69 Caddilac rim-blow horn

[cnave20986]

First off I am new to this board and have never owned a Cad before. I have a 69 Cad Convertible and have the rim-blow horn and as you can guess the horn no longer works. I was advised to find the white wire running up the column and cut it and route the wire to a floor switch ( to the right of the headlight brights on floor). Is this correct and can someone suggest the type of switch and do I just ground the switch to chassis. In this manner I just tap my foot on the floor switch to honk the horn

Thanks

Curtis

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

If you are not that concerned about originality, maybe changing the wheel for one from a 1970 would be better, if that is possible.

Don't toss the original wheel away, but have it kept in a safe place, ready to restore, when parts are available.

Having the button on the floor, or anywhere else for that matter, will always be awkward.   Especially if you really need to sound it, and your foot is not in a position to sound the emergency.   Horns are for emergency use only.

I have fitted a Klaxon horn to my '72, and wired it in such a way that the steering wheel horn pad operates it, as well as the original horns, via a switch.   One way for Klaxon, and the other way for main horns.

Bruce.

[scotth3886]

First off I am new to this board and have never owned a Cad before. I have a 69 Cad Convertible and have the rim-blow horn and as you can guess the horn no longer works. I was advised to find the white wire running up the column and cut it and route the wire to a floor switch ( to the right of the headlight brights on floor). Is this correct and can someone suggest the type of switch and do I just ground the switch to chassis. In this manner I just tap my foot on the floor switch to honk the horn

Thanks

Curtis

I know 'Eldorado George' in Florida restores these, but I would guess it would be expensive.  Hell, my Brand P wheel 20 years ago cost me $2,000 to restore so I think it would be at least that much.

https://www.youtube.com/user/kypitsn

[Alan Harris CLC#1513]

I owned a 1969 DeVille convertible that I bought in 1973. That miserable steering wheel wasn't worth a damn then. The rim blow part was already starting to fail and the wood grain started crumbling in about a year. Eventually, I found a really nice 1973 wheel in a junkyard and changed it for my original. Unfortunately, nice ones are a lot harder to find now!

The rim blow horn was one of Detroit's stupider ideas. Cadillac gave them up after 1969, but Chrysler and possibly Ford picked them up for 1970. They were gone by 1971. My recollection is that the first sign of failure was a refusal to work in cold weather. Even if you could find somebody to fix yours, I would bet that the repaired one wouldn't hold up any better than the original.

[Big Fins]

The rim blow in my '69 Fleetwood works as new. The wood grain inlay even looks new.