Prolly the same number of shocks in 14 years, if mileage is anything to go by. The Midget had about 60K or so on it when I bought it in 1990, as it had seen limited use for quite some time. The shocks were absolutely shot when I got the car (and, being that there wasnt anyone around to fix 'em, and new Armstrongs were like a hundred skins a pop, and I was in high school saving for college, I never fixed 'em). By comparison, the Miata's shocks, at 57K, while certainly not nearly as effective as they were new, are several streets and intersections ahead of those old levers. Same for the shocks on my old '89 CRX Si, which I replaced not long after I got the car with 60K on the clock. Not in their prime but better than the levers. (And before anyone says it, Dad's B had new lever dampers on it when we bought it, and while they are not nearly as stiff as Miata shocks and whatnot, they damp very effectively when you give it the bounce test. Bounce a corner of the Midget and it would just sit there for the next sixty seconds gently rocking back and forth.)
-William (That said, if Iwere to go out and replace the shocks on the B, I'd go for uprated levers, just to avoid the trouble of converting the car. But that car doesn't get nearly the use my car, or the old Midget, do)