Life — September 24, 1925 — page 6: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This is **primarily an advertisement**, not satirical content. It's a Packard automobile ad from Life magazine featuring a testimonial letter from Lieutenant Leigh Wade, a round-the-world aviator who recently flew a Packard Eight from Los Angeles to New York—3,965 miles in seven days without stopping the engine or changing oil. The ad highlights the car's engineering reliability: its chassis lubricator and motor oil rectifier performed so well that analysis showed 98% pure lubricant remained at journey's end. The accompanying photograph shows the 1920s-era Packard automobile in a desert landscape. The tagline "Ask the Man Who Owns One" was Packard's actual advertising slogan. This represents automotive advertising using celebrity endorsement and technical achievement to establish brand prestige—common early 20th-century marketing.