Life, 1916-06-01 · page 35 of 44
Life — June 1, 1916 — page 35: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **full-page advertisement**, not satire. The cartoon at top illustrates the headline: just as people choose their own friends rather than having them assigned, car buyers choose replacement tires themselves (unlike original equipment tires selected by manufacturers). The ad's argument is economic: manufacturers equip cars with cheap tires meeting only minimum guarantees to save costs. Kelly-Springfield, a premium hand-made tire, costs more but lasts longer. Since manufacturers won't pay extra for excess mileage they don't profit from, Kelly-Springfield sells directly to **individual car owners** willing to pay higher prices for superior value. The ad emphasizes high demand—customers must pre-order tires before needing them—suggesting quality reputation and scarcity. The factories are located in Akron and Wooster, Ohio (historically America's tire manufacturing hub). This targets the growing market of affluent car owners valuing durability over initial cost.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
So with tires—the tires that are on a new car the car manufacturer selects, When a car owner buys tires he selects them himself. Nearly every Kelly-Springfield tire used is selected by the car owner. Kells: -Sprinefield Antemnbile “Tikes Ea Made HERE is an important fundamental prin- ciple involved in this tire selection, You ought to understand it. Few users buy Kelly-Springfield tires until after they have had experience with other tires. And fewer, having once used Kelly-Springfield tires, voluntarily discontinue their use. There is a reason for both conditions, The reason few users try Kelly-Springfield tires first is that the initial selection of their tires is made by the manufacturer who equips the cars which they buy. And Kelly-Springfield tires cost more, The manufacturer must put tires on the car he sells, but need not put on tires which give excess mileage. He is only obliged to equip with tires which yield the mileage most tire manufac- turers guarantee. That is all the car buyer expects, If the car manufacturer equips with a tire which gives a greater mileage than this, he has to pay the additional cost out of his own pocket—and why should he? Considering proper manufacturing econo- mies, he equips with tires which cost him least and yet give reasonable satisfaction. He equips his car with higher priced tires only when he buys adver- tising value for his car, as well as tires. Now we cannot meet the manufacturer's price requirements. Hand-made tires cost more to make and yield excess mileage. We cannot compete on price when the excess mileage doesn’t count. So we rarely sell tires to car manufacturers. Kelly-Springfield tires are sold almost exclusively to car owners who pay higher initial prices because they know they receive excess value. At present the demand is far in excess of our production. The demand has been so great that owners order tires before they need them to get them when they need them. It is important to you to know these conditions and to know true tire economy. Kelly-Springfield Tire Co. Factories in Akron and Wooster, Ohio Executive Offices: Broadway &£57th St., New York Ly» Send ten cents for the new game, “Going to Market" comicbooks.com