The People's Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century (Vintage) by Steven Watts Page B

from headlines and dramatic photos of the grime-covered victors that appeared in newspapers all over the country. Company advertising took full advantage of the race. During the contest, it urged dealers to publicize their Model T's by painting a large map of the United States on the salesroom window, marking out the route and all checkpoints, and then moving small car icons along as telegrams announced progress of the Ford entries. This “has never failed to keep an interested crowd before the window,” the company told its dealers. After the victory in Seattle, Ford launched an advertising blitz in newspapers that announced in giant letters, “FORD—WINNER OF THE O. to O. CONTEST.” The text noted, “The important consideration for automobile buyers is that the winning car was a standard stock car, an exact duplicate of the regular Model T…. Nothing special, nothing better than regular, nothing different from what any buyer gets.” Employing David-and-Goliath imagery, ads argued that the great race demonstrated the superiority of the lightweight Model T over its much heavier opponents. “The little fellows led the way … [and] practically ran away from their powerful adversaries,” they noted. 31
    Beyond such special events and attention-grabbing stunts, however, the company's steady flow of advertisements offered an intriguing mix of messages. On the one hand, these early ads featured traditional themes that trumpeted the Model T's utilitarian virtues. Typically, buyers were told that “the mechanical perfection, strength, light weight, and simplicity of the Ford car make it the people's utility. And they average only about two cents a mile to operate and maintain.” The Model T's low price and dependability also generated much ad copy. A 1909 advertising catalogue displayed vanadium steel in key components providing strength and lightness; thebest materials for tires and castings; dependable planetary transmission and rugged three-point suspension; sophisticated lubrication and cooling systems; and overall, as the pamphlet stated at the bottom of every other page, “High Priced Quality in a Low Priced Car.” 32
    Many early Ford advertisements for the Model T, however, stressed a subtle, seductive new consumer vision. Visual and verbal images invoked not durability or performance but the pleasure, self-fulfillment, happiness, leisure, and romance likely to be gained. In 1908, a Model T ad described the vehicle as “a roomy, commodious, comfortable family car that looks good, and is as good as it looks.” Others underscored its role in democratizing leisure. “If there were no Fords, automobiling would be like yachting— the sport of rich men,” declared one ad, but this vehicle “brought the price down within reason—and the easy reach of the many.” As another ad noted succinctly, “It's a universal servant because it serves everybody. It's a universal luxury because it gives pleasure to everybody.” 33
    Explicit messages of pleasure and comfort pushed to the fore in many Model T ads. How much better to step into this vehicle and “drive, warm and dry,” than “to get wet and cold, walking to and waiting for the trolley car, and then stand up in the crowded car on the wet floor while the cold breezes chase the dangerous chills up and down your back every time the door opens.” Such promises of physical comfort were a prologue for assurances of emotional enjoyment. “The family car of pleasure,” one ad described the Model T; another assured that the vehicle met “the requirements of pleasure” for men of business, who would “find this car a dignified appearing and entirely satisfactory assistance in the fulfillment of their engagements, both business and social.” Ford ads followed the pleasure trail into the realm of romance. A 1911promotional pamphlet for the Model T featured a gentleman assisting a fashionably dressed young woman out of the car above these enticing words: “A very