Life, 1926-04-22 · page 39 of 40
Life — April 22, 1926 — page 39: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily an **automobile advertisement**, not political satire. It sells the Willys-Knight Great Six by endorsing it through **Elsie de Wolfe**, a famous real interior decorator of the era known for designing wealthy homes in Paris, London, and New York. The advertisement's strategy targets women car-owners by claiming that just as successful businessmen hire expert architects and wealthy women hire expert decorators like de Wolfe, discerning female automobile owners should recognize the car's superior design. The copy emphasizes luxurious interior details—mohair velvet, walnut inlays, antique silver hardware—positioning the vehicle as a status object comparable to fine home furnishings. The tagline "with an Engine you'll never wear out" highlights the car's mechanical reliability. This appears to be a 1920s-era advertisement capitalizing on women's growing economic independence and purchasing power, though framed through traditional notions of feminine taste and refinement.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
| | | About to build a home, the successful business man secks the best architec- tural talent available —4qnd, of it, demands the utmost in experience, originality, resourcefulness... When Madame herself would have expert counsel and co-operation as to decorative effects and home-furnish- ings de luxe, she enlists the aid of an advisor of recognized standing—by preference, Miss Elsie de Wolfe, « Paris, London and New York. What Miss de Wolfe—premier inte- rior decorator—sees in the Willys- Knight Great Six, its tens of thousands of discerning American women-own- ers see— An exterior of exquisite beauty—the Nearest to smart perfection yet achieved in motor-car design . . . Its interic an inviting expanse of automobile; done throughout in rich, heavily-piled Mohair Velour—a subtle cloister-blue, with a beautiful silver bloom... Win- dow panels, dash, and door panels are of genuine walnut, inlaid in dull gold; door handles, door-releases, window- lifts—all hardware is antigue silver to American eA famous professional woman speaks i women-owners Jia os < bsg | iS ff Or type, of chaste, conservative design, Opalescent corner side hts and ceil- ht with separate ebony switches set in antique silver design, smart, an- tique silver type vanity case, match holder and ash receiver in compart- mented walnut case; heavily uphol- stered arm rests, comfortably carpeted foot rest; gear-shift with ornate Onyx knob; deep, restful, luxurious-cush- toned seats the ne plus ultra of the upholsterer’s craft . In the Willys-Knight Great Six is present every known convenience and elegance ever built into an autor everything in exqui not a jarring note an item of its nd and cc I tire color-ensemble of the car... And this superb automobile i: by the sile only known rows with sleeve-valve ¢ motor-mechanism that use. A sweet-ru quiet, smooth, the engine, the Willys-Knight ¢ to age-mark still undetermined after ng car, powerful, st turn of years of use «sin power, proves in acti pr smooth tion with each suc- and silent ope ceeding mile! ‘Today the Willys-Knight Great Six may be purchased more conveniently than ever before. The new WILLYS FINANCE PLAN offers easy time- payment terms at the lowest credit-cost in the industry Willy-Overland, Inc, Toledo, Obve Wilys- Overland Saley Co. Lad., Tereoto, Canada WILLYS-KNIGHT Great SIX ~s A with an Engine youll never wear out "yy oN comicbooks.com