Life, 1928-09-14 · page 39 of 40
Life — September 14, 1928 — page 39: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a cartoon or satire** — it's a luxury automobile advertisement for Packard automobiles disguised as editorial content. The text uses historical comparison to establish prestige: Napoleon had inferior transportation compared to modern Packard cars, despite his vast wealth. The piece claims Packard achieved near-perfection through thirty years of research and engineering, combining "a hundred separate and distinct arts, professions, crafts and trades." The accompanying image shows a sleek 1920s-era Packard automobile in profile. This represents **aspirational advertising common to the 1920s-30s**, appealing to wealthy readers by equating car ownership with civilization's progress and personal achievement. The elaborate framing as an "achievement" essay rather than straightforward advertisement reflects marketing practices of the era, where luxury brands positioned themselves as cultural accomplishments rather than mere commodities.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ACHIEVEMENT APOLEON, in the nineteenth century, with ail the wealth of Europe in his hands, could command no better personal transportation than Alexander 2200 years before. But men were rapidly appro. ching the time when the accumulated skill and knowledge of countless genera- tions would combine to produce a new civilization through machine power. The first Packard, contain- ing many original ‘eatures still in use today, was built in the same century that witnessed Waterloo! Today, after nearly thirty years of research, experience and improve- ment, Packard cars come as near to the ideal of perfection in personal transportation as seems likely to be reached until some new discovery revolutionizes land travel. Possible refinements are found with less and less frequency. Packard design is tending to standardize in vehicles whose outstanding beauty, perform- ance and prestige are recognized in every section of the globe. Packard engineering leadership alone could not produce that thing of beauty, grace and power which so fully answers the demands of modern men—which stands, a masterpiece of combined art and science, before your door. In the Packard organization today are combined the knowledge and skill of more than a hundred sepa- rate and distinct arts, professions, crafts and trades—each reaching its highest development in its con- tribution to Packard superiority, all uniting to make the Packard car the supreme expression of modern transportation. The original painting reproduced on the opposite page hangs in the Board Room of the Packard Metor Car Company PACK A RD comicbooks.com