Today I sent out a set of Gabriel shock absorbers for the Opel Manta A series, they are rather ancient and came off a club members project some decades ago.

You compress them fully and give them a twist to change the setting from fast road to extra fast road and finally race damping. I tried them for a while and they would do the job for a track day car but might be a bit harsh for the road.



Gabriel Adjustable Shocks - a bit harsh for road use

Gabriel shocks are still produced in the USA. This is the company's history.

In 1900, Claude Foster, a pioneer in the automotive parts industry, founded a company in Cleveland, Ohio, that was named after its first product, Gabriel horns for horse-driven carriages. Foster later developed the first shock absorbing device, the “Snubber,” for which he was granted the first U.S. patent for a direct acting shock absorber in 1907.
The company continued to prosper in the suspension business and sold direct acting shock absorbers to both the OEM and replacement markets.
In the early 1960’s the Maremont Corporation purchased the Gabriel Company and started construction of a new shock absorber manufacturing operation in Pulaski, Tennessee. The Cleveland operation was closed and the new Pulaski operation became a modern facility producing all of Gabriel’s shock absorber requirements.
A second production and distribution facility was opened in Chickasha, Oklahoma, in the early 1970’s, and the Pulaski operation was phased out and transitioned to a new world-class facility in Queretaro, Mexico, in 2001. In addition to the Oklahoma and Mexico manufacturing and distribution centers, a corporate headquarters is located in Brentwood, Tennessee.

In the 1970’s and 1980’s the Gabriel name became synonymous with technology-advanced products such as Hijackers and Striders. In 1978, Gabriel introduced the first gas charged shock absorber developed and produced in the U.S. Struts were added to the product line in the early 1980’s and the company became a strong competitor worldwide.

During the 1970’s and 1980’s strong consumer advertising programs led Gabriel to market share equal to the only other major U.S. shock supplier in the U.S. Throughout the 1990’s and into the 2000’s, Gabriel has become the standard for service in the replacement markets and continues to expand on a global basis.

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