Life, 1913-12-04 · page 75 of 112
Life — December 4, 1913 — page 75: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a cartoon or satire**—it's a straightforward automobile advertisement from Life magazine's pages. The image shows a 1910s-era Jeffery Four Limousine with elegantly dressed figures posed beside it, illustrating the vehicle's luxurious appeal to wealthy urban professionals. The ad emphasizes features that would impress the era's affluent audiences: compact design for maneuvering crowded city streets, European engineering, imported Belgian glass windows, and plush upholstery separating the chauffeur from passengers—a status marker indicating the owner didn't drive themselves. The price ($3,000-$3,700) positions this as premium. The text targets business owners and socialites who frequent theaters and formal receptions, positioning the car as both practical for city congestion and a symbol of refined taste and wealth. This represents early-20th-century automotive advertising's focus on luxury, technological superiority, and class distinction—not social commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ao ne coo coc APRA LIFE BE 4 TIT CT LTT ATTN a MAMET UANTHATTTATL For the luxurious demands of modern city life, the new Jeffery Four Limousine offers the ideal combination of beauty, power, speed, and the utmost comfort. Through the use of the new, light, mono-bloc Jeffery motor (the preferred Euro- pean type), it has been possible to effect the compact construction and consequent ease of handling, ‘‘the get-about-ability”’ so desirable for city traffic, without the slightest sacrifice of the power or roominess of heavier, less adaptable cars. This power, swiftness and luxury of the Jeffery, its convenient size, will earn your appreciation many times in the routine of your business and social life. Down town or in the jam of motor cars at the theater entrance, or at a crowded reception, for instance. Your chauffeur can make short turns, get away quickly, accomplishing the impossible in a hundred ways. The Jeffery Limousine is finished inside and out with the utmost richness and dignity, Broad win- dows, curved imported Belgian glass, upholstery of imported broadcloth. Shades and rugs of the finest la design. One perfect pane of glass between and_ passengers’ compartments. Beautiful oo lines. Splendidly built, no annoying Kenosha, rattle. Its appointments are all that the most exclu- sive taste could demand. Completely equipped, five Passengers, $3000. Partial cations: High speed mono-bloc motor; USL lighting and starting system; imported annular ball bearings; Spicer universal joints; full floating rear axle; left drive and centre control; Bosch ignition; Vanadium steel springs, front axle, driving shaft. To those who will have nothing but the Jeffery and who prefer a Six, we offer the Jeffery Six Lim- ousine. It cannot be surpassed because better ma- terial and better workmanship is not lable anywhere. le entirely of aluminum panels and aluminum castings. Seven passengers, $3700. The Thomas B. Jeffery Company Main Office and Works, Wisconsin WUHYOLO TAU E z z E 4 2 = Ej vdiunn initiate vv 2 Etim