Advertising can be a wondrous thing from time to time and, especially, in the fertile imaginations of those who wrote come-on copy for the automobile and its countless by-products such as tires, chamois, number plate brackets, added gimmicks which were supposed to give the car a better image and God knows what else. I came upon this accompanying ad the other day while casually going through a batch of MoToR magazines of the early 1920s -but  frankly,  it has had something of a disquieting effect on me. There was something in it that concerned me but, upon first reading, I missed the point and put the issue down. I returned to it three times before I could pinpoint what had made me curious. Now I know. Or, rather, I don't know, but suspect. This is an attractive piece of advertising copy for the time as it utilizes the attractive girl and the handsome young man in its appeal. Ned Jordan learned early on in the game how valuable this combination could be in selling a product (in his case, Jordan motor cars), and used the theme almost exclusively after his discovery to considerable financial advantage. Here we have an ad for the Shaler 5-Minute Vulcanizer, presumably a 'must' in the days when tire patches were as much a part of motoring as a set of Weed tire chains. Vulcanizing in itself wasn't that much trouble, but one had to pull a tire off to do the job and then get it back on again and it wasn't any picnic. Here we have a pair of 1922 lovelies who have, according to the copy, found their last tube is punctured, and that patches won't stick (they seldom did), and suggests that the ladies might have to try and make it home on the rim. Not good. Not good at all! And then- and then- what comes out of nowhere but a handsome young man. He pulls his touring car to the side of the road and offers to the ladies the cure-all for the moment, a shaler 5-Minute Vulcanizer. Oh! Joy! Oh! Bliss! The damsels in distress have been saved by, as the copy succinctly notes "A Friend in Need" But have they? Get a look at that double-talk. It points out clearly that "a helpful friend shows you how to vulcanize that puncture for good in five minutes. But it doesn't mention that the helpful friend is about to soil his new (obvious;y expensive) suit doing the job himself. "Here's the way you go about it", he probably said. "Nothing to it really. I'd like to help but I have a business engagement and I'm running late." And as he gets into his car, he shouts out a cheery "Good Luck", adding, " you have my card. You can drop the $1.50 (slightly higher if this scene occurred west of Denver or perhaps Saskatchewan), off at my office." And with that, he takes off in his Studebaker or Velie or Liberty or whatever he is driving. And for the ladies, what about them? Well, if I've hit this anywhere near on target, I presume they opened the Shaler box, looked at the vulcanizing Patch&Heat units, shrugged their shoulders and drove home on the rim. As for any further encounter with the young man, I'd like to think they met later on at a dance and, when asked to join him in the Charleston or the Baltimore Buzz, they declined demurely, returned his box of Shaler vulcanizing units, left the dance hall and proceeded to the parking lot where they let the air out of his tires. I wonder what ever became of the Shaler Company and it's vulcanizing kit? FROM THE HISTORICAL FILES OF KEITH MARVIN   ONE OF THE BEST THINGS THAT EVER HAPPEN TO TNS IS ACQUIRING THE SERVICES OF KEITH MARVIN AS A PLATE HISTORIAN AND GENERAL HISTORICAL WRITER WHEN IT COMES TO THE MARVEL OF THE 20th CENTURY, THE AUTOMOBILE. HE HAS FORGOTTEN MORE THAN MOST OF US WILL EVER REMEMBER ABOUT PLATES AND CARS. CENTERING HIS STUDY IN THE FIRST 25 YEARS OF THE AUTOMOBILE. HIS STORIES FOR TNS HAVE RANGED UP AND DOWN THE SCALE OF THE ROMANCE OF THE AUTOMOBILE TO HIS PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF MISSING THE GOOD DEALS AND KNOWING SOME AUTOMOTIVE GIANTS AS WELL AS AUTOMOTIVE ARTIST PETER HELK. THIS STORY IS FROM KEITHS FILES OF ARTICLES PAST, FOR  PUBLICATIONS HE HAS WRITTEN FOR. WE'RE LUCKY TO HAVE HIM AND WHEN IT COMES TO PLATES, WE ARE REAL LUCKY. HE HAS ALWAYS APPRECIATED  THE TNS LETTERS ASKING QUESTIONS AND SEEKING ADVICE. I HOPE YOU'LL ENJOY THIS MONTHS EFFORT FROM KEITHS FAVORITES.