newbie..restoring a 16 touring.
What sort of horn should I be looking for?
Thanks,
Michael
magneto horn.
so, are those horns that circle around and have a squeeze bulb an accessory? When did they stop using them?
No, it's an electric horn, here is an earlier thread on the subject:
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/179374/245702.html?1321409285
Those horns that have a bulb and circle around that you see from time to time are mostly junk from India. They are a cute accessory that people like to drill holes in their cars to mount. All Ford bulb horns were connected by a flexible tube and were mounted on the flat dash.
There are several vendors that sell horns for cars...
On and off in 1915, then as stock item the 1916 cars would have come with the magneto horn. You will see a lot of cars with the hand klaxon like the one on your car in your profile picture. It would be fine unless your are going for a point car. For many years people thought that was how Ford supplied the car (having the hand powered Klaxon).
I see...so, I'll look into getting a magneto horn. That would be correct for a 16, correct?
ok...thanks. I see some from the vendors for later years...actually 12 volts. Do they make them for 6 volts?
Magneto is AC voltage. Look at Eric's pic. The battery horns look like that with a larger diameter "hat" on the left side.
Magneto horns are neat. The pitch and to a lesser extent, the volume, varies with engine rpm. Very unique.
Michael
There's always a choice. The magneto horn may be what came with the car when it was new and if your trying to put the car in its original condition, that's what you need.
But realize that most T owners (back in the day) made changes to their cars - there was a whole industry built around accessories. Everyone wanted to be a little different (if they could afford it).
So if a magneto horn, makes you happy, or a bulb horn, or a klaxon, or a battery horn, or a ships bell, go for it. I'll guarantee you someone was using it back then.
Michael:
To be technically correct the magneto horn used on your 1916 would have had a shorter bell (snout on the right side as pictured). More important than having a shorter bell is that it must have 2 electrical connections on it and not one. The reason for that is that a 1915-1916 had a horn button on the steering column that went to ground. So the magneto horn was wired from the magneto to one side of the horn and then from the other side of the horn it went to that pushbutton which completed the circuit by grounding it. The earliest magneto horns mostly had a brass bell but that went away by late 1916 and you then had the longer bell used but all horns used from the first ones through sometime after 1916 when the combo horn button/switch began to be useed had the 2 connections at the horn for power and neither of those connections was hard wired to ground at the horn like the later electric horns. The magneto horn was mounted to the dash rather than the motor until March of 1922.
As Bud says, many people made changes to their cars. While the T came equipped with a magneto horn from the factory, a lot of the cars from the teens have had mechanical horns installed. Some people call them all Klaxons, just as they call all tissues Kleenex or all cameras Kodaks, but there were several brands of horns. My roadster has this Stewart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHZCpzrsdEA
My 1919 car had a battery horn when I got it. I switched it to a magneto horn to be as correct as possible but found the horn to be weak and odd sounding with the rise fall sound so I went back to the battery horn. Worse still, the magneto horn won't work with the engine off and that is when you often need a horn the most as some idiot is backing up towards your parked car. The battery horn works really well and looks and sounds very correct.If you must be totally correct, read John Regan's post above again.
Dave,
That's why folks added the hand horns to their pre-16 cars.
David D.
Michael, I restored my early 1916 Touring from a barn find in Ohio, where it had sat for forty years. I am the fourth registered owner and the car was pretty much untouched except for some paint and later top. The motor was cast 11/22/15 and it had an original Brassco magneto horn, which was painted black. I removed the black paint when I discovered it was brass and it looks and sounds great! Good luck with your project!
Wow. Lots of information. Thanks guys.
It would be great to find a brass mag horn. Do they ever show up?
Michael
I have quite a few all black mag horns in stock,Bob
Wilber,
My '16 was assembled 12-10-15 and it has a Brassco Horn too. Though mine looks like the horn projector part was never painted. Hmmmm. . . .
My car does not have any provenance with it (in fact, it was in pieces when I got it), so hard to say what it was like originally.
T'
David D.