Life, 1917-08-30 · page 35 of 40
Life — August 30, 1917 — page 35: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a Franklin automobile advertisement, not satire or political commentary. The page promotes enclosed cars (sedans with roofs) as practical vehicles for wartime America, when able-bodied men were away serving in WWI or war industries. The illustration shows a Franklin sedan in use by civilians—a woman and children—emphasizing that enclosed cars are easy enough for non-expert drivers to operate safely. The text argues that Franklins are superior enclosed cars because they're light, fuel-efficient, and reliable, contrasting them with competitors that were supposedly heavy and complicated. The "why buyers prefer" framing addresses wartime concerns: with men unavailable, families needed dependable, manageable vehicles. The ad highlights fuel economy (40.3 miles per gallon) and tire durability as practical selling points for economical-minded consumers during resource scarcity. This is commercial advertising strategy, not editorial commentary or satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
he date of WHY BUYERS OF ENCLOSED CARS NOW PREFER THE FRANKLIN Tees are days when everyone wishes to be more self-reliant—when the young men of the family or the help on the place, are at the Government call for War or for Industry. It is the greatest of times for a self-contained car that any member of the family can drive and use. Most people think of an Enclosed Car as something formidable—heavy, hard to handle, complicated, ex- pensive, and requiring a mechanician—too much car for these self-reliant times. And this has been so, con- cerning the cars they knew. It was the Franklin that put the new type of En- closed Car on the map and inaugurated—because it made it possible—the Vogue of the Enclosed Car for all uses. The Franklin Enclosed Car is light, flexible, resilient. easy-rolling—with the economies and advantages of the Franklin Open Models. It can be driven as freely over all roads and in all + 2610 Ibs. $2950.00 2610 Ibs. 3200.00 Cabriolet Limousine + weathers, and is so easy to handle that it can be driven all day without fatigue. Of all the fine enclosed cars, the Franklin is the most resilient, the most responsive, the easiest on tires. Franklin owners’ personal reports, over a five-year period, give the Franklin an average of 10,203 miles to the set of tires. Franklin’s gasoline economy is a factor of the great- est importance. On July 13th, this year, 179 Franklin Open Cars in all parts of the United States averaged the remarkable mileage of 40.3 miles to the single gallon of gasoline. It is a fact that the Franklin Enclosed Cars stow within a few per cent the same gasoline mileage and tire mileage as the Franklin Open Models. Real saving today is in the upkeep of a car, and your Franklin dealer can give you facts and figures, the actual Thrift records of Franklin owners everywhere —the most cheerful and encouraging news to anyone about to buy a car. 2485 Ibs. $2850.00 2620 Ibs. 3200.00 Brougham 2575 Ibs. $2900.00 All Prices F, O, B, Syracuse FRANKLIN AUTOMOBILE COMPANY SYRACUSE, N. Y., U. S. A. comicbooks.com