Life, 1926-10-07 · page 43 of 44
Life — October 7, 1926 — page 43: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **Willys-Knight automobile advertisement**, not satire or political commentary. It uses celebrity endorsement marketing by featuring **Ethel Barrymore**, identified as "America's foremost character actress." The text references other famous actresses (Bernhardt, Terry, Duse) to establish prestige. The ad emphasizes the car's "Knight sleeve-valve engine"—a real technical innovation claimed to be superior to conventional engines because it improves with use, requires no valve grinding, and produces no carbon buildup. These were genuine selling points in the 1920s when engine maintenance was arduous. The advertisement positions the Willys-Knight Great Six as a luxury automobile comparable to European models (Mercedes, Panhard, Voisin), claiming 38,000 sales in eighteen months. Barrymore's quote calling the car "unusually desirable and beautiful" serves as celebrity validation. For modern readers: this reflects 1920s automotive marketing relying on star power and technical specifications as primary persuasion tools—before modern advertising psychology dominated.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“Unusually desirable and beautiful” — thus Americas most distinguished actress characterizes the Willys-Knight Great Six BERNHARDT... TERRY... DUSE... BARRYMORE. . . actress . musician... grande dame... cer and grand-daughter of the . .. Intimate of those world- nent in government, society, belles-Lettres . 6. Motordom’s Hall of Fame gains still another illustrious member through Miss Barrymore's personal commen- dation of the Willys-Knight Great Six neered y igned car pre- sented in America. The first to offer the most progressive engi- neering practices of Europe combined with new and greatly improvedstandardsof American performance, Introduced early lase year, it was only a mat- — ter of months until the Willys-Knight Great Six achieved first place in the fine car field. To the American owner, this distin- guished new-type automobile brings the same type of power-plant used in the most costly cars of Europe—Daim- ice-Knight of England, Minerva of Bel- gium, the German Mercedes, Panhard and Voisin of France... The Knight sleve-valve engine — patented, votected, exclusive—which other manu- facturers would pay millions to get. An engine you'll never wear out. . . the only automobile engine in the world that actually émproves with use . . . the only engine that grows smoother and more powerful with every mile. MISS ETHEL BARRYMORE America's foremost character actress "I think this car should find favor with anyone possess- ig a sense of the unusually desirable and beautiful”... In this modern, extreme- ly efficient motor of the Willys-Knight Great Six, you have one of the great features responsible for the sale of more than 38,000 of these superb Sixes in its first 18 months ... A success- record never before equalled in the same length of time, we believe, by any luxury car. vr? With no carbon troubles... no valves to grind... no springs to weaken, the Willys-Knight Great Six cuts up-keep costs in two. At the same time it completely 4 WILLYS-KNIGHT Great SIX wipesout the frequentand always incon- venient lay-ups that carbon-cleaning and valve-grinding cause in all other auto- mobiles of conventional poppet-valve design. 488 From the first turn of its sleeve-valve motor, the most powerful, most highly efficient, the quietest in operation of all cars of its type or class, the mod- ernly-engineered Willys-Knight Great Six gains in power, gains in efficiency, gains in smooth and silent running with every mile. Thus you need never be disturbed about that weakness common to all less mod- ern cars—their tendency to become noisy, less powerful, less efficient, after a few tens of thousands of miles, rong Don't fail to examine and drive this super-powerful, exquisitely beautiful Willys-Knight Great Six at your earliest opportunity. Its unique Knight sleeve-valve motor in the superbly-buile Willys-Knight chassis has been surrounded with such luxury and ele- gance and comfort that leading engi- neers universally consider the famous Willys-Knight Great Six one of the world’s finest automobiles. roe Thenew Willys Finance Plan means less money down; smaller monthly pay- ments; and the lowest credit - cost. Ask your Willys-Knight dealer for facts and figures. Willys-Knight Great Six prices from $1750t0 $2495,f.0.b. factory and specifica- ¢ tionssubjecttochange without notice. Willys-Overland, Inc., Toledo, Ohio, Willys- Overland Sales Co. Ltd., Toronto, Canada, ‘* WITH AN ENGINE YOU'LL NEVER WEAR OUT’? comicbooks.com