When did the Horn change in modern Ferraris??

Good guess on the 360, I don't know. The old horns are air horns. They require a compressor and horn assembly. Interesting given that they probably weigh more than conventional.

You can go to harbor freight or any auto parts store to get the air horn but some states don't allow it. It may have been a rule issue. You can also get an ouga horn like the ford model A for your car, that would turn heads

 

I am not 100% sure but I think the nice sounding horns ended in 1996. My 95 f355 has the really cool horn and now the modern fcars have really boring regular horns.

 

You'll just have to trade up to a 328

 

456 has the old air horn. I would guess they changed with the 360.

 

355
456
550
512m

These were the last Ferrari's to receive the airhorns standard from the factory. I'm a little sketchy as to the first generation 360's, owners I've talked to at Concorso Italiano have said their car came with airhorns, while others came with the electro-magnetic(Ford/Chevy sound) style horns. I don't know what to think of that, other than Ferrari used the last of the airhorns on the early 360 line until they were gone.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY2TGjdN8Co[/ame]

 

I suspect it's a Federal thing. Probably some kind of specification about what a horn should sound like. I'm just guessing but it wouldn't surprise me.

I don't like the generic horn at all.

 

new bussiness for somebody,a kit so ferraris should sound like ferraris

 

My daughter has always called the horn in my 328 a "clown car horn"...

But I love it

Jedi

 

My recollection is Ricambi does/did a kit for adding old style to 360 & later

 

I completely agree with your daughter. Every time I honk the horn it sounds like about 14 midgets in costume are about to hop out of my car. The clown horn on my 95 F355 does seem to be heard more easily at high speeds by other drivers though, so I think it does lend an advantage over the lower pitched later non-air horns.

 

My Abarth horn sounded very generic, so a week ago I switched to a compact dual tone air horn. This was an easy modification and the car now speaks in Italian. This compact one piece unit can squeeze into tight spaces so a Ferrari installation should be no problem.

 

You have that special wailing high-pitched F355 horn, right? The one with the horn button down on the right side of the driver footwell?

 

My F355 had a high pitched horn. People loved it.

My 360 has a normal sounding horn. Lower pitched generic horn. Nobody cares.

 

It's pretty high but there is no footwell button, just the thumb buttons on the steering wheel.

 

I agree with your daughter.

She get all three covered.

Clown = You
Car = Ferrari
Horn = Horn

 

I believe it was the 360 that had conventional horns first. There are Fiamm horns available in the aftermarket and any newer Ferrari, or any car for that matter can have them installed.

Many older British sports cars had two types of horns, a city horn and a higher pitched highway air horn, controlled by a toggle switch on the dashboard.

 

Oh, I guarantee you there is a footwell "button". Long rectangular metal thing. Looks more like a pedal than a button...

 

575 horn sounds just fine.

 

Man I can be dense sometimes. Good one!

 

Perhaps it is a safety and regulations issue because there is a delay when you have the air horns. It may be less than a second but between the time you push the button and the time the horn reaches the high pitch sound, it's noticeably longer than the horn on my daily driver.

Sometimes, that second can mean the difference between life and death...not sure but the speculation about federal regulations makes a lot of sense.

 

I doubt this - there were no new US-based or International laws that I am aware of that mandated the TONE of a car's horn. We're referring to intonation, not volume or mechanical actuation. It is very possible for an electro-magnetic assembly to generate the traditional tone of the FIAMM air horn. Don't like it? Sorry for you then - I regard that as part of the Italian charm and character of the car. If you want your car to sound like a Chrysler, you should have bought a Chrysler, no?

 

I recall someone here once mentioned that at the state annual inspection they were going to fail the Ferrari for having a non approved horn. Stating that air horns are not approved for passenger vehicles. The person had to prove the horn was factory and having done that it was allowed to pass. Given that hear say, I'd say some states do not allow them. That may have been the reason they switched over.

 

I'm pretty sure the F50 has a "regular" horn and it sounds terrible. To me it is an insult that it doesn't sound Italian.

 

Most of the older cars, I mean 1950's had two horns. An air horn for the open road and a town horn, which pretty much went beep beep.