for 14 years the galaxie 500 horn has not worked because a clip on the horn ring ( the thing you press to make contact to complete the horn circuit ) is broken. finding some parts for a 51 year old car can be a challenge and the clip on the horn ring is one of them. not impossible, but just hard enough that it’s been easier to just not have a horn.

on a recent longish road trip in the old ford i recommitted to finding the part to fix the horn because it’s sometimes it’s a safety issue to one! i stopped into the local ford dealership to see if they had the part. unsurprisingly, the answer was no.

weirdly, the week after i started thinking about fixing the horn it started honking on its own! but only when i’m cranking the steering wheel around more than a full rotation. i assume there’s a new bare spot on the horn wires in the steering column that are touching and completing the circuit when i turn the wheel?

it doesn’t honk all the time, just when i’m cranking the steering wheel around. and when am i most likely to be doing that? when i’m parking! which i’m quickly realizing can be super awkward when people are walking by. when i was leaving work some women were walking nearby when i was pulling out and the car started – HONK! HONK! HONK! of course, they looked at me perplexed which meant i had to stop and explain that i wasn’t honking at them. it was the car! doing it on it’s own! not me! crossed wires!

more perplexed looks.