For some reason I have a hankerin' to install an old-school Model T horn. The modern repros are junk, I'm quite certain. The originals were 6 volt, although I think a lot of folks would run them on 12? What am I lookin' for here, a good used 6 volt and maybe run through a resistor?
I'm told you can run a 6volt with 12, so long as as you don't give em a long blast. I brought one of those modern things, it was junk right outer the box. Never worked. I have several old real ones, they sound great, just haven't used em in a car yet. I think if I did, I'd use a resistor, cause I'd hate to cook em.
Yep, I need it to work, I want it to be loud. Dropping 12 volts to 6, I bet a regular wirewound ceramic commonly used for ignition coils would be plenty close enough.
I thought it was a good idea to put one on my coupe. I was new..........what the hell did I know ? It's mounted under the passenger side of the car. It never seemed to be a problem until I took my mother in law for a ride in the coupe. Maybe this will help you with what is a bad decision
Model A Fords along with several other companies offered "aoogah" horns. Repops can be had in both 6 and 12 volt. If you really want a Model A horn it will cost you, good one's are expensive. You see both of them on E-Bay sometimes.
As I mentioned, the repros suck. Plus they aren't 80 years old. I want the real deal. Yeah they can be a little spendy, I don't mind that at all, so long as it's loud and works as advertised.
I had not watched this in a couple of years...........still get a good chuckle out it. In the beginning she is talking about the good idea..............I have a huge roll of masking tape on the floor as a cup holder. She pointed out that her Mercedes is too old to have cup holders...........damn thing is a 1986
So I'm a little unclear on these things - if I were to buy an old 6 volt, it was a positive ground horn - this won't matter (I don't think) but, I should use a ballast resistor to knock it down to ~7 volts? I don't want to burn it up with 12. Trying hard not to buy one. What are you people doing to me
The Hutchins ahooga horns that were made in the '60s are very high quality. These can be found on E_ _y new, used or rebuilt. I have them on 3 of my cars, both 6 and 12 V. No comparison to the cheap repos sold now..
I saw those for the first time yesterday, digging around on the auction site. The sellers are very proud of those too, and garner about the same price as the old school horns. The advantage would be they are 12 volts I guess. This is one of those things where it just isn't necessary, but want the real deal. They are just a little too salty, just for the novelty factor. It's not as if my current horn is broken. Well, it was, but that's another story, a face-full of WD-40 story. Anyway, That'd be different maybe, if I needed one. A fellow in Florida restores them up nice and gets close to $150 bones. I'm not poor (yet) but I can't really talk myself into that.
I bought a repro from Speedway. Yes, it's not an original, but it works great @ 12v. I am sure,side by side, you could tell the sound of an original, but it is fine. Because it can be seen, I bought a Spartan horn plate from Mac's and put it on to give a more original appearance. See, in just three sentences, I have praised a reproduction part, Speedway and Mac's. Anybody insulted yet?
As a fluke, I bought one on eBay (Chinese), mounted it under the passenger side floor, figured that for $20. not a big deal, I could always change it out, the damned thing sounds great, I'm very surprised, never would have thought I'd keep it, I am! It's on my avatar.
the plastic repops not so good , the metal 12v repops with the chrome flute sound close enough and work well , I have a stock 29 coupe converted to 12v that I used the original flute and adapted it to the repop 12v mechanical rear part , looks right and works great
LOL I been dragin' my Mom in Law around since I was about 16. She is in her 90s now ( I think) we went to Tulsa a couple of years ago to see here in the wife's '05 Silverado and she was bitching about it because it wasn't as much fin as my C-10 so when we got back home I had to turn around and go back to haul her around. She got me into a stop light to stop light with a Fox Body. They're fun aren't they? I prefer a vacuum whistle to an ahoooga horn, you can make them make different sounds by how fast or far you pull the cable.
When I wanted to install a horn I bought the Hutchins because I remember the nice quality from when I was a kid. The 6 volts are much less expensive than the 12V. I had 3 resistors hanging around the shop and the almost perfect match for sound (with out overpowering the horn) was a spare for my 59 corvette. These are readily available from the corvette suppliers for a very reasonable price. These were used from 1956 to 1962 on corvettes. Hope this helps.
Hrm2k,Awsome clip ,made my day ,I used my sedan del to take my gram everywhere ,she loved the running boards and suicides for easy entry.sorry to get off track but it brought me some good memories.
I ran a 6v starter with 12v on my 48 f1 for years worked great the windings in a 6v starter are way heavyer just don't overdo it.same idea with the horn..
I'm using the original 6 volt positive ground Lincoln horns on my car on 12 volt negative ground, they sound great and are LOUD! I don't just sit on them, just a bump or two on the button. Somebody told me they sound like a ship horn, I guess that fits since the Lincoln is a land barge!
There is no reason to run a resistor, it will work fine with twelve volts. I converted my Dad's Model A to a twelve volt system and the horn works great, it's just a lot louder.
If you really want Old School you need a rubber squeeze bulb. The original Ahooga horns were foot operated and not electric since the "T" didn't have a battery.
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