A musical car horn is exactly what it sounds like — a car horn that plays musical tunes. As a car accessory, a musical car horn adds a unique touch to a vehicle. Though not a stock part on any vehicle, a musical car horn can be installed in any vehicle. However, depending on state and local laws, it may be illegal to swap out a standard car horn for a musical car horn, though having both is considered acceptable.

There a wide variety of musical car horns that produce not only music, but sound effects as well. Some popular examples of tunes or sounds that a musical car horn plays are Dixie, which garnered a great deal of popularity from the 1979 television show The Dukes of Hazzard, the wolf whistle, and the Ooga horn.

There are also various models of the programmable musical car horn that allows users to select any of a number of built-in songs or sounds. Examples include seasonal and patriotic music, popular songs like The William Tell Overture and La Cucaracha, voice recordings, various animal sounds, and sound effects such as a train, revving engine, or laser blast. There is even a musical car horn that plays part of the Star Trek theme song.

With so many varied sounds and tunes produced by musical car horns, it’s easy to personalize a vehicle. Even if you don’t find a musical car horn that plays the song or makes the sound you want, there is also the option of recording your own sound.

It is important to remember that a novelty or musical car horn should not replace the emergency signal that a stock horn was meant to produce. Before installing a novelty or musical car horn, you should check your local ordinances to ensure you are following the law and that you won’t be liable for noise ordinance violations when using the horn.