Race with the leaves? Are you serious? That’s the best slogan you could come up with? To me a race implies a competitive event, with a winner and a looser. You don’t know who’s going to win from the outset, that’s what makes it a RACE. So what they are saying in this ad is: Cruising along on your Harley with the throttle all the way open, driving as fast as you can; you may still be passed by a leaf. You know a leaf, falling from a tree. Or kicked up by a light breeze.

Why not just say: “Harley Davidson - It’s faster than walking.”*

(except for very fast walkers)

Update: I saw (via Boing Boing) that the current Worth 1000 Photoshop contest is titled “Bad Ads“. I think that this ad fits the contest better than some of the actual entries, but they are very funny nonetheless. If you haven’t checked out the Worth 1K contests you should, they can be hilarious.

Race with the Leaves!
BREEZE down an Autumn road, free as the red leaves that swirl along with you. Open up the eager motor of your Harley-Davidson — feel the thrill of its power, the surge of its silent speed. What a motorcycle!

Have you seen the 1932 models? They are better performers than ever — handsomer, more comfortable, better equipped—yet the prices are much lower.
Your dealer wants to show you these new Harley-Davidsons — and tell you about his Pay-As-You-Ride Plan. Why not look him up today?

Only $195 at Factory
Lowest-priced motorcycle ever offered by Harley-Davidson. A swift, sturdy Single, fully equipped—complete electrical system, 3-speed transmission, front and rear brakes, all conveniences. Easy to handle — costs almost nothing to run. Ask your Dealer.
Ride a HARLEY-DAVIDSON

Oh, this takes me back. I remember those trips my family used to take to our cabin in the woods. Before leaving mom would throw a roast beef and some potatoes into the good ole’ running board cooker and clamp that sucker closed. By the time we arrived, there would be a piping hot, carbon-monoxide infused, soot covered meal waiting just for us. I can still smell the sulfur wafting off my burnt motor oil drenched taters.

Auto Cooker Uses Exhaust Heat
THE drudgery has been taken out of picnics with a compact device that is attached to the automobile running board and which utilizes the waste heat from the engine for cooking. While driving to your favorite camping spot food may be baked, stewed or roasted without cost for fuel, loss of time or interference with the efficiency of the motor. The device cooks without water and therefore the edibles retain their natural juices and flavors. The cooker rests on an asbestos pad and is connected to the exhaust by a flexible pipe.

Woo-Wee Wolf Whistle Auto Horn

Reproduces ‘Wolf Whistle’ better than any sailor. Screeches, barks, whistles, imitates siren moves any ‘road hog’ off the highway in “double quick plus” Attract more attention than by driving a yellow Cadillac. Operates from manifold. Intall-ed on any car in 15 minutes. Sturdily constructed Cleverest novelty since the use of the auto. Be the first user in your neighborhood. Dealers wanted. Absolute money back guarantee. 6 dollars each. Order today Ohio orders add 3% tax.
THE PROTECTUROD COMPANY -Dept 102 4033 Windsor Road • Youngstown 7, Ohio

I’ve gotta give him credit, that’s a pretty stylish butt cowling.

Rider “Tailored” to Motorbike to Set 170 m.p.h. Record
WHEN J. S. Wright, present motorbike record holder, makes an attack on his 150 m.p.h, record established last year, he will ride a machine which represents the last word in streamlining.

To such an extent are the streamlining principles carried out that certain parts of the cowling were built with the rider on the machine, much as a tailor fits a suit to a customer.

The power of the racing motor has been boosted to deliver well over 100 h.p. by the use of a supercharger, and it is expected that this motorcycle will reach a speed in excess of 170 m.p.h.

view additional pages

What Lindbergh Found in His Mail Bag

Offers of Millions, Offers of Marriage and 14,000 Gifts in Packages Sent to Atlantic Flyer

By FITZHUGH GREEN

THROUGH the crowded events that followed the great flight to Paris, the author of this article was one of Col. Lindbergh’s chief aides. And in the swift preparation of Lindbergh’s book “We,” he wrote several chapters describing the welcoming receptions which the modest aviator did not wish to write himself. Commander Green also aided in handling Lindbergh’s huge mail.

