Life, 1916-03-23 · page 51 of 52
Life — March 23, 1916 — page 51: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **car advertisement**, not political satire. It promotes the Chalmers Six-40, a seven-passenger automobile priced at $1,450 (Detroit) or $1,950 (Canada). The illustration shows the car in use with well-dressed passengers and pedestrians, establishing aspirational appeal. The ad's rhetorical strategy addresses female drivers specifically—unusual for the era—emphasizing that the car's powerful engine is "checked down" to safe, manageable speeds suitable for women, while still delivering responsive "peppery" acceleration for practical driving situations. The text contrasts the car's racing-grade engine (overhead cams, valve-in-head design used at Sheepshead Bay racetrack) with its refined road application, suggesting engineering sophistication accessible to ordinary drivers. Aesthetic options (Valentine Green, Meteor Blue, Oxford Maroon) add luxury appeal. This represents early automotive marketing targeting middle-class consumers, particularly women entering the driving market.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘THE CITALMERS STX-40 TRANSMU'TES USEL |, She's a seven-passenger—this car that put the good word spunk’? into the motor language. A little larger than her better-known sister, the 3400 r.p.m. Chalmers, She gets away with eager assurance, like a sunbeam, She accelerates with rare swiftness and sparkle. You're running along easily. The speedometer needle is around 10 miles an hour. Now throw ovt your clutch. See how nicely her gears and differential play together ? Now let in your clutch, And there's never a fret or jar. You don’t feel as if you'd come down on the footbrake by mistake. Her performance is full of the glow that restoreth the soul. To describe her riding comfort in terms of specifications of springs and upholstery is like describing a sunset as red. The freedom of her engine—the remarkable delivery of dynamic energy to her rear wheels comes from overhead cams in a valve- in-head type of engine. It’s the same type of engine that heaves thrills into the race- fans at Sheepshead Bay. 3 MIGHT INTO"PEPPERY” PICK-UP AND OPERATING ECONOMY But here it’s checked down for road use, so that a woman dare drive. No reckless, alarming presence of superfluous force. While she won’t deliver that treacherous, perilous, tire-burning pace that the speedways prize, shell come clean with 60 miles an hour any time you say. But why 60? The useless might of her potent engine has been sheared away and rewoven into fox-footed acceleration and operating economy. At 5, 10, 20, and 30 miles an hour—at all practical and sen- sible speeds—is where you need “‘peppery’? pick-up the most. And hers responds like a spark to the flint eyery time another car's dust gets in your eyes, every time you hit a grade, every time you turn a corner. She has beauty to match the glamour of performance. Clothed in Valentine Green—Meteor Blue—or Oriford Maroon with a gold stripe around the body—and wheels dark, primrose, or red, there's a beckoning lure in every line. All of which accounts for why so many of your friends are going Chalmers $1450 Detroit $1950 in Canada Chalmers Motor Company Detroit, Michigan comicbooks.com