Life, 1927-03-10 · page 33 of 38
Life — March 10, 1927 — page 33: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **full-page automobile advertisement**, not political satire. It promotes the Franklin motor car's 25th Anniversary model, emphasizing three selling points: smoothness, power, and speed. The illustration shows a luxury sedan with well-dressed passengers and pedestrians in an elegant European setting (note the cathedral arch), suggesting prestige and cosmopolitan sophistication. The text uses hyperbolic marketing language typical of 1920s-30s advertising—claiming the car runs so quietly at high speeds that "never the engine, the body or the chassis!" will betray your acceleration. Pricing is listed ($2,490-$2,790), and the ad promotes an "Easy Ownership Plan." **Key context for modern readers:** This represents pre-Depression automotive luxury marketing, when cars were expensive status symbols. The emphasis on silence and smoothness reflects early internal-combustion engine technology that was still notably loud and rough by today's standards.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Presenting NEW SMOOTHNESS NEw POWER - NEW SPEED Now—click off the miles as you want them! Fast or slow, they will be the smoothest in your experience. Speed as you like, you cannot make this great Franklin raise its voice above a whisper. It has new power. It has new speed. And just compare it with any other in smoothness even at 50 miles or over! Whisk up the hardest hills on high— there’s no sense or sound of labor. Quict, confident power. Shoot along the straightaway—there’s no roar or vibra- tion. Speed without punishment. No matter how fast you go, only the speed- ometer and the flying telegraph poles will tell you—never the engine, the body or the chassis! Luxurious—no other word will do justice to the great 25th Anniversary Franklin. It has all the famous Franklin superiorities—plus unequaled five-pas- senger roominess and power-speed- smoothness of a new order. Drive it—it is the climax of the Franklin policy of always keeping ahead. Coupé now $2490, Sedan now $2790. Other types in proportion. Fully equip- ped, F.O.B. Syracuse, N. Y. Inquire about the 25th Anniversary Easy Own- ership Plan, The 25th Anniversary <Franklin comicbooks.com