Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, December 1924 · page 27 of 71
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #67 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes Henry Ford's mass production milestone and a related *Whiz Bang* magazine contest. "Tin Lizzies" is period slang for Ford Model Ts—affordable, mass-produced cars that democratized automobile ownership in the 1920s. The satire targets Ford's claim of producing ten million vehicles by noting that contest entries—humorous written signs posted on car backs—have flooded in at such volume (over 5 million submissions claimed) that they rival Ford's own production numbers. The joke is absurdist: the magazine's audience participation has become as prolific as Ford's manufacturing. The winning entries provided ("Mah Junk," "True Love—She Never Runs Smooth") are puns mocking the Model T's unreliability and humble status. The cartoon illustration shows a shabby Ford, reinforcing this satirical contrast between Ford's grandiose production claims and the vehicle's actual mediocre reputation among owners. A "Virginia Reel" reference in the title plays on the car's physical rattling and bouncing.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
[Farmyard Fun and Filosofy] Plaster Up Your Tin Lizzies For the Next Virginia Reel THE SHOEMAKER'S FRIEND KOO KOO KAN HENRY FORD ad- vertises t h a t he has turned out his tenth million car. Gus doesn't doubt it a bit. He says that he has received o v e r half that m a n y “s i g n” contributions from flivver owners since he started his “Signs on the Back of a Ford” contest two months ago. One enthusiastic con- tributor wrote in saying that on a trip from St. Paul to Kansas City he counted more than 2,000 signs and probably missed that many more during the night. As in other Whiz Bang contests there have been many duplications, but Gus has managed to pick out the following list this month as worthy of Winter Annuals: “MAH JUNK” Kenneth W. Ash, Fort Sheridan, Ill. “TRUE LOVE—SHE NEVER RUNS SMOOTH” M. L. Sharpleigh, 41 Gordon Avenue, Atlanta, Ga. [25]