Life, 1914-09-17 · page 6 of 48
Life — September 17, 1914 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is **primarily an advertisement**, not satire or political commentary. It's a Hudson Motor Car Company ad for their Six-40 model, priced at $1,550. The "Howard E. Coffin Says" testimonial quotes the car's chief designer endorsing his own product—a standard advertising technique. Coffin claims 47 experts worked on the vehicle and that it represents "the ideal car." The ad emphasizes practical features: lightweight construction (2,890 pounds), fuel efficiency, and affordability compared to competitors weighing 4,000 pounds. The multiple car illustrations show different body styles available (limousine, phaeton, roadster, coupe, cabriolet). There is **no apparent political satire** here—this is straightforward early 1910s automotive marketing using celebrity endorsement and technical specifications to attract buyers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Howard E.Cottin Says: “This new HUDSON Six-40 fulfills all my ambitions. type and detail—it is my conception of the ideal car. In little and big things—in And the 47 experts who have worked for four years on this exquisite model with me, all concur in this opinion.’’ That’s Our Answer That's our answer to all conflicting views. We must expect them in this hard-fought field. Howard E. Coffin has led for years in motor car designing. He has pioneered the most important motor car advances. If there is in designing one final authority, Mr. Coffin is that man. But he never works alone. Forty- seven engineers on the HUDSON corps have worked with him four years on this model. This is their composite idea of the apex in car building. Then last year’s model—much like this —went into thousands of hands. It met every test which a car must meet, with- out bringing out a fault or shortcoming. Any owner of aHUDSON Six-40 will say with Mr. Coffin, “This is my ideal car.” Apex Features The Six, in our opinion, is the apex type. It means continuous power, per- sistent torque. And that we consider the ultimate. This new-type motor—small bore and long stroke—seems to bring operative cost to the minimum, It has saved about 30 per cent. In lightness, no sturdy car of this size and capacity can hope to far excel this. The Six-40 weight—2,890 pounds—is the record today in this class. Built in cruder ways—as cars used to be—this car would weigh 4,000 pounds. In beauty and equipment, in comfort and convenience, it is quite apparent that no man as yet sees a way to betterment. In quality, the very lightness shows this car's supremacy. In price, our $1,550 is the lowest yet attained in a car of the HUDSON class. a Shipped by Express We trebled our output this year because of this car's popularity. But the demand for this new model HUDSON Six-40 $1,550 This Year A perfect streamline body. Disappearing tonneau seats. Invisible hinges. Hand-buffed leather upholstery. “One-Man” top with quick-adjust- ing curtains attached. Gasoline tank in dash. Tires car- ried ahead of front door. Dimming searchlights. Simplified starting, lighting and ig- eral condults, ition and lights, New-form speedometer drive. New-method carburetion. Automatic spark advance. Trunk rack—electric horn. 2, swamped us. In August, every HUD- SON dealer outsold his allotment. To cope with this call, 45 per cent of our shipments so far have a out by ex- press. We have shipped solid trainloads by express to save delay for buyers. That is unprecedented in the automobile line. For September, we increased our planned output one-third. Today you can get prompt delivery. We still ship by ex- press, when necessary, rather than keep men waiting. Go see this car. All things considered, it’s the finest example of the new-day car you will find in any showroom now. Hudson dealers are everywhere. New catalog on request. 7-Passenger Phaeton, $1,550. 3-Passenger Roadster, $1,550. 3-Passenger Cabriolet, $1,750 4-Passenger Coupe, $2,150. All f. 0. b. Detroit Canadian Prices: Phaeton and Roadster, $2,100 f. 0. b. Detroit, Duty Paid HUDSON MOTOR CAR COMPANY, 8200 Jefferson Ave., Detroit, Mich.