B-

Thanks for your timely and thoughtful response. Lots to ponder there . . .

The Japanese ones are kind of a medium green; no other markings other than those I mentioned above. Judging by the metalwork and the finish they look like a pretty high-quality product. I'm hoping you're right, maybe made by Tokico.

FWIW, I ran a set of ipd-sourced Tokico gas-charged shocks and struts on our 83 245 GLT from late 1980s to mid-1990s (they were a cool metallic copper color). Really a nice set-up, pretty close to the current Bilstein HDs--and much nicer (less floaty) than the German-made Sachs Advantage units I put on another car about 10 years back.

Even compared to the Tokicos and Bilsteins, I'm still pretty impressed with Volvo's standard OEM shocks. They're not bad at all when matched with stock springs and bigger bars (either ipd or OEM turbo/GT units). Of course, if I could find a NOS set of DeCarbons that fit my '91 (as I had on my old 244Ti), I'd snap them up in a heartbeat! (I wonder how the new [yellow?] Konis would compare?).

Thanks again!

Steve A-

Oh, thanks too for the zero-mile info--it's been a big help on my daily driver (LH3.1 245)!