Life, 1918-01-24 · page 2 of 40
Life — January 24, 1918 — page 2: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising, not satire or political commentary**. It features a Timken-Detroit Axle Company advertisement promoting worm-drive axles for commercial trucks. The image shows a businessman examining a display of toy/model trucks—a visual metaphor suggesting he's carefully considering which truck to purchase. The headline "Which Truck Can I Afford to Own? I Can Buy Any of Them" addresses practical purchasing concerns for fleet operators. The advertisement emphasizes that while purchase price matters, the real consideration should be **operating costs and reliability**. It highlights Timken-Detroit axles' durability, claiming they reduce breakdowns, repairs, and depreciation—thus lowering total cost of ownership. This represents standard early 20th-century commercial advertising targeting business decision-makers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Bi “Which Truck Can I Afford to Own? | Can Buy Any of Them” The purchase price must of course be considered in buying a truck, but it is only one of several items. Having settled on the class of truck that best suits delivery conditions, the next thing is to decide which make of truck in that class will pay the biggest dividends on the investment. And that means, “ Which truck will last longest and cost least to keep it in continuous operation?” What is saved over other forms of haulage may look big on paper, but what are the net figures? What about idle hours, repairs and depreciation? Breakdowns and repairs mean bigger bills to offset profits. n more idle hours, less tonnage, reduced ng capacity. And every year that’s cut off the life of the track adds to the annual charge for depreciation. The life of your truck depends primarily on the parts that carry the load. that will do more than Axles that will stand the jolts and jars, the con- the poor driving No truck is. a truck w just keep the load off the stree the gaff as long as the truck is opers tinual pound, pound, pound over willful overloading that motor trucks 4 Timken-Detroit, Front and Worm-Drive Rear Axles have that actual { service back of them which is the only sure protection of the In five years since the first introduction of worm drive, not a single Timken-Detroit Worm Gear unit has worn out in service, and Timken- Detroit Front Axles have always had the unqualified approval of those -builders who are buil cks and not make-shifts. mken Keeps” listing the truck-buildess carefully before you buy your next truck THE TIMKEN-DETROIT AXLE COMPANY i Detroit, Michizan Oldest and largest builders of front and rear axles for both motor cars and tracks TIMKEN: DETRO WORM:-DRIVE AXLES For Efficient COMMERCIAL Haulage Mec For th But excelle To men ur