August 16, 1969 – AHRA Summer Nationals, at the New York National Speedway, John Mahler drives the Astoria-Chas 1967 L88 Corvette to a A/Sports Production class record.
Dateline: 8.16.15 – Charlie Snyder was a car crazy Long Island teenager who came of age when Joel Rosen and Marty Schorr launched their Baldwin-Motion Phase III Supercars. Schorr was also editor of CARS Magazine, so the enterprise also got plenty of ink via road tests, how-to tech features, and advertising. Snyder bought a new Marlboro Maroon ’67 427/435 Roadster and quickly turned in into a street racer, then a drag car.
Unfortunately, Charlie was drafted and killed in Vietnam, but his friends back home fulfilled his dream by setting a national record with his “Ko-Motion Astoria-Chas” Corvette, with an 11.04 @ 129-mph run. Later, John Mahler ran a 10.47 et at a local track. Then the car was trailered to Chas’ sister’s house, garaged, and covered for the next 31 years! The car was eventually sold to businessman Glen Spielberg who was just a wee lad living on Long Island when Charlie’s car was spending lots of time at the Motion performance shop. Spielberg bought the car from the Snyder family with the promise that he would never restore or race the car. Continue reading “
Corvette Timeline Tales: Aug 16, 1969, Astoria-Chas 1967 L88 Corvette Sets A/Sports Production Nat’l Record” →
It’s a Friday Night Car Show at Far Out Radio! Our guests are Marty Schorr and Joel Rosen. Marty is the former editor of CARS Magazine, founder of VETTE Magazine, editor and chief of CarGuychronicles.com, and owns PMPR, an automotive public relations business. Joel Rosen is the former owner of Motion Performance and currently owns and runs Motion Models, a world renown scale military model company.
Back in the ‘60s, Marty Schorr was the editor of CARS Magazine and Joel Rosen was the owner of Motion Performance. Schorr and Rosen became friends and Motion Performance was CARS Magazine’s “special projects” shop. The two creative guys came up with a Chevy supercar concept, not unlike Carroll Shelby’s Ford Shelby Mustangs, only at a local level.
Baldwin Chevrolet was a local Mom & Pop Chevy dealership on Long Island. Schorr and Rosen pitched the concept of offering supercar versions of new Chevy muscle cars purchased through Baldwin Chevrolet. Rosen designed a near-bullet-proof parts package and took care of the assembly. The team created the Baldwin Motion “look” and Schorr took care of the branding, advertising, catalogs, and PR.
Rosen spun the wrenches and Schorr spun the spin.The cars had drop-dead, in-your-face aggressive good looks to go with their ground-pounding performance – all with a 100% Chevy warrantee!
The guys created a legend that still being talked about 45 years later! Survivor Baldwin Motion Supercars are today VERY valuable.
For real, authorized Baldwin Motion Supercars are BACK! We go bench racing with the original “Mr. Motion.”
Note: Joel Rosen is the proud owner of the very first of the NEW Baldwin Motion Camaros. Be sure to check out the slide show of Mr. Motion’s new ride!)
The original Mr. Motion and the new Mr. Motion. Rosen takes delivery of the very first "new" Baldwin Motion Camaro from Haward Tanner.
Little did Joel Rosen know in 1960 when he bought Neclan Service Station in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, that over 50 years later, people would be writing about him and going to car shows featuring his creations. Motion Performance was officially born in 1963 and Rosen had a string of successful drag cars of his own, plus many cars that he super tuned. He relocated the shop from Brooklyn to the community of Baldwin on Long Island, on Sunrise Highway in 1966. The following year, Chevrolet unleashed their answer to Ford’s red hot Mustang – the Camaro.
Rosen pitched to Baldwin Chevrolet’s Ed Simonin a new way for buyers to get a brand new, turn key “super” muscle car, with a proven, reliable setup – ready to rock! By 1968 the full “Fantastic Five” lineup of cars was established, featuring Phase III SS-427 versions of the Chevy Biscayne, Nova, Chevelle, Camaro, and Corvette. For just $3,495 you could buy the ultimate street sleeper, the SS-427 Biscayne. Or, if your POCKETS were really deep, for $6,995.85 (an enormous amount of cash beck then) you could get the Phase III SS-427 Corvette. Each car was custom made to order, so every car was slightly different. What’a heady time to be into the high performance street scene.
Here's Mr. Motion, circa 1971. Groovy, Man!
As “they” say, the rest is history, and since you wouldn’t be here if you already weren’t familiar with the Baldwin Motion story, we don’t need to retell the entire story. Mr. Motion is now semi-retired and living the good life in warm, sunny Florida. With the Baldwin Motion brand back in action and in very good hands, thanks to his relationship with Howard Tanner, Redline Motorsports in Schenectady, and DeNooyer Chevrolet, Albany, New York.
I thought the Baldwin Motion fans would enjoy hearing from the original Mr. Motion, Joel Rosen. So, one evening in early July 2011, Joel and I had an interesting conversation. Here goes…
Scott – How did the new Baldwin Motion deal come about?
Joel – Well, it was a little bit of a bumpy start, but we turned it into a very positive deal. DeNooyer Chevrolet and Howard Tanner had been marketing Howard’s “HTR” Camaros and Corvettes for a while. It was kind of like what I was doing with Baldwin Chevrolet back in the day. DeNooyer and Tanner were building new Chevy supercars, ala the Phase III cars. A friend of ours contacted us letting us know that these guys in upstate New York that were using modified versions one of Marty Schorr’s old Baldwin Motion ads – WANTED! – in their advertising.
I didn’t know who they were but when I learned what they were doing, we worked out a deal for DeNooyer and Tanner to work with me and build and market Baldwin-Motion Gen V 427 & 454 Camaros. They even painted up the front showroom windows the same way we did at the Baldwin Chevrolet dealership. Just like that famous photo with “Fantastic Five” on the windows. It was pretty cool. And part of the deal was that I would be able to order Phase III 427-SC Camaro #01.
I did a lot of research on Howard and DeNooyer and must say that they have my full respect. Howard can do anything with modern performance cars, knows the electronics such that he can build the engines to specific horsepower levels, then adjust the electronics to get the car‘s emissions right. We couldn’t do any of that back in our day. They didn’t even have computers controlling fuel and spark. We were just told that we couldn’t remove ANY emissions devices. A lot’s changed.Continue reading “CorvetteReport.com Exclusive Interview: A Chat With Joel “Mr. Motion” Rosen”→
Dateline: 9.12.11 From the archives of Chevy Action Magazine, a turbocharged 350 Phase III Swedish export Corvette!
Perhaps if Car Craft Magazine hