<VV> RE: Shocks / interchange / LM

[Bill Elliott]

The story as I understand it is that Koni made a run of its actual 
Corvair shocks for late model either by mistake or as a test. Anyway, 
they ALL ended up in the hands of a single non-Corvair vendor who was 
trying to figure out what to do with them. Word got out and he sold a 
few sets directly...then Clarks bought them all from him and began 
reselling. I had placed an order directly with the original vendor just 
as Clarks bought them all, so they canceled my order and sent me to 
Clarks (where I paid rather dearly for my lack of haste.... don't get me 
wrong, they are still a great buy, but they were dirt cheap from the 
initial vendor)

Now whether this prompted Koni to make another run I can't say... I 
thought that Clarks had all there were in the world and once gone they 
were gone. If Koni is actually still making them that would be AWESOME news.

Something similar happened with Carerra. A Corvair racer assisted 
Carerra in developing a Corvair-specific shock back in the 80's... 
Carerra has a "specials" shop that would essentially build to order... 
so some of us have run Carerras for a long time... Then the specials 
shop essentially shut down... I'm not sure exactly how Clarks convinced 
Carerra to put the Corvair shocks into actual production, but they 
did... using the original design but (buying in quantity) were able to 
get a couple of the mounting compromises improved... and selling them 
retail for the same price we were buying the "specials" built wholesale. 
Unfortunately, I understand that Carerra has discontinued that line as 
well... leaving no really good Corvair-specific shock in production for 
us (unless Koni is still making them).

As a comparison, the Carerras are best in control and available 
stiffness, but they ride very rough. The Corvair specific Konis don't 
have quite the control the Carerras have, but have a much better ride. 
The Corvair-specific Bilsteins have the best of both worlds with nearly 
the control of the Carerras but a ride as good as the Konis. The only 
other shock I've found acceptable are the adjustable Gabriels... a good 
shock for a street car, but a definite level down in control from these 
I've listed.

I have not tried either the non-Corvair Konis nor the KYB's which 
another vendor sells. I would expect either of them to be pretty decent 
performers.

Bill

AeroNed at aol.com wrote:

>Isn't Koni making shocks for the Corvair today? Lee Grimes, former Corvair  
>racer and Koni North American Koni sales manager was at the Performance  
>workshop. He said that Clark's is selling them.
> 
>  
>


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