I recently bought a 73 Road Runner clone (which started life as a Satellite Sebring). In finishing off what little was left to be restored/cloned, I bought a Voice of the Road Runner "beep beep horn" off of ebay. From the pictures I've seen online of the real deal, this horn looks to be right (i.e. correct shape, color, decal, etc).

Rightly or wrongly, I was expecting to hear a "beep beep" with one press on the horn button... all I got was a "beep". :banghead:

I'm wondering if I got a faulty horn, if there are some electrical components missing that enabled the "double-beep" in a genuine Road Runner (which obviously wouldn't be present in a Sebring), or if I'm simply ignorant of the fact that you can't get a "beep beep" without pressing the button twice...

Has anyone else experienced this confusion?

The horns installed in the Plymouth Road Runners were designed to make a "beep" sound similar to the Volkswagen Beetles of the same era. They were not preprogrammed to emit a "double-beep". They will make a continuous beep sound for as long as the horn button is depressed. To make it emit a "double-beep", you will need to depress and release the horn button twice in rapid succession.

Side note: The voice of the Road Runner in the cartoon series was provide by voice actor Mel Blanc. He recorded no more than a half dozen separate sound bites in one sitting in the early 1950's. Contrary to popular belief, he did not say "beep-beep". The correct pronounciation of the sound bites is "meep-meep". Listen carefully the next time you see the cartoon.

He hit it right on the head

He hit it right on the head

Actually, Chrysler paid Warner Bros. a licensing fee and royalty for use of the name, likeness and "voice" of the Road Runner character. Presumably they had to pay for Wile E. Coyote later on.

In a RR test, Car and Driver described the horn as sounding like an early Econoline van.

Just for fun... I also recall the decals placed on Chevelles, GTOs, etc. depicting Wiley Coyote holding the RR by the neck and the caption was "Beep Beep yurass!" (:-

Jim

Brings back good ole memories. :grinyes: My old running buddy back in the early 70s had a '70 Roadrunner with 440 6 Pack and we used to laugh whenever he blew his horn. :lol: I had a modded '70 Dodge Challenger R/T with the 440 Magnum engine. Last I recall and if my memory serves me correct the "beep" "beep" or "meep" "meep" horns were the same ones like used in the old Jeep CJ3.

IMO the Super Bee had the coolest decals and logos. Plus Chrysler didn't have to pay a penny in royalty or licensing fees for the use.