[pat in Santa Cruz]

a new set of shocks on a rusted solid old spring will not make any difference in the driving of the car. That's why you often hear there's no difference in a car with or without shocks. If you have driven a car with a restored spring and no shocks, you will most definitely notice a set of good shocks once they're installed.

The covers are interchangeable if you need to make a matched set, but as noted above, the bases on a 31 are very different.