The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-28


 ITS MIGHTY INPORTANT-this matter of selecting automobile. Of course every buyer knows that But not every knows how to go about it to determine just which from among the many offered for his consideration will meet his requirements and afford him the satisfaction he devouty hopes for aerward ARE YOU ONE OF THOSE who ask about the horse power the hill climbing ability, the riding qualities; look it and approve of the general appearance then ask the prceand think you have covered the whole ground IF YOU ARE then you may be satisfied with your pur chase few months hence We say you may-if you lucky. Otherwise you will realize all too late thar the points mentioned while important, to be had in almost any automobile nowadays and not after al the most vital factors to consider
 IF WE WERE ASKED to select from among all the the market to-day, end they all lined up in for critical inspection would be much you but that know things about automobiles and their manufacture and their career after they leave the factory that you layman cannot possibly know. And we are anxious to give you the benefit of that knowledge.
 BUT AFTER SEEING THEM-noting points of trast and of agreement in design finish ct cetera we would ask some other questons-and note very care fully the replies.
 LET US ADMIT before going any further that prejudiced. Prejudiced in favor of the Stakeholder product Preudced in its favor because we know how it is made Know about it's good points than you any else possibly know-because we know you scan't know, how sincerely try to build the best automobiles possibe-to give Studebaker toners the best value for the money.
 WE'D LOOK FEM ALL OVER first. Naturally. And correctly. The to himself to all really reputable and compare them point for point. Com pare points of and features in which the several cars agree (Of course, would excude-that is say, ignore-the experiments. The and tried models We would consider only cars backed by regulations of long standing, for aside from your judgment based it must be merely superficial and brief examination and demonstration, you really have nothing to depend upon but the reputation back of the car.)
 WE WOULD STUDY THE DESIGN see if it corre- sponded with the best standard practice Appearance would appeal to us of coufse. One likes to that looks than he paid for it. Some look less know-and the majority look par at most. WE WOULD RIDE IN IT-have demonstration as they say. And, while would watch the performance of the motor, transmission and the generally very closely during that rde would attach to it importance than it deserved For any car especially tuned up for the occasion and in the hands of re- sourceful driver will do almost unheard of stunts That fools lots of otherwise astute prospects
 BUT AFTER ALL TEAT-after considering the factors that any tyro would naturally take into account-we would ask other and more pointed questions. Questions that would stump eight out of every ten saesmenand perure another tenth of them to answer to satisfaction
 WE WOULD ASK FIRST who made the Not who motor other parts. Not who assembled them and put his name plate the finished product, but who actually made every part of the from the raw materials to the completed And we would exclude from further consideration all assembled" automobiles
 THEN WE WOULD WANT TO KNOW just how many automobiles each manufacturer made per annun. For the answer that question is the to that other lis built or is it manufactured?" If made in small quanttes-say less than 5000 per year-then hand work of necessity enter largely into its making And would not buy handmade automobile. The hand cannot approximate the of the machine No workrnen do work of equal quality. hand made machine mistake made to fit another flor perfection is impossible by hand.
 so WE WOULD EXCLUDE from consideration those cars in small numbers for the following First made in quantities better because methods possible in quantity production that impossible when making small numbers. And second we would know that parts of cars made in small quantities would be absolutely interchangeable, whereas parts of machines made in immense quantities must be- necessarily.
 NOW WE HAVE REDUCED the would consider to very small number (You would select our automobile by the simple process of elimination.)