Dan Marx Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 Did air shocks ever come from the factory as original equipment? I am looking at an NOS pair of Delco air shocks with the air pump for $50.00. Would these have been Delco GM factory and is this a reasonable price? Never seen them before.ThanksDandlmarx at bellsouth.net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 Westinghouse air shocks appeared on some cars on the 1920's. Few things new under the sun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scot Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 Air shocks were standard equipment on a 1981 Chevy ElCamino!Scot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Schramm Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 I think there were some Cadillacs in the 60's that had air shocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NTX5467 Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Air shocks were standard equipment on a 1981 Chevy ElCamino!ScotI think they were std factory equipment on the El Caminos in about 1967, too, when the current style of air shock became popular. On the higher level car lines, rather than mere air shocks, they had automatic leveling.The factory-equipment Delco air shocks had a unique air fitting which ONLY came with the assembly line shocks OR their factory part number replacements. Otherwise, you had the more normal screw-on-ferruled-line air shocks.Seems like full size Ford station wagons had them as part of a trailering package in about 1970 or so?In the early 1970s, Gabriel had some "self-leveling" rear shocks which used internal fluid "pumped" fluid to return the rear suspension to a pre-determined ride height. Didn't really catch on, although the ills of air shocks were fully known by that time . . . like exposed air diaphrams being subject to road debris and other durability problems. Hurst had some which used a fully internal bladder to counter that, but as that wasn't a "mainstream" brand back then, not much exposure outside of the high performance area of things. Gabriel did extend the upper shock body with a shield to protect the air diaphram, although more popular brands as Monroe never did.I'd think that IF the pump works and IF the shocks aren't worn out (you can check this by "stroking" them from fullly extended to fully compressed to fully extended a few times), AND the lines are in good shape (or at least useable for where you might want to mount them), then $50.00 might not be such a bad deal. What about the self-leveling valve mechanism???Just some thoughts,NTX5467Enjoy!NTX5467 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketraider Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 They were standard on 1968 ElCaminos. Not sure about earlier or later. My dad's 68 had them complete with steel airlines from the fill valve to the shock area.He was bad about forgetting to maintain minimum psi in them. Then he'd load the car-truck up and pump the air shocks up. He did that one time with a load of sawdust in the bed. DK how much air he put in them, but all of a sudden POW and the back of the truck dropped right down.Naturally, after that air shocks were nothing but trouble and he wouldn't have another set on anything. He still wouldn't let me have the steel lines for my 442.Mama was the same way about a battery charger. One of my uncles had an ancient one catch fire in the garage once, so after that a battery charger was no longer a useful tool, it was something that caught fire. Never mind it was probably a mouse nest inside it that blazed up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarlLaFong Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 my 77 Seville had them. Self leveling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe_padavano Posted November 25, 2011 Share Posted November 25, 2011 Air shocks were optional on GMs at least as early as 1966. The 1966 cars had a vacuum operated on-board compressor to operate the shocks. Later years simply had a schrader valve behind the rear license plate for filling the shocks. Delco also sold an aftermarket version of the system, which is what you have probably found. These included a small vacuum operated compressor as well as the shocks and an under-dash control panel.Later GMs (mid 1970s and newer) used an on-board electric compressor with a sensor between the rear axle and frame to auto-level the car by filling or emptying the air shocks. And of course the late-1950s GMs came with an air-ride system, but I'm afraid I don't know much about those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest prs519 Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 I recall a 65 or so El Camino which had optional air shocks. The Schrader valve was behindthe passenger seat. We used them to haul a load of produce (corn) for a grocer.Perry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now