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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 6, 1911)
4 Dare we infute red blood into an advertisement of an electric carriage? Some veil meaning friends, who think they non tell us &e maj not that electric are bought mostly by ladies therefore only parlor prattle and pretty pictures are permissible. We don't believe it! We believe that women as well as men like, on occasion, to be treated as rational beings, capable of thinfnng. They like to enter into the fundamentals and to be told the reasons why of things. So here goes. Better read this ad carefully so you will be able to discuss it intelligently when it becomes the topic among your friends. h ere FIX THE FORM IN YOUR EYE the artistic line, the graceful curve fix it in your mind for this ia the design of the future for all high grade electric. Within a year within six month thia Flander design will be copied by half the other maker. IT IS THE LOGICAL aa weU aa the most bean, tiful form for an electric carriage and when i you think of it it ia the only logical aa well aa . h ia the only really artiatic electric yet designed. "RIDES LIKE A HAMMOCK," waa the way one lady expressed it and a glance at the curved frame and the long.' graceful springs with axle act well in front and rear of body, convince yon that the riding qualitiea of thia car are superior to tboae of any other. WHEEL BASE IS 100 INCHES and step ia juat 10 inchaa above the pavement when car ia loaded. Car aeata 8 adults liberally J in rear and I in front and will scat persons comfortably. Compare thia with the ordi nary, high-perched electric with short wheel base that rock like a akiff in a aea on slightly wavy asphalt, and pitch and toss dangerously on a bad piece of block pavement OR COMPARE IT WITH THOSE imitation automobile in which valuable room ia taken up by a hood and the four passenger are cramped in two aeated fairly comfortably and the other two on a half width folding aeat so low only a child can occupy it in comfort. JUST LISTEN TO THIS it ia interesting it explains something you have wondered about 'Why electrics have been so ugly, so cramped for room inside, and so unstable because of their short wheal base and highly perched con awuction. THE FIRST ELECTRIC built m thia country had a whip-socket on the dash I Now don't laugh I that ia aa absolute fact. And it ia sig nificant even if it ia humorous it shows how devoid of thought the designing of thia type of car baa been up to sow. WHY IN THE NAME OF REASON was that whip-socket there f Tell you why. Originality ia the rarest human quality. Only one man in a million can think independently. HOWE LOST A LOT OF TIME when he first tried to invent the sewing machine. He thought it ought to aew like a lady and surely no aelf-respecting needle could have an eye any. where but in the head. It took him a long time to decide that he dare put the eye in the point of the needle when he had done that he had invented the sewing machine. NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT BEFORE did you? Moat likely not. Moat people don't look below the surface of thing most de signer of electrics are that way. NOW THAT FELLOW who put the whip-aock-et oa the dash of hia electric car not only com mitted one foolish act he waa guilty of two the dash had no business there either. But that aimple idea had never occurred to him. A THOUSAND YEARS BEFORE be waa born Borne gen.ua had added to hia two-wheeled cart a piece of bark to prevent the nag kicking mud La the face of the lady be waa trying to pro poae to. THAT WAS OOINd SOME ia invention and it waa aeveral hundred year later that another bright yoata bethought him of a aocket to hold the "gad" whip were invented later o he could have one hand free to hold the lady oa the insecure aeat THEN CAME ELECTRICITY or rather the harnessing of it and an electrically propelled carriage for Milady became possible. He tried to design one That waa the first and only lucid idea he ever had I And all he did waa to unhitch the bora, lay away the ahafta, build FLANDERS MANUFACTURING COMPANY, Pontiac, Mich. DElLBBIi " raalr la rka aaa4r4s t Utters aa tlaraa mm fcava rmlrfti tava mm m mtmw W rll at " -aaw aaaat rainrtaB la aa reran 7 .far aarvtre la rsMaaan la lb rl - srailai la haa4 '" ro party rraraaeai thia mnmmct la aar city. All ar a rat. For the the ISN'T SHE A BEAUTY ? "Un equipage dtgne d9un Rot. A Full Five-Passenger Carriage of Pure Colonial Design, Faultless Appointments, and a lean-to on the rear to hold tome of the bat teries and another on front to look like a cow catcher. He cramped the aeata and the leg room between for a long wheel base bad not yet been invented either. THIS PIONEER DESIGNER of oura found both the dash and whip-socket there when hia eyes first opened in a carriage factory. He never stopped to conaider that, there being no horse in front, the need of a dash had also vanished. Nor had it ever occurred to him how the whip-socket came there originally so he left them both on. IF THAT CAR HAD RUN. we verily believe It would have