Life, 1919-12-18 · page 12 of 56
Life — December 18, 1919 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **commercial advertisement**, not political satire. It announces that the Packard Motor Car Company will double production of its Twin-Six engine model in 1920. The ad emphasizes that the engine design is **established and proven** — no changes planned despite competitive pressure to innovate yearly. This was a selling point: reliability over constant redesign. The text references **World War I aviation** as validation; the Twin-Six engine proved itself dependable during wartime aviation emergencies, establishing its reputation. The slogan "Ask the Man Who Owns One" was Packard's actual marketing catchphrase, appealing to owner testimonials rather than manufacturer claims. The illustration shows a cutaway view of the engine mounted on a chassis—typical advertising imagery for the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The PACKARD TWIN-SIX ENGINE PRODUCTION of PACKARD TWIN-SIX to be Doubled NEXT YEAR 'N September 2d, 1919, the twenty-four thous- andth Packard Twin-Six Motor Car was delivered to its owner. Itis worth noting that the engine in this twenty-four thousandth Twin-Six was practically identical with the original Twin-Six Engine introduced to the motoring world in June, 1915. Noexperienced motorist will miss the importance of this fact—especially when he knows that in doubling our production for 1920 we shall still make no major change in the engine. A basic engineering prin- ciple such as the Twin-Six embodies is not come at by chance—nor easily “im- proved.” The war aviation emer- gency, the greatest stimulus to motor engineering the world has ever known, confirmed definitely the 12-cylinder “V” type (Twin-Six) motor as a suc- cess because never before had flexibility, power and lack of vibration been combined to such a high degree in a single unit. Most people are used to seeing cars change year after year—reflecting the faults found by owners on the road—or for the sake of “talking” points—or indi- cating a desire to make the owner buy a new car every season. Established standards like the Twin-Six motor are certainly necessary —but none too plenty in the automobile business today. vv? To the man with a motor problem we have this to say— especially if he has been look- ing for a motor car which cannot be wished out-of-date over night. The Packard Twin-Six principle is Established— a permanent contribution tothe PassengerTranspor- tation service of the world. With your experience with the best of other cars fresh in mind—a single drive in the Packard Twin-Six will show you by direct comparison a new standard for acceleration, smoothness, speed, comfort, safety. “« Ask the Man Who Owns One” PACKARD MOTOR CAR COMPANY - Detroit comicbooks.conm