Life, 1919-10-16 · page 25 of 36
Life — October 16, 1919 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a cartoon or satire**—it's a straightforward **Goodyear Tire advertisement** disguised as educational content in *Life* magazine. The page presents "Lesson 5" of a "Tire Conservation Course," using a cautionary anecdote: a man with a new car drives several hundred yards on a flat tire without a spare, destroying both the casing and tube. The punch line warns that this brief run "probably cost him 10,000 miles" of potential tire life. The advertisement's actual purpose is to promote **proper tire tube maintenance** and Goodyear's tube repair kit. It explains common failures—improper installation, inadequate lubrication, punctures—and directs readers to Goodyear Service Stations for guidance. This represents **early automotive consumer education marketing**, presented during an era when tire care was critical and blowouts frequent. The "few hundred yards may cost 10,000 miles" framing is designed to scare consumers into proper maintenance, indirectly endorsing Goodyear products and services as the solution.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
TIRE CONSERVA: iON COURSE LESSON $ How to Increase Tire Mileage By Proper Care’ od ubes ~~ ay rewH undredYards MayCost10,000 Miles AN with a new car had one of his tires blow out. He dn't have a spare, so he decided to ram a few hundred yards id’s house. When he got there he discovered that neither nor the tube were worth repairing, for running on the rim ured the casing fabric. And the tube wes riddled with caused by being pinched against the rim. Those few hundred jf running on the rim probably cost him 10,000 miles—mites pould hare been saved by properly caring for the tube. Proper tubes saves miles in many other ways—not only in emer- H but all the time. Ask your Goodyear Service Station, or ‘odkron, for Lesson 5 of the Goodyear Conservation Course how to increase tire miteages by proper care of tubes. OPER care of tubes increases by thousands of miles lie of even the best of tires. henever a tube fails, the casing is seriously damaged Fog run flat, afew hundred yards of such running may utterly spoil 5 and even ifthe tube merely has a slow leak the tire Pier the inevitable injuries due to under-inflation. a tubes, if you wish to get the most from Tubes inserted in the easing without being properly ta.ced, either stick to the casing and tear because of the hack of French Talc or—when too much of this lubricant is used— they are injured because the talc collects in puddles and hardens. Tubes must be properly inserted in the casing; otherwise they will be pinched against the rim, or—if the valve stem is at an angle—they may be torn. Punctures from the inside must be prevented by cleaning all sharp dust and grit out of the casings, and by keeping the rims from rusting and “flaking” off. Lesson 5 of the Goodyear Conservation Course gives simple but detailed directions for making your tubes serve your tires. It also tells how tubes can be repaired permanently and ina few minutes with the Goodyear Tube Repair Kit. Ask your Goodyear Service Station to show you one—and ask also for the other lessons of the Goodyear Canservation Course. The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Akron, Ohio comicbooks.com