I picked up a pair of old horns at an estate sale for nearly nothing this morning. Chrome over brass with iron bases. Any opinions on what I might have except conversation pieces? I am wanting to clean them up and possibly install on thunder just for a few extra grins. All opinions are welcome, so let me know how much of my lunch money I wasted. Jim
Don't know yet I will have to find room for them if thye work. The wiring is frayed, will need replacing. I am going to disassemble the horns, clean them up and reassemble, then figure out if they work. If not, I will hang them up shiney somewhere because they are very cool horns. I hope to figure out how to firewall mount them, or hide them inside my grille (where they can peek out a bit). Jim
Thunder -- My 1950 Chevy 2 ton truck has some long horns similar to yours, right behind the grill, on the flat lower panel ? I see the little horn on the 216 engine is gone, so someone put these long horns on, but they sound when honked. My 6400 is very original other than that, and runs OK. Has a working rear hoist with 12 foot box, a farm truck. I just don't know the history of long horns and have often wondered what they originally came on ? My truck is still the 6 volt too. I just like to keep something so original from changing too much. My horns are probably a lot less showy than yours must be...but they sure are big in size, especially when you do not see them very often ! mjd
Oh , YEAH ! Horns ~ near & dear to my heart Resist the urge to take 'em apart as they're easy to return to service : The domed cover has a screw , remove the cover then clamp the base firmly into a heavy vise ~ it is critical to dampen the base or the horn won't sound correctly ! . Energize it ad see if it toots ~ if not , use the heaviest plastic handled screwdriver you've got to shock the body by whacking it , holding the screwdriver's tip ~ this usualy shocks the points into operation . if not , connect a test light in series with the power lead (you know a batttery charger won't work to test horns) and if it lights , ever so gently turn the points adjusting screw until it just goes out , then back again and re-test the horn sans testlight . Be are that for any horn , 1/8 a turn of the adjusting screw is a HUGE amount and you can easily wreck it beyond repair by mindlessly turning the screw thisa-way and that . If the points are too corroded to come back to life , most of the time you can take them apart and carefully file using a burnishing tool , wipe hospital clean and re-assemble , adjust with the test light ..... It's easy to loose or misplace a fiber insulation washer though . most of the time , once yo get it to growl or hoot , just tooting it long & loudly , will get it back into shape , maybe a 1/16 of a turn on the adjuster screw . Some older trumpet horns have a little rod that pushes agains the diaphram and it bends occasionally , making the horn squawk instead of tooting ~ remove the rod and straighten it , all will be well again . If , in spite of all your hard work , a horn toots off key , not to worry ! adjust it to the loudest it'll go and find another one with a different off key tone and wire them as a pair , you'll be pleased at the melodious tone both off key horns produce when tooted simultaniously BTW : those whacky British ? they call horns : HOOTERS They make really good ones tho' . Especially the old LUCAS " Windtone : horns , much sought after by MG eenthusiasts and fitted as original equipments to Metropolitan Nash's .
Hooters Hooters, says exactly what they are on the tin, a horn is a whole different thing in 'whacky' britain And if you can get a tune out of what you call 'hooters' yr tweaking them too hard
Nate -- You remember the "musical horns" From J C Whitney ? I used to have a set of 3 with a 3 button round keyboard, that you could toot independently...play a tune or 2...fun ! Wish I still had them, they were 12 volt, but you could have 6 volt too back in the 1960's. I do not know what happened to mine. My neighbor had a set of the 6 volt ones on his 1955 Ford car. I also had an ooogahh horn on a tractor fender.
Musical Horns InDEED I do ! . I remember FIVE trumpet musical horns . I stupidly passed up a set for $5.00 at a Moto swapmeet a couple years ago... I have BOXFULLS of Klaxon (Ah-OO-gah horns I picked up from junk boxes at Auto Jumbles for $1.00 ~ $5.00 over the years , I once attached one from 1923 to the handlbars of a tiny Honda CB125S and rode it to Death valley and home again hooting the whole way.....
