One has nostalgia for the car horns of yesteryear. The present day ones seem apologetic rather than giving a sense of urgency. My son-in-law once had a Capri with a horn that played the theme from Colonel Bogey. He had the bad habit (still has) of tooting goodbye when he left a 10:00 p.m. The public is continually being sold Bling things, viz. the craze for ring tones on cell phones. Perhaps some enterprising far-eastern businessman will reintroduce the old ?wind tone? horns.
There are some about, though. Recently I witnessed a trick played on a golfer at the New Mills course. Now, golfers are those who take an inoffensive little ball, which has done no harm to anybody, and whack the blazes out of it up hill and down dale. I?ve no sympathy with people like that. But, I digress ? Two lads sitting in a small van, intently watching a man addressing the ball ready to drive off on the first hole. Said man also being watched with religious intensity be several other men waiting their turn. Just as the man started his swing the driver sounded the horn, an old fashioned, louder than loud HONK. The effect on all of the golfers was startling. The ball did a curl in the air and landed several metres away. To say that said golfers were Gobsmacked would be to do an injustice. The lads in the van were legless. The driver quickly gave it the gun and disappeared at speed.
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IMO you can't beat those horns fitted to American trucks (and some UK fire engines, I believe).
Best thing is, they're totally legal sounding just the single note - even if it does snap knicker elastic at 50yds!
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IMO you can't beat those horns fitted to American trucks (and some UK fire engines, I believe). Best thing is, they're totally legal sounding just the single note - even if it does snap knicker elastic at 50yds!
They'd be air horns?
The Aston Martin which I hired for my wedding weekend had a switch on the dashboard. On one setting it was your usual electric horn, on the other it was a hugely-noisy world-is-surely-ending air horn.
Guess which I left it set on. :D
As to why Aston felt the need to supply the car with two choices of horn - couldn't tell you.
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As to why Aston felt the need to supply the car with two choices of horn - couldn't tell you.
Probably on the basis of "If you've got it, flaunt it."!
--
L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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Do you know if you can possibbly by these because my dad is trying to find one?
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Do you know if you can possibbly by these because my dad is trying to find one?
Go here:
www.rswilliams.co.uk
Get a horn as I described for only £68000, with a free Aston Martin thrown in ;)
Or, to be more accurate: No. Sorry.
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Bring back the klaxon. It made a great noise, and "klaxon" is a wonderfully espressive word.
I also miss the loud, downmarket but cheerful, PEEP that Ford vans (possibly other Fords too) used to make in the Fifties.
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My 1974 Mk2 Escort horn was on its way out when I got the car. IIRC the car was about 12 years old when I had got it and had been abused within an inch of its life. I still got another 10000 miles out of it in the 12 months I had it.
I digress, when I first got it, the horn sounded like someone passing wind through a megaphone - real head turning stuff!
A few months later it packed up completely, and I happened to have an old mini horn, out of a car I stripped for a kit car. So I fitted that.
Some may remember the horn in that car was partly built/pressed into the front bulkhead, with the rest of it rivetted within. The rain used to get to it very quickly.
Changing it ment fitting new horn in a different place, hopefully a little more protected from the spray, then rerouting the wiring to it.
It was quite strange to hear a mini horn sound coming out of a Mk 2 escort.
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Most people seem to use their horn to indicate their annoyance at someone else's actions rather than for the intended purpose which is to indicate their presence to other road users. I'd had my current car over 6 months before I first used the horn, and even then it was only to check that it actually worked!
--
L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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If you ask me, it makes me feel a lot better to give a long blast on the horn. Same as winding down the window and screaming abuse, except easier. I think it's a by-product of being frightened, as I've only ever used it when someone has done something exceedingly dangerous in the vicinity.
I haven't been beeped for a mistake for a while, but the last time I was, I thought about it all the way home. Keep 'em, I say.
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www.top-gear.net/products.asp?u=4737N46582.7277086...8
All the Horns you ever wanted, from klaxons, musical, the godfather, truck horns, fireengine horns etc etc. I think I want a slightly more "noticible" one for my Fiat..
