Life, 1924-05-15 · page 3 of 46
Life — May 15, 1924 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising, not satire or political cartooning**. It's a Marmon automobile advertisement from the Nordyke & Marmon Company (established 1851, Indianapolis). The ad uses comparative rhetoric to position the Marmon as superior to other fine cars. It argues readers must experience the Marmon "on its home grounds—out on the road" to appreciate its mechanical differences. The text references the car's "mysterious adhesiveness" and precise mechanical disposition, framing these as distinctive qualities. The photograph shows a Marmon automobile on a tree-lined road, meant to demonstrate the car's real-world performance capabilities. This is straightforward product promotion typical of early 20th-century automotive marketing, emphasizing engineering excellence and inviting test drives.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
* LIFE - 1 ETEAVERYONE at some time or other has seen a champion in H action. There isn’t much differ- a dub, till you get ¢ m in a tournament mon is just an automo n the road and step on it is as out of aca car and a three thousand dollar car. But when you get beyond the city limits and the conditios harder, you begin to weed out the sheep from the goats. The first big diffe Marmon Difference Number One ‘ its job. It reminds you of a perfectly trained and perfectly conditioned athlete who is so fit that work which pulls the other fellow’s cork is mere child’s play for him You can’t get it fussed up or red in the face. Ithasa great big, unused mechanical reserve and can afford to be good natured. oes And the Marmon is probably the only fine car in the world with the same kind of uncanny, mysterious road adhesiveness— with automatic self-balance. You soon learn that you can give it its head, like an intelligent horse, ick to Take Many other fine cars have Reid to be driven and forcibly @ Hint guided by main strength, and the faster you go the more needful this be % Th ‘ing wheel of a Marmon is the quickest thing there is to take a hint, and, at the same time, the most steadfast. see We can tell you that two hundred yards of soft, eight-inch gravel means no more to a Marmon than frost on a steel rail locomotive — and you don’t You cannot possibly know what the does, till you, yourself, have the . . If there is such a thing asa hairy fisted man falling in love with a machine, that thing can happen with respect to the Marmon, Strong men have fallen in love with good ships, good horses, good battalions and good cannon. Why should they feel any less strongly toward a good automobile ? GET THE MARMON ON ITS HOME GROUNDS-ow/¢ on the road. Lees a ao MARMON You've got to judge everything in its natural element —airplanes in the air —soldiers in battle—the Marmon car in actual road action. {The only way you can possibly appreciate the differ- ence between Marmon and any other fine car is to get the Marmon on its home grounds — out on the road. Don’t let it be said that you’ve never driven a Marmon. NORDYKE & MARMON COMPANY :« Established 1851 + CSIC IS INDIANAPOLIS comicbooks.com