It’s a simple fact one cannot drive any car or pickup without using the starter. And nothing can get a person juiced up for a drive nearly as much as a healthy and inspiring sounding starter motor.
Perhaps I should admit that I’m old enough to enjoyed the transition to fuel injection and the resultant differences (read as getting quieter) in the sounds of starter motors. There have been some really good ones along the way but let’s review a few.
Ford had a determined sounding starter motor back in the 1960s. This is me starting my 1963 Ford Galaxie.
GM had some good ones. Perhaps my favorite can be found on this 1991 Silverado although it well represents a host of big GM cars that sounded similarly. This video was about the best I could find for bid GMs. Go to 1:10 to hear the melodious sounds of GM’s best.
But, unsurprisingly, my nomination for best starter motor sound of all time is from Chrysler. Yeah, I know, that was as obvious as stink on a skunk, but we all have our preferences. Go to 1:20 to hear this 383 attempting to start.
This Dodge pickup is obviously a 1994 or newer. Go to 5:10 when he hits the starter. Somebody put an old style starter on this Dodge and it sounds like angels singing. Other than bed length this rig is identical to the 1998 Ram 1500 my parents have and bought new. Seeing this makes me want to tinker with theirs.
Oh, what the hell. Here’s a third. Start at the beginning.
Of contemporary cars perhaps VW has my favorite sounding starter. Problem is, like so many other contemporary rides, they are so quiet one cannot hear them on the videos I’ve reviewed. Another current favorite is, off all things, the starter motor on International trucks.
So what car has your favorite starter motor sound?
After three Mopars-in-a-row, my non automotive Mother complained to me: “My new car sounds odd to me! It doesn’t sound quite right when it starts up!”
After starting and stopping the engine of her new car several times, I assured her everything was fine.
She then plaintively said: “It just doesn’t sound like my Cordoba did!”
Almost a decade of hearing the “Highland Park Hummingbird” gear reduction starter “nangging” away had influenced her mind as to what was right, what was to be expected.
🙂
Reading through the comments, I’m fascinated by the transliterations of the “Highland Park Hummingbird.” I waited to offer my own (ahem, DEFINITIVE) version…
My qualifications? Listening to Dad start up his ’75 Dodge D100 Club Cab with a 318…regularly.
Here it goes: “Chee-yeep-cheep-cheep-cheep-cheep-cheep-cheep-cheep-cheep-cheep-VROOOOM” (followed immediately by the sound of marbles falling into a metal coffee can).
The Mopar folks identify the marbles-in-the-coffee-can sound as heat riser rattle, if I’m understanding correctly…
My ’53 Ford F100 with a very late flathead V8 has what I call the “sick dog” starter. And it sounds downright deathly ill if there’s not enough charge in the (6 volt) battery.
The Ford “sick dog” goes something like this: “Purr-lurr-lurr-lurr-lurr” (starter spins out on first attempt). Pull choke out (because I forgot), then, “Purr-lurr-ZHOOOM.”
Basically, my life every day.
I dunno about starters but I love the Chrysler chime that was around from the mid to late ’80s until 2017 with the discontinuation of the Patriot (by then, the Patriot was the only car with the original chime).
All the current CJDR products have an updated chime which first appeared on the new-for-2009 Ram. With few exceptions such as the JS-platform 2011-14 200/Avenger, as each platform was refreshed or overhauled (e.g., first-generation [2005-10] LX to second-generation [2011-present] LX, or the 2011 refresh of the RT minivans) the cars were shipped with the updated chime.
The chime on my 2013 200, 2006 Ram HD, 1993 Concorde and 1992 LeBaron convertible are all the same.
3406 Cat with Air Start.
Close second would be a any member of the 2 Stroke Detroit Diesel with air start.
I’m very partial to the sound of the Ford starter before the gear reduction years began in the 1990s. Loved the solid ‘thunk’ of the solenoid engaging and disengaging. But I also love the higher pitch whine of the Panther starter. Music to my little ears.
Exactly, the Ford starter that was on every application from the 351W on down – it really was closest sounding to that Galaxie starter earlier on in this thread – where the solenoid was affixed NOT on the starter itself but closer to the battery. You could jump it with a screwdriver (yikes!). That Ford starter sound gave me confidence every time I heard it. Next is the GM starter sound (a la 350cid, and so on), then the 1980’s Buick 3.8, the Lexus 4.0 V8, and finally the Toyota 3.0, 3.3, and 3.5 V6 sounds.
I too paid attention to starter sounds, but couldn’t think of a particularly favorite.
So I wasn’t the only one listening to starter sounds?
LoL
I once visited a crowded site with my then leash-free dog. As usual, she went her way, I went mine, as part of the freedom pact she’d “check in” now and then and was expected to stay out of trouble and be ready when it was time to go.
Some time later I was casually observing a Ford that was leaving. The start-up drew my attention only because the car happened to be similar to the car that I had driven to the sale, which by the way wasn’t my usual car.
Despite it not being a “regular” driver, just then I noticed that my dog was charging out of the congestion, apparently in a rush to be sure not to miss her ride. From my distance I observed the dog’s focus on the just-started Ford, yet confusion that it wasn’t quite it.
That’s when I realized that apparently the dog had learned to “tune in” to various starter sounds and catalog them, even if they were only a short-term ride. There were at least dozens of vehicles parked there and probably many starts during our stay. Even though it turned out to be not “her ride” apparently the starter sound was similar enough to what was “on file” that day to not chance being left behind.
The dog had many other similar astonishing intuitions.
I worked at Butts British Imports in Santa Barbara while in college. The Jag XKE V12 starter was fantastic, just a constant speed constant frequency whine, as if there was no engine compression… until the engine lit off. Those fresh new engines didn’t sound too bad either!