Life, 1920-01-29 · page 6 of 38
Life — January 29, 1920 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily **advertising content, not satire or political commentary**. The page features a Packard Motor Car Company advertisement titled "Who Dictates the Changes in Motor Car Design." The image shows a crowded city street filled with automobiles from different eras, illustrating traffic congestion. The ad argues that Packard's design philosophy prioritizes fundamental engineering and good taste over fleeting fashion trends. It claims this stability protects owner investments from "sudden changes of 'fashion'" dictated by competitors. The tagline "Ask the Man Who Owns One" was apparently Packard's advertising slogan. The piece is essentially a luxury car manufacturer defending conservative design choices while implicitly criticizing competitors (likely Ford, General Motors) for frequent model changes that rendered older cars obsolete.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘The Trattic Jam in Any City will show Twenty-five Makes of Cars—no two alike. —but what of Tomorrow? New Modets today, perhaps Who Dictates the Changes in Motor Car Design VERY now and then it Occurs to some one to ask,**W hat happens to all the old Packards? Not those of eight or ten years ago,now running as taxicabs, but the in-between models— "15 and ’16and along there?” A perfectly natural ques- tion, considering how accus- tomed people are to perpetual change in motor car design. ITHER there is some- thing sound and funda- mental in motor car design —or there is not. The Packard Company be- lieves that design is funda- mental when it is governed by established standards of good taste and engineer- ing, and not by passing fan- cies. T is gratifying to know that this belief is shared by more than five thousand Packard owners, who have owned Packards continu- ously for sixteen years. Once create a motor car design that is fundamental and it will satisfy people of good taste as long as the car lasts. HE Packard car is de- signed to last as long as fine workmanship, sound engineering and the highest grade of materials can make it. And that is why Packards are always ‘‘new models.” And why the Packard owner's investment never suffers from sudden changes of ‘“fashion,’’ dictated by some one over whom he has no control. “‘Ask the Man =) Who Owns One’’ SS PACKARD MOTOR CAR COMPANY, Detroit ti comicbooks.co! | m