thevetterisbetter

How many were made? Is there any data on how many they made?

JJ Deuce

From what I understand, they (Motion) know how many they made, but will not share the info. If you have a car you suspect is a Motion car, Mr. Rosen will inspect and verify whether it is or not, for a substantial fee.

AGVI

why the fee and the hesitation to release production numbers?

THAT'S BOSHEET MENG!!!

ok, I feel better now...

SHAKERATTLEROLL

Here is a forum that you might very well be intertested in . http://www.makoshark2.com/index.php

74FLCONV

Mr. Rosen has no less than 30 ~ 40 filing cabinets in his garage with documentation on every car built. He would get dozens of calls per week asking him to "verify" a car, which usually turned out to be a goose-egg. So, to cut down on the "wild goose chases", he instated a $1500 fee to pay for his time and to scare away the "dreamers".

I offered to scan/digitize the files so he could sell 'em on CD's, but he declined.

D. Ocean
Miami, FLA

trw

Everybody either wants one, wishes theirs was one or thinks they have one.

Wouldn't you?





Terry

standup

......I think they call the $1500 fee "Motion Lotion" ............but even if you grease the palms really hard you won't ever find out the true numbers....

...but if you want some more info on BM Vettes then try:

http://www.standup.co.nz/baldwin_motion_corvettes.htm ....

mvftw

I pass by the old Motion shop everyday going to work. I've heard that Joel will Not give you a straight answer anyway... I was with a guy recently that had bought a New '69 Motion Vette (I verified his story) and he said it was VERY, VERY FAST!!!

tshort

If only this were a current ad and they were actual prices today
I'd love to find some of those small block motion valve covers.

Pantera_73

I sure wish someone from back then could remember just where that first SS427 "GT" that was Orange/Black was sold to? I am postive that I have the car but would give anything to find the original owner of the car.

I can only trace it back as far as a used car dealer in Dallas Tx. 1972. The dealer has no records on it so I am at a deadend.

I want to have it documented by Joel, but need to find just a little more proof about the car to be sure before I lay down my hard earned money. I spent all last winter chasing a Black football player that might have owned it only to find out that his was just a 68 Motion car and didn't have the slant back window.

This car was on the cover of Hi Perf Cars Magizine in Aug of 69. It looked red and I talked to Marty Shore the editor of the mag and he confirmed it was not a red car like it looks like on the cover, but was in fact a Orange/Black car. He just played with the color because red cars always sell more magazines.

My sig pic is the car in question. I have it stripped down to bare glass now and am in the process of restoring it. The holes on the rear panel have the same pattern as the emblems that say "SS427 and the GT letters were off a GTO grill emblem of the same era. You can plainly see where they all would fit.

When I got the car it was Black with Candy gold twin stripes down the center and around the tail w/red pinstripe outlining them. The emblems were filled in on the back. Most importantly is the tank sticker showes it has evey one of the options as the car in the article and that it was delivered to Baldwin Chev.

So If anybody out there remembers that first car with out the funny headlights and stock taillights I would love to see any pictures of it or get a lead to locate the original owner.

This was the only one of the 10 True BM "GT" vette's that he made with out the different lights.

Any leads that pan out will be $$$ rewarded...

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Pantera

Pantera_73

There are "Motion" vettes and then there are "Baldwin Motion" vettes. And then there are "Baldwin Motion phase III GT" vettes.

I was at a speach that Joel gave at the super car renunion in Collinsvill IL last Labor Day and he was the keynote speaker. He confirmed that he only sold (10) true "Baldwin Motion phase III GT" vettes. There is a Gold/Black stripes, Yellow/Black, Blue/White, and a White/Gold and one other I think that are known to still exist out of those 10 cars. So until the other 5 cars show up there will be no list. If my Orange/black '69 turns out to be one of those cars and I feel that it was the first one he built, then that only leaves 4 cars not accounted for.

I for one would love to see him at least give us a color list and in what order each car was built, so that we could at least know what to look for.

These cars are special and I hope he realizes how special before something should happen to him and that information is lost forever. I bought my first car in 1972 and the white car in 1974. For so many years when I would tell someone I have a Ba;ldwin Motion vette their eyes would go blank and they didn't have a clue what I was talking about. In fact that still happens some today. It takes a special vette person to appreciate his cars and to know what one actually is. Like Joel told me there are a lot of phoneys out there.

tshort

I think that it is odd that there a lot of phoneys. When you say "phoney" do you mean someone trying to pass off to another suspecting buyer of it being what it isn't, or do you simply mean replicas?

I think it's odd because like you say, still not many people know what a Baldwin Motion car is. I've been to vette shows and car shows and mentioned it and people give me the blank stare. So, if only pure enthusiasts even know what one is, and these enthusiasts would presumably investigate the claims before plopping down a bunch of cash for one, then I don't see how anyone could get "away" with a phoney BM car. Honestly, I think I've only ever heard of BM here from the forum, but then again, I'm a youngster (28). I like them more than the ZL-1 only because a ZL-1 looks just like any other L-88 (well, the L-88's are pretty darn cool too) but the BM cars did a little more hot rodding to them and made them a little more visually unique. Can't stand the "Z" lights though. Either way, unfortunately I'll never own one because I don't have the mula and if I did it would just sit in my garage...so what's the point. No disrepect to you for having one though. Truly one of my all time favorite cars.

70BBvert

Happened to drive by there yesterday. I grew up not to far from there. I was thinking how we used to ride our bikes over there just to check out the cars being built. At least a part of the shop is now a speed shop again. It was a muffler shop for a while.

JoeC427

71coupe

Pantera_73 - do you have any recent pics of the car? Love the motion cars

3Quarters

Joel Rosen and I had it out in the 80's when I was building a wide body T/A... He had a Camaro sitting in front of the shop with some of the worst fiberglass to metal bonding I've seen... Needless to say we had a lot of words when some punk butt kid's car was done better than the almighty Joel's...

I don't know what the big deal about his cars are, he was a small custom shop who didn't even do extradordinary work... The only reason I can see him charging 1500 to confirm your car was built by him,is because he didn't make enough money when Motion Performance was open and he's still paying off his debts...

LOTAHP

When I was a kid (14 years old), I use to ride my bicycle over to Motion to check out all the awesome cars that where there and ask them for some stickers.

74FLCONV

I've been to his house. It doesn't appear he's in debt. He's also one the most laid-back people I know.

D. Ocean
Miami, FLA

Corvette ED

The deal is that real Motion Cars bring big bucks. Last year at Carlisle there was a 69 Motion Corvette 427 that the seller was asking $125,000 for it.

Motion, Yenko, Nickey cars bring big dollars if you have the paperwork to prove they are real cars and not clones.

3Quarters

Here we have 2 schools of thought... We have the Bloomington/NCRS cars that have to be the way the cars rolled off the assemble line and then the cars from places like Yenko and Motion... The mod's made by these guys are really nothing more than any decent mechanic could have done themselves... The only thing I see is that the Yenko's or Motion cars were done by someone who managed to make a name for themselves... It's also very recent that these cars are bringing a high price tag... But like anything else, it's only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it... Mr Rosen should be able to tell if it was one of his cars by the VIN alone... $1500 is a bit steep....