the handsomest car exhibited. Engineering Pauses We can cleim in this car no Breet advance as regard foe engineering and tw HUDSON owner expects it. Fine plrdeiy oh limits, For the pt lee yean Howard E. Coffin and his able e engines heve given their wshe HUDSON, Last year they brought Sixes pretty close to perfection. Se dove that the HUDSON Six fumped in one year fto the foremost rank sixes, "Then ceo have worked out _in this new model car a vast number of Ror engineering i improvements. They have added scores of new mechanical feates—some of them quite important. But we never expect to build a much Se cha than we built in our last year's Six. RT jear's advances lie mainly in beauty, in comfort, in conveniences, in ‘e have combined the best in lines, finish and equipment with the tas enginecring. We have succeeded in making the HUDSON Six the Baserpiece it is. Now the Ideal Car We now feel that this HUDSON 54 offers the utmost in every wanted feoure. ht has the staunchness of steel Pullmans. It has the comfort of trtsh lounging chairs, It has the speed of express trains. It is free from all te toubles which annoy the inex No maa knows fow te bud scar mare handiome nd npr No crereniences are absent, no modem features ‘Aad all these things are here included in a Six 54, with seven-passenger i the record price of $2250 (Io be Dewoit, Mectigna) The New Features These are among the new features we bring out in this model. No men- tion is here made of the countless features in previous HUDSON models’ which we still retain, Seven-passenger body. 135-inch wheelbase. Left-side drive. Right hand control. 36 x 44-inch tires. Extra tires carried—as never before—ahead of the front door. This leaves both front doors clear. Four forward speeds. Pure streamline body. Low-hung body. No angles at the dash. Wide tonneau doors. Gasoline tank in dash. Electric self-cranking, with the rapid type of the Delco system built especially for this car. Powerful electric lights with dimming attachment for city driv- ing. They also act as ordinance lights. Extra seats in tonneau fold into back of front seat, entirely out of the way. Jeweled magnetic speedometer in dash, with new concealed noiseless gears. Every operation and control placed within reach of the driver's hand. Gasoline and oil control, lights and starter. Individual Yale lock on ‘ion control, prevents theft of car. Rain-vision windshield built as part of the car. Genuine Pantasote top. Curtains that are carried in the top can be instantly adjusted. Electric horn—trunk rack—tire holders—license carriers—every- thing. Go See It—Go Today Go to the local HUDSON dealer and see this new achievement. It is not merely an improved car—it's a real innovation. It will dis- play to you all the best thought of the day in automobile designing. Go see it while it's new. catalog on request. Hudson Motor Car Company 7690 Jefferson Avenue, Detroit, Michigan osee this car today everywhere HUDSONS are sold