The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts pic of air horns on 60-66 gmc needed

Does anyone have a picture of air horns on a medium duty 60-66 gmc? I saw a pic once that showed two horns, mounted above the driver, but can't find it now. I would like to put Fiamm Fultones on Emily, but would want to make sure they look correct and are in the right position.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230392494553&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT

They are dual horns mounted on the drivers edge side and towards the back of the roof. I will try to find some pictures tonight if no one jumps in with some.

Bill

Having a hard time finding some good pictures. Here is one on Jolly's site: http://www.6066gmcguy.org/Bmodel.htm

Scroll down to the 2nd picture of the yellow truck. Click on the picture for a larger view. It is a "B" model, but it has the same roof as your truck. Notice the style of horn on the truck next to it is different. If I was still driving the '62 GMC 6500 I used to drive, I could take a roof picture for you. There are a few truck owners on here with factory '60 to '66 air horns, but very few.

Bill

I checked out the E-bay link that you have posted. I have to say that they are not exact, but they are the similar style. GMC no longer uses the old style anymore, but believe it or not Ford does. I haven't compared them side by side, but I do believe they are the same brand. But a Ford dealer would probably want big bucks for them. I've tried to research the manufacturer, but it seems like they do not sell them directly to the public. I know what brand they are, but need to go back to my old books to get it right.

What kind of compressor do you plan to use?

Bill

Thanks for the info. They do look similar to the ones in the ebay listing, but can't tell how similar from the pics. I'll keep looking. Haven't decided on a compressor yet, but have seen some that are tankless and others that would use a 2 to 5 gallon tank. The Fiamm Fulltones on ebay are tankless if you buy the full kit.

Unless there is something new out there that I am not aware of, you will probably be dis-appointed with the tankless kit. With all the kits I've seen, you will get a very short blast and that's it. What's nice about a compressor is that you will also have air pressure for tires, etc as well as all the air horn blasts you would need. I've seen some nice aftermarket compressor kits. JC Whitney has some nice kits too altho they are a little pricey. I actually have (or had) an up-close picture of the original GMC type air horn, but it is buried deep in the ATHS achives. I'll try to dig it out sometime, if you don't find a picture in the meantime.

Bill

Scott
I've got a 1962 and a '63 Chev. 80 series tractors with air horns (same cab as yours) that I'll try to get pictures of this weekend. As Bill said they are mounted on the drivers side roof edge just as the roof starts to roll down. Mine are the original dual trumpet type that were factory installed when new. The 'chain pull' air control for the horn was mounted to the left of the driver, with the chain hanging down just a slight bit.

James

Just noticed this in the Stovebolt 'gallery' section.... Look in the '60 to '66 section, scroll down to the 1964 med.-heavy area, there's a 1964 Chev. C80 tandem with correct air horns.

James

I have just posted 2 pics of the air horn position on the remains of a '63 Chev.'80 series tractor. The two trumpets have been removed some time back, only the base remains. The '62 tractor has the same base placement. I regret that the pics are dark and difficult to see due to the overcast and rain, but hope it helps with your plans.

I plan to post many early truck pictures of our company within the next 3 weeks, included will be numerous pics of task force tandem dumps, both Chevy and GMC, a few pics of a 1958 Chev. 90 series LCF tandem axle tractor and many Chevrolets of the 1960 thru '66 era. Lots of air horns!

The air horn pictures are located in my webshots album under 'odds & ends' Hope this helps.

James

James,

I just checked out the pictures that you have provided, but they are not the original style that I am familiar with. The original kind I am referring to have horizontal round parts on top of the base. They are similar to the ones Scott has posted in the E-bay listing, but check out the link to the picture that I listed above for a decent picture of an original.

Also your air horns are in a different position than the ones I'm used to. The style I'm referring to are more to the drivers edge of the roof and further back. In this position, they are in the right place for the cable to go thru the mechanical valve plate on the curve of the roof and to be fastened approx 12 inches forward. Does your trucks have the factory valve plate on them? I've got one, but it is in storage somewhere. But to guess at it, it is about 3 inches by 5 inches and has either a slot or a hole for the cable to run thru.

Now this all tells us 2 things. Either GMC and Chevy used different horns at different plants or your horns were possibly dealer installed or aftermarket installed. Of the 100's maybe 1000's of '60 to '66 and newer trucks I have seen with air horns, I would say about 95% of them have the style horns that I am referring to. It seems like GM used this style horn to about the mid 70's.

I'm going to dig out my accessory catalog to verify the correct brand name.

Bill

OK, I located my GMC accessories catalog. The Air Horn brand name is Hadley. In the catalog they are listed as GMC-Hadley. Now to find a picture. If necessary I'll take a picture of the catalog page, even tho the picture is small.

Bill

Hi Bill

You maybe right about the horn placement further to the left side from what mine show, from memory I thought the air horns were near the edge, was somewhat surprised that they were just left of the drivers head. The remains of the two trucks that I have may have had dealer installed air horns and did not come from the factory that way.

My son is holding many old pictures of our company trucks from the 60's, hope to place them on webshots soon. Several of them will show air horns. I'll also check and see what brand name they are. As far as Scott's truck goes the horns would look correct mounted either just left of the driver's head or to the far left of the driver's position, never to the center of the cab.

I appreciate your thoughts on the matter.

James

Scott and Bill,are these horns what you guys are talking about? I know mine is a '72 (and a little bigger) and I don't even know if they are original or not, but thought I would throw them into the discussion.

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2687298880083734483DECsvs?vhost=rides

Bill,

They're the ones! They are the original type in the original position. Even tho I've seen trucks with Air Brakes and no Air Horns, I believe all Road Tractors had Air Horns as standard equipment. It's just about a guarantee that they are factory original.

Thanks for the pictures.

Bill

Great! Thanks to all that responded. Those look fairly close to the Fiamm Fultones available now and also the ones in the current ebay auction. I might get the Fiamms or the ebay ones for now and keep looking for originals. They will be supplied by a small 12 volt compressor and 1.5 gallon or larger tank, both mounted under the bed.

I saw a 1966 tractor in an old magazine or book that had the air horns mounted about 8-10 inches inboard of the drip edge, pretty much over the driver's head. I'll try to find it for placement reference also, but the pic was small and you couldn't tell anything about the horns from it other than the location viewed from behind.

Air horns aren't something Emily needs, but it would be cool to have them!