Horn Question & "Reenforcement"

[Dan Hiebert]

When we got our D24 (in 1991) it had "Sparton" horns in it, the ones that look like a snail shell.  Hi and lo, not adjustable, can't disassemble them without destroying something.  They were just as weathered as the rest of the car at the time and they worked, so I just cleaned them up, painted them, and left well enough alone, assuming they were original equipment. 

 

Therein lies the question, if anyone knows whether or not they could have been original equipment in a '48 built in Detroit, just curious now.  The car had been in a pretty severe front end accident many years before we got it, and they could have been replacements?  Over the ensuing years I was told several (ok...many...) times they were not the original horns, and kept a half-hearted eye out for "original" horns. 

 

Last year I scored two pair of Autolite horns directly out of a '47 and a '48, the ones with the long trumpet with the 90 degree bend so they sound out the grill.  I just finished restoring and installing one pair (took the four to make two), including painting parts that weren't originally painted - I knew this would probably cause grounding issues as they ground through their mounts - Herein being the "reinforcement" to remembering that it's often something simple that causes a problem, and with electronics, that is often lack of a good ground.  (The one thing I didn't do was make sure the Sparton horns still worked before I pulled them out, to make sure the circuit was still good since I hadn't messed with them in the last 28 years or so.)  In keeping with this story, of course the "new" ones didn't work, but I could hear the relay clicking.  For once I was not surprised.  I wired in good grounds, and voila - Working horns.  And what horns they are, the car sounds like a freight train now.  Big difference between those Spartons and the Autolites. 

[Eneto-55]

Those "snail shell" horns were pretty weak back then.  I don't know when they started using them, but one of the first things my Dad did when he brought home the 53 DeSoto (in 1959) was to add in a pair of the trumpet style horns.  He left both types installed, and you ran the trumpet ones by touching a wire that hung under the dash over against the steering column.  (The original ones were still connected to the horn ring.)

Edited March 11, 2020 by Eneto-55

[Conn47D24]

Trumpets were stock on my D24 and in the parts / repair books.  

[Sniper]

Trumpets are on my 51 as well.  Freight train is right, too.  People jump when you honk at them. 

 

 

[Sam Buchanan]

We still have a ways to go to match these guys with big boy horns:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kDORB3vR8s

[Robin (UK)]

Glad you got those horns sorted.
Chrysler certainly knew how to make a noise!...