Life, 1929-04-12 · page 29 of 44
Life — April 12, 1929 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a cartoon or satire** — it's a straightforward **luxury automobile advertisement** for Lincoln cars, appearing in *Life* magazine (page 27). The ad employs aspirational marketing: it argues that Lincoln owners are distinguished people of global prominence — royalty, government officials, diplomats, and business leaders. The tagline "A Car Is Known By The Company It Keeps" suggests that owning a Lincoln signals one's membership in an elite social class. The three photographs show a Lincoln passenger Victoria coupe owned by L.S. Carroll, Vice President of the American Locomotive Company, presented as visual proof of the car's prestigious appeal. The copy emphasizes Lincoln's qualities — beauty, dignity, smooth performance, reliability, and "excellence" — as reflecting the values of its discerning clientele. This represents typical early 20th-century luxury marketing: selling status and refinement rather than mechanical features, targeting wealthy readers who aspire to associate themselves with global elites.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A CAR IS KNOWN BY THE COMPANY IT KEEPS Ir you were to examine the list of prominent Lincoln owners (and they are to be found in every cor- ner of the world) you could not fail to gain a new respect for this very individual motor car. For that list includes a great many royal per- sonages, high governmental offi- cials, foreign dignitaries and diplo- mats, well-known figures in busi- ness and society .. . names familiar in every corner of the world... people of substance and standing, knowing the best, and as a matter of course obtaining it. A most dis- Si ; tA Lincoln t-passenger View tinguished patronage. REET toria coupe, the property of LS. Carroll, Esq, of New Such people turn naturally to York. Mr. Carroll is Vice: . ele my President of the American the Lincoln, because it is built for 3 $2 . Locomotive Company. them ... because it is at once beau- tiful and dignified . . . because it is smart . . . because it is so admir- ably made that it will bear them swiftly, silently, smoothly, season after season, wherever they wish to go... . Because, in its insistence upon excellence, in its unswerving fidelity to the highest ideals and traditions, it represents all that they value most. “AS NEARLY PERFECT A MOTOR CAR AS IT IS POSSIBLE TO PRODUCE" THE LINCOLN comicbooks.com