The Wheel of Time Has a Flat

When I'm searching an old newspaper, magazine, or local history for information, I like to get a sense of the source's character by perusing the ads, illustrations, and other items that appear alongside the info I'm actually looking for. I also love collecting random oddities. Behold the marriage of two useless pastimes: The Picture of the Moment! This is new, proudly frivolous blog element will appear as an image in the sidebar. My first entry comes from a tire ad that appeared in 1918 in at least one issue of the Pullman Herald newspaper (out-of-copyright issues of which are archived online at the Library of Congress's Chronicling America newspaper collection).

This distinctly weird ad compares car tires whose warranty period has expired to young ladies in the flower of youth. Here's the pitch:

When a Kelly-Springfield Tire has passed its guarantee mark, it has merely become of age. Its life is nearly all before it.

The pretty-girl graphic bears a simulated signature: "Yours Truly / Lotta Miles." In a detail I didn't notice until a minute ago, the top inner rim of the tire reads "KELLY-SPRINGFIELD / KANT-SLIP TREAD," with the K, S, and hyphen shared between KELLY-SPRINGFIELD and KANT-SLIP.

Bizarre!

Until I find something else that's equally odd (or until I get bored), this image will reign as Picture of the Moment.