been the atandard design up to now for we find many featurea in electric that are just aa illogical just as archaic and just as useless as that. TAKE THE HOOD FOR EXAMPLE why should it be on any electric? No reason on earth save that some designers don't think. ON A GASOLINE CAR it has a use therefore it ia right. Handsome is as handsome doe. It covers the motor. But do you know we in this country used to be ashamed of a motor tried for years to conceal it beneath the aeat; till one day one of Gran'pa Daimler's cara came over from Germany and forthwith we all im itated the Mercede hood and will probably con tinue to use it for the next hundred years whether we need it or cot. We are such an original people! NOW THERE IS ANOTHER DANGER the danger of copying without knowing what or why you copy. Education, training, experience, travel are requisite if one would copy intelli gentlyartistically. COLONEL INGERSOLL USED TO SAY "Im agination cannot go beyond the range of ex perience. No man can describe an animal he has never seen. He may describe one with the horn of a rhinosceros, the mane of a lion, the trunk of an elephant and the wings of an eagle. But that is not an animal it is a monstrosity composed of various things he has seen or d; earned of a farcical, phantasmagorical, phe nom. aa it were. NEXT TIME YOU SEE AN ELECTRIC on the street just step and lock it over. Don't laugh it might offend the lady inside. And it is not her fault. She needed an electric, and bought the only thing she could find, though she will tell you her sense of the artistic and the beau tiful were offended by every line. She doesn't think it so ugly now one gets used to any. thing in time. DO NT LAUGH Though you will aee several feature left over from buggy deaign coupled with others from gasoline automobile that arc a funny or a ridiculous as waa that whip socket on the dash of the earlier electric, or Ingersoll'a composite quadruped. THE FLANDERS ELECTRIC la consistent in every detail the graceful body curves, the dig nified, though pronounced striping, the flowing leather fenders even to the colonial lamps which were f.pe ially designed for this car riage by Mr. F E Castle "I EXPECTED SOMETHING DIFFERENT." exclaimed a prominent dealer when his eyes first rested on this carriage, "but frankly, I did not expect to see anything so beautiful and in such excellent taste as this Rumor said that ycu were making an electric that would create a sensation. I feared it might verge on the bizarre and for that class of trade of course that wouldn't do at all. But thia it is faultless, exquisite! There is not a radical feature not a discordant note. It is true to every conven tion and it ia the easiest riding car I have ever seen." NOT A "WHIP-SOCKET" ANYWHERE not a superfluous feature not even a hood to im itate a gasoline car and occupy room that should be devoted to paascnger capacity. twa that Ira a a faawil aaa ar ooavonietc of vial (lag dealers wo hare the Price is Half $1,775. WE CANT CLAIM ORIGINALITY either. We go farther back than that fellow who invented the dash. The earliest ancestor of the Colonial carriage waa the sedan chair most luxurious aa well aa moat artistic conveyance ever devised. Then came the Colonial carriage swung on leathern strap. Thia waa the carriage of kings and of our forefather. IP YOU'VE BEEN TO EUROPE, you have vis ited the various palace and museum there. Versailles, for example. There you aaw Na poleon's Coronation Coach. At Munich you aaw that of Ludwig and Maxlmillian. Th'.e mag nificent equipagea were of thia deaign. It woe thia fact that the French gentleman had in mind who, when paying us a visit the other day, saw the Flanders Colonial Electric and exclaimed, "Un Kfutpagt digue tun roi." (Freely traaalated, a carriage worthy of a king.) LET US SUPPOSE YOU KNOW NOTHING about art yet ycu could not paaa a Corot or a Millet unimpressed. You ar not versed ia architectural lore but ait you down in a cathe dral of pure Gothic and you would be over whelmed by, even though you could not ex pre in word, your emotions. Nor can you listen to a Beethoven sonata without being pro foundly moved by the marvelous melody much aa you may protest you like "rag-time" better. NO; ONE NEED NOT BE AN ARTIST to ap- Ereciate the truly beautiful that instinct ia in erent in all of ua. Art but cater to our de sires only we are not alwaya conscious of that fact. NOW WHEN YOU COMPARE the Flander Colonial Electric with others, you may not be able to analyse the difference. Only a designer could do that. But you will feel, even more than you will aee, that here ia art there it antithesis. Here beauty, chaste, harmonious there a nondescript, half au mobile, half buggy, and all discordant. WE HAVE TALKED OF BEAUTY to ths ex clusion of every other consideration. Do not think, however, that any other factor haa been neglected in this car. We believe beauty ia the first consideration in an electric nine tenths of them are driven by ladies and are much used for dress occasions as well as trip through the park, ahopping, theatre, club, etc BESIDES