Early Dodge horn switch on door

[mbenseignant@gmail.com]

My 1915 touring has the horn switch on the driver side door. Very quaint, but it quit working. I suspect the wires just got wrecked by being rubbed by the hinge. Please look at the pics. I am wondering — how should the wires be running to avoid wear? Many thanks, Mike Barnes, Vancouver

[nearchoclatetown]

Mike, it looks like there is a bare wire where it comes out of the door panel against the hinge. That is the correct routing from the button behind the panel and coming out at the hinge. But I don't think it goes back into the cowl area at the front of the hinge. I will look tomorrow. I THINK the wire is exposed from the door panel up under the dash. The wires get twisted together to keep them tidy. 

[mbenseignant@gmail.com]

Thank you. I will look forward to the info. In the mean time I ran new black wire all the way from the switch to underneath the dash, so the horn is working again. I think the klaxon is an important safety feature given the weak brakes. 

 

I will be interested in seeing the correct path for the wires. 

 

When I took the upholstery off the door, I expected to see some wood. But I don’t think there is any. What about the body? Is there wood under the metal. Regards, Mike Barnes

[Ron Lawson]

No wood your car featured a Budd All Steel Body 

[nearchoclatetown]

My totally unrestored '15 is as I remembered, NOT saying it's right. The wire comes out just below the hinge from the door panel and is exposed to under the dash. BTW, not picking but '15's don't have door pockets on the front doors.   I just looked in the '15 Book of Information and that is the way it shows the wire on page 24. 

Edited March 30, 2020 by nearchoclatetown (see edit history)

[mbenseignant@gmail.com]

Thank you. I should have thought to look in the Book of Information. As for the doors flaps — I bought the car restored, and the upholsterer, I think, was proud of doing fancy work. Perhaps a bit too fancy to be correct. But I will leave it because it looks nice. I am much more bothered by the vinyl upholstery on my 1924 Cadillac. The pattern is right but the material is wrong. Someday I may address that. Thats again for your help.

[22touring]

The all-steel body was a major selling point for the DB car and was heavily advertised.  Therefore DB stalwarts and loyalists of the time were somewhat dismayed when, in January of 1925 (after the Brothers' deaths but a few months before the purchase by Dillon, Read & Co.) DB introduced the Coach and Special models, which had bodies built by Fisher that were made from steel and wood composite. 

[nearchoclatetown]

Actually, DB started building wood bodied cars in late 1917. The first bodies were all steel and built by Budd but the very first body built by DB was the centerdoor sedan which is a steel over wood body just like a Chevrolet. I have one. They also built the four passenger coupe in '24 which was a wood bodied car, have one of those too. They advertised the crap out of how superior all steel was but didn't follow their own rule. 

[Ron Lawson]

I think the reason that other body manufactures  were used is because Budd could not keep DB supplied with enough bodies to meet demand 

[22touring]

12 hours ago, nearchoclatetown said:

Actually, DB started building wood bodied cars in late 1917. The first bodies were all steel and built by Budd but the very first body built by DB was the centerdoor sedan which is a steel over wood body just like a Chevrolet. I have one. They also built the four passenger coupe in '24 which was a wood bodied car, have one of those too. They advertised the crap out of how superior all steel was but didn't follow their own rule. 

Good points, nearchoc.  I had forgotten about the '24 four-passenger.  Was that body built by DB or by Fisher?

[nearchoclatetown]

The four passenger coupe body was built by Fisher, carries a Fisher Body tag on lower right cowl area. There's about 25 of these known including the one advertised in the DBC news the last few months which is a '25. The centerdoor sedan body was stamped by Budd, we have factory pictures of the parts in Budd factory. But apparently the wood  and assembly was done at DB because it carries a Body by DB emblem on the lower right cowl. The main part of the body that is below the rear window and wraps around to the doors was cut out with tin snips. You can see the shear marks on the edges. We know of about 11 of these known to exist. 

[RAH]

Mike, et all. Sorry to be so tardy with this response. The pic of your door shows a aftermarket switch . These were made available from several sources over time. The original switch was made by Garford and on the back are words to that effect I submit a rather crude drawing since I couldn't find one in my stash clear enough to be photographed. The original horn WIRES P/N L4315 were in fact a twisted pair of cloth covered rubber insolated wires not unlike early vintage lamp cords. These wires exited in back of the door upholstery panel, as mentioned by 'Near Chocolatown' just below the hinge and went directly to a 'Wire clip' P/N L3605 which was fastened by the windshield   stanscion retaining nut. That wire harness continued up under the dash and was interrupted by cutting one of the pair of wires and fastened another twisted pair in a "T" format which went over to the ammeter. One of those wires had a terminal fastened to the ammeter connection for power and the other wire had a terminal fastened to one of the ammeter mounting screws for ground. The wires from the switch then continued past that "T" out through a grommet in the firewall to the horn. According to various master parts books that original horn switch was used through all the horn variations .

As previously mentioned the touring did NOT have map pockets in the front doors, only on the rear doors. On tourings the switch fastened through the upholstery panel to the door superstructure via self tapping sheet metal screws. On the roadster the switch was riveted to that map pocket flap and could rise with the flap. On virtually all the early DBs that switch was ergonomically fastened such as to be operated by the driver's knee while both hands were busy operating the steering wheel and gear shift, etc. That goes for the closed cars as well.

     I hesitate to get off subject here as was done earlier but there was in fact a wooden bodied touring early on made by the K.R. Wilson Mfg. who made truck bodies. These were intersperced with regular Budd bodies from around S/N 14500 through 38000 (ish). The sheet metal was from Budd who could not create complete bodies as fast as the Brothers Dodge were creating chassis. There were NO wood roadsters. As to the other reference to DB wood bodies the Closed Car (center door) and subsequent Coupes were wood framed and built by Dodge Brothers and covered in Budd sheet metal. Apparently Budd had a design for 'All Steel' closed cars early on but the brothers resisted. You may note the Dodge line of 'All Steel' closed cars did not happen 'till after both brothers were decased! I hope this helps clarify the original query.