Life, 1917-02-08 · page 6 of 42
Life — February 8, 1917 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a political cartoon or satire**, but rather a **straightforward automobile advertisement** from Life magazine (page 206). The Marmon 34 was a real automobile marketed by Nordyke & Marmon Company of Indianapolis. The ad highlights a genuine engineering feature: the car required only four grease cups for lubrication, compared to forty to sixty on comparable vehicles of the era. The circular diagram shows the four lubrication points. The advertisement emphasizes practical benefits—reduced maintenance, fuel economy, and smooth performance—rather than satirizing anything. This reflects early automotive marketing's focus on mechanical reliability and owner convenience, concerns that dominated the 1920s-30s automobile market.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ONLY FOUR GREASE CUPS OT only is the Marmon 34 a half-ton lighter, and far more economical in fuel and tires than any car of equal size and power, but its refinement in detail eliminates incessant attention. If you take the trouble to count the grease cups on comparable cars you will find there are as many as forty to sixty. And if the owner or chauffeur neglects them, power goes to waste, wear sets in and trouble lies just around the corner. The Marmon system of oilless bearings and automatic chassis lubrication is an object lesson in simplicity. There are, on the entire car, but four grease cups. The Marmon’s bird-like acceleration puts the owner at an ad- vantage in city traffic, and its luxurious riding-ease on country roads is an experience that motorists never realize until they ride in this scientifically constructed car. NORDYKE & MARMON COMPANY Established 1851 Indianapolis, Indiana comicbooks.com