THERE ISNT MUCH ROOM for improvement in efficiency in thi type of car. Electrical science was some year since brought to a very high degree of accuracy. Despite the foolish statements you read in some advertiae menu there ia nothing really new under the aun either in motor or batteries. Both are known quantities and the knowledge ia free to any who will seek it. ANY GOOD ELECTRIC will go aa faat and aa far as you will ever want to go. Besides, digest this an electric vehicle can be made to go faster or farther either, but not both than any other type of self-propelled vehicle. And the "how" is no secret either. Let us send you our little booklet "Wise and Foolish Statements Abes, Electrics." WE DONT PRESUME TO KNOW more about electricity than Steinrretz or Edison or Tim merman. So we didn't try to revolutionise that science we proclaim no wonder-working im provements or innovations. Instead we have embodied in this vehicle only standard elec trical practice up-to-the-minute in every im provement of course but accepted, tried and proven standards. THERE WERE THREE WAYS, however, by which our (killed engineer saw they could obtain greater efficiency than others less skilled by reducing wind resistance, weight and fric tion to the last possible degree. We have done that the Flanders Coupe sets twelve inches lower 0 leaa wind resistance; weighs (SO aeva rmlti We hav' rlaaaa aa larrtlary rtralaa mm la aatll Ik la aaalia a " rarrlaaa. If i aa ! It. wrtla aa r aaa aaaarr, klaa . uinmiuJ TT. " , ' u - - a,.r u. w,,aa., retrn:';..;-.;-.?"';. "t.zzrzx. temporary factory sale offices ia hotel Pont Eledhrie 99 pound (80 per cent) leas than any other of similar capacity; and friction hat been reduced to a point where the will coaat freely on an incline ao alight aa to be almost imperceptible to the eye. This indicates skillful designing engineering. Net result it 81 more mileage and incomparably better hill climbing qualities DRIVE IS DIRECT of course. And, of court, it ia the latest and most improved type of direct . drive worm gearing. Silent of course abso lutely. Runs without even a "whisper." And . the electrical control ia to aimple, ao certain, a ten year old child can learn to operate it in fifteen minutes and do it juat aa well aa you can. NOW CONSIDER that though lighter by 30 per cent, you have In the Flanders Electric a full five passenger carriage actually eight inches more room inside than the next longest electric made that the front seat ia just aa deep and full aa the rear, and there ia more leg-room than ia any other. LADY WITH PICTURE HAT can ait back comfortably in the deep seats and head-room ia such your aigrettes will not be broken. THERE ARE SO MANY FEATURES about this electric you will admire, you must tea it tc fully appreciate. AND THE PRICE $1779 ia about half what you would have to pay for other electrics of aimilar quality and lacking the beautiful ap pointments of the Flanders. The only other electrics that can be compared with the Fland ers for roominess, efficiency, ease of contro' and beauty sell for S3J00 to $3,600. Of course there are cheaper onea but well compare them. You will find they do not compare at any point. WE DONT CONSIDER IT CHEAP in the ordinary sense of the term. Nothing has been left undone ao detail alighted. Take, for ex ample, the aashleaa windows of ground French plate youll find them in no other electric at any price. You've aeen them in Rothachild Mercedea Limousines in Europe. We are first to introduce this feature in America. Our am bition haa been to make the most beautiful car possible, one that would be the last word in beauty finality in good taste. So we could have priced it at $3,500 and sold a few as many aa othere tell. BUT YOU DOUBTLESS KNOW we are quan tity producers. The name Walter E. Flanders la known the world over as that of the world's greatest automobile builder. Hia success hat been achieved, not by selling a few cars at a large profit per car, bat by being satisfied with a amah margin on thousands of cars. THIS ISNT PHILANTHROPIC it b'Jatt, plain business. It costs a lot to sell an article for more than it la worth. So the maker who placet a profit of $1,000 to $1400 oa a car . doesn't really make that profit he must spend . nine-tenths of it in selling expense. YOU HAVE FREQUENTLY REMARKED that you couldn't tea the value in electrics at tha prices that were asked for them. Good reason too it wasn't there. Cost of selling was the main item. On the other hand, true value makes its owa appeal thia car will sell itself on eight. DONE IN THREE STANDARD TRIMMINGS grey whipcord, dark blue broadcloth, and leather. We don't use goat skin it crocks Most ladies prefer the whipcord cool in sum mer and warm in winter. Standard color of body ia Napoleon Blue with broad French stripes in white. STANDARD EQUIPMENT INCLUDES espe cially deaigned (Castle) Colonial side lamps and tail lamp. Two sets of alio covers (so on 1 in laundry while the other U in use; Milady will not soil her evening gown); toilet case, and cut glass Sower vaae. No stepladder. ChatrtraJa, Detroit,