Novelty Car Horn Guide: Every Type, What They Cost, and Which One to Get

Ahooga horns, trumpet kits, preset boxes and programmable horns. One of them is a lot more fun than the others.

Every car on the road makes the same noise. Beep. The one car that moos, or plays Dixie, or fires off a train horn at the lights, is the one everybody talks about for the rest of the week. That's the whole appeal of a novelty car horn. It's a small, cheap mod with a big reaction, and it's the only car part that makes strangers laugh.

The catch is that the label covers four very different things, from a $25 ahooga horn to a roof full of trumpets. Some play one sound forever. Some let you load anything. This guide walks through every type, what they cost, the sounds people actually load, and the five things to check before you buy one.

What Counts as a Novelty Car Horn?

A novelty horn is any horn fitted for fun rather than for warning other drivers. It's the umbrella term. A musical horn that plays La Cucaracha is one. So is an ahooga horn on a hot rod, an animal-sound box, a train horn on a ute, and a custom car horn that plays whatever MP3 you give it.

What they share is a second button. Your factory horn stays where it is for the serious stuff. The novelty horn sits alongside it, wired to its own trigger, so you choose when the car moos and when it just beeps.

The Four Types of Novelty Car Horn

Pretty much everything sold as a novelty horn fits one of these four. The big question for each one is simple: can you ever change the sound?

Prices are typical retail at the time of writing. Trumpet kits in AUD, the rest mostly USD listings.

1. Single-sound electric horns

The classic ahooga. Cheap, simple, two wires, and it does one thing. If you own a hot rod and you want that one sound, this is a fair buy. If you ever want anything else, it's a paperweight. Our klaxon horn guide covers the sound itself.

2. Musical trumpet kits

Five tuned trumpets, a compressor, air lines and a relay. They sound great and they're loud, but it's a lot of hardware for one song, and the compressor is the part that fails. Pick Dixie and you're the Dixie car until you sell it. Our musical car horn guide goes deeper on these.

3. Preset electronic horns

A speaker box with sounds burned in at the factory. Brands like Boom Blasters have sold single-sound versions for years, and some cheaper boxes pack in 40-odd sounds with a keypad. The problem is you only get the sounds they picked, and the multi-sound boxes usually run 20 to 30 watts, so they're not that loud once you're outside the car.

4. Programmable horns

This is the type that changed the category. A programmable car horn plays whatever audio file you give it. The Sonic Horn holds four sounds at once, plays them at 130 decibels through a 30W amp, and fires from a wireless remote in your pocket. Bored of the moo? Drag a new file on over USB and you're the train horn car by the weekend. The programmable vs fixed breakdown has the full side-by-side.

The Sounds People Actually Load

With a fixed horn, this list is your shopping list. With a custom car horn, it's a playlist. Every one of these is a free download in the Sound Clips library, and most have their own guide.

Tunes. Dixie, the General Lee horn, is still the one everyone asks for. La Cucaracha is the king of car shows. The Godfather is less of a laugh and more of an entrance.

Big noises. The train horn is the one that makes people jump. The monster roar makes them flinch. The Jeepers Creepers horn does both if they've seen the film.

Animals and jokes. The cow horn turns a whole street around. The wolf whistle is pure cartoon. Then there's the screaming goat, the clown horn and the rest of our funny car horn sounds list.

Your own. Your team's anthem. Your kid's catchphrase. A voice memo of your mate's laugh. Only a programmable car horn can do this one, and it's the sound nobody else on earth has.

Five Things to Check Before You Buy a Novelty Car Horn

1. Can you change the sound? This is the one that decides whether the horn is still fun in six months. A fixed horn is one joke. A programmable car horn is a new joke every time you plug in a USB cable.

2. Is the loudness claim real? A factory horn is about 110 decibels. Good novelty horns sit between 120 and 130. Anything advertising 300 or 600 decibels is lying, because those numbers aren't physically possible from a car horn. The Sonic Horn's 130 decibels puts it among the loudest car horn options you can fit without a compressor. Our loudest car horn breakdown ranks them properly.

3. Does it need a compressor? Trumpet kits and air horns do. That means a tank or pump in the engine bay, air lines, and a part that can freeze in winter or burn out if it runs dry. An electronic custom car horn has none of that. One unit, two wires, done.

4. How do you trigger it? Some horns want a button wired through the firewall, which is the worst part of any install. A wireless remote means no extra wiring and you can fire it from outside the car, which is where the best reactions happen. Our wireless car horn guide explains what to look for.

5. Does it keep your factory horn? It should. Your standard horn is the one that stops accidents. A novelty horn is an addition, not a replacement. The fun button and the safety button should never be the same button.

Fitting One Takes About 20 Minutes

A trumpet kit is an afternoon with a compressor, a relay and a roll of air line. An electronic custom car horn is two wires and a bracket. Red to 12V, black to ground, mount it somewhere under the bonnet, pair the remote. The install guide walks through it. Same job on a hatchback, a 4WD, a boat or a golf cart, and we ship worldwide from Australia.

Here's the short version of this whole guide. If you want one sound forever, a cheap single-sound horn or a trumpet kit will do it. If you want the novelty car horn that's still funny next year, get the programmable car horn that plays anything. Four slots, 130 decibels, a wireless remote and a free sound library to start with. The Sonic Horn vs Boom Blasters comparison shows how that stacks up against the biggest fixed-horn seller out there.

Novelty Car Horn FAQ

Your Car..... Your Sound.