“Dear Lindy—”

Those two words, with variations, have been written more than three and a half million times in the last four months by people of all races, colors and climes.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dynosphere AUTO Runs on One Wheel

THE wheel is one of the oldest inventions of man and has been used for ages on all sorts of vehicles, but it has remained for an English inventor to build a complete vehicle out of one wheel.

As shown in the photo above, the “dynos-phere,” as its inventor calls it, consists of a wide-rimmed latticed wheel with a power plant inside its circumference, where the driver sits. There is also room for a companion in the seat alongside him.

Read the rest of this entry »

Wooden Balls Speed Cycle Races
LES BLAKEBOROUGH, the well known English dirt track motorcycle rider, has recently invented an entirely new back wheel for his racing machine, which consists of a series of large wooden balls mounted on the rim in place of the conventional pneumatic tire.
The inventor claims his device makes broadsiding more rapid, and also makes it possible to broadside on hard surfaces.

Use Car Power to Grind Meat
NOW you can operate your meat chopper, ice cream freezer, apple parer, or practically any other device turned by a crank without work or worry, thanks to the simple idea of an Illinois inventor. A strap iron strip just long enough to fasten between rim bolts on opposite sides of the car wheel is made. The shaft of the device to be operated is then attached to the center of the strap.
All that remains is to jack up the rear wheel, start up the motor and let ‘er rip. The picture below shows the arrangement in operation. It’s handy for picnics where much food has to be prepared outdoors. Naturally the shaft of the food chopper must be practically in line with the hub of the wheel.

Motorcyclette Has Speed, Comfort
FOR uniqueness in the way of vehicles, the two - wheeled “Motorcyclette” shown at right, takes all honors. The rider’s feet, which are used as brakes, stick out in front, while the rider leans over and clutches the cross bars atop the front wheel to keep from fallingover backwards.

The caption is funny too: “Z. Wiggs out for a spin in his pooch-mobile. “
The guy’s name is Z. Wiggs, but when I read it I thought the dog’s name was Z and he was wigging out for a ride. I like my interpretation better.

Walking the Dog Drives Poochmobile
DOG power drives an odd vehicle constructed by Z. Wiggs, eighty-year-old dog trainer and former railroad worker of Denton, Tex. Operating on the squirrel-cage principle, the dogmobile has a giant central wheel which is revolved as a dog walks or
runs on its inside surface. The four-legged canine engine is anchored to a central shaft by a special collar. Power is transmitted to rear drive wheels by means of a belt-and-pulley mechanism which the driver controls by a “gearshift” lever.

view additional pages

New Patents Forecast Your 1942 Car

THAT car you’ll be buying in 1942—what will it look like?

Will it have the engine in the front or in the back ? Will it be heavier or lighter, longer or shorter, more or less expensive

than the car you’re driving now ? Startling is the only word for the answers to these fascinating questions, as disclosed by an automotive survey just completed by Popular Science Monthly. Whispers of radical changes and innovations in motor-car design are in the wind, and the recent granting of a series of important automotive patents, every one of which covers a car having its power plant in the back instead of the front, heralds the dawn of a new era in automotive transportation.

Read the rest of this entry »

Wow, this one comes with a robot!

view additional pages

Are These GM’s Cars of Tomorrow?

By Bernard W. Crandell

PROBABLY you’ll never see any of the fanciful sketches on these pages coming down a production line or in your dealer’s salesroom. Nobody at GM intends that you should. The sports car designs here are an important phase of automobile styling done by the General Motors Styling Section and the sketches fulfill a function of professional car designing for which there is no substitute—uninhibited creativeness and daring imagination.

Read the rest of this entry »