I did have a new Fiat panda as a loan car when mine was in for a service, and I swear it's a horn from a scooter!
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You have no idea how much fun that site is.
You want THE ELIMINATOR though,
tinyurl.com/8ts7q
A real man's horn and a steal at just 345 notes.
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Adam
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Always thought it would be a laugh to have the two tone horns from a current railway loco.
Cruel mode on:
Just think of another drivers reaction to them when driving across a level crossing?
Cruel mode off.
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An Uncle of mine HAD two tone train horns on his Scania. I could hear him coming from several streets away when I worked in the centre of Liverpool.
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Whereabouts in Liverpool did you used to work Alastair if you don't mind me asking?
--
Adam
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I worked for BR for a while back in the 70's. At the works the two tone horns were 'set' using tuning forks. Something to do with the sound penetrating better when coming from a Loco travelling at 100mph or so.
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Whereabouts in Liverpool did you used to work Alastair if you don't mind me asking? -- Adam
Though it greives me to admit this in company I was working for the Inland Revenue. Luckily I saw the error of my ways and left before I was institutionalised!
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"Most people seem to use their horn to indicate their annoyance at someone else's actions rather than for the intended purpose which is to indicate their presence to other road users."
AFAIR in the last 40 years I have never sounded the horn at a person. I once read of an irate farmer on a country lane dismantling the front end of a car when the driver tooted at him for being slow at his business. I do, though occasionally beep it at cats when they are crossing the road in a suicidal manner.
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I like to think that I only sound my horn when I need to (as a horn warning), all BMW horns sound ok to me. Landie horn only works at MoT time. SWMBO does use her horn closely followed by laser death look at other motorists who cut her up.
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Nowadays I fear that one can't use one's horn for the purposes recommended in the HC, for fear of road rage reprisals.
Horns I have used;
Citroen DS (depending on model); pull the indicator stalk and a single tone electric horn beeps. Pull further and a blast of air horns is added. Push and the headlamps flash.
1981 Mercedes 280 CE; a switch on the dash selected either electric or 3-trumpet air horns. The switch was marked "town" and "country".
My own take on the electric/air horn mixture was to simply connect a relay across the electric horn which fed a compressor and air horns. A fleeting touch on the button made the electric horn sound but didn't give the air horn compressor time to spin up. Prolonged pressure produced some serious noise.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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We often joke with the kids, the Wife's Clio's gentle 'peep' says:
"excuse me but would you ever so awfully mind, when you have time of course, moving ever so slightly so I can carefully squeeze past you, thank you very much"
Where as my Mondeo's deep 'PARP' says:
"SHIFT, MOVE, NOW!!!!'
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I was just going to post that my Mondeo sounded more like Noddy's car with a deep "PARP"
I'd rather have a two tone horn though. Much more refined I think.
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We fitted one to our Micra to replace the dreadful factory fit one.
Now it makes a fantastic, deep, twin tone noise that makes everyone in the vicinity look. :-)
Blue
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Are air horns still legal on cars? I thought thecar had to be registered before a certain date for air horns to be allowed?
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As far as I'm aware there is no rule about how the noise is produced, but after a certain date they have to have a single continuous note.
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I never ever ever ever use my horn. Consequently on the one occasion I needed to, I couldn?t find it. I was approaching my house and up ahead was my x-wife, Evil Edna, taking her usual 15 minutes to reverse into the space outside. It was so large that you could drive forwards into it and that?s what I did. I had the keys out of the ignition when I realised she hadn?t seen me and she was driving backwards, looking forwards and of course the horn wasn?t where I thought it was. Her big rear end broke my indicator lens.
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" Her big rear end broke my indicator lens."
At least she didn't hit it with the car, then.
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I use the horn quite a lot in country driving. I am in Australia and we get cockatoos on the road eating grain spilled by wheat trucks. You are almost on top of them before they lift off and they can get hit by the car. Kills the cocky and can smash your headlamp or windscreen. I give them a good blast on the horn to encourage them to get off the road a bit sooner. It is really sad if you see one that has been hit. Its mate hangs about waiting for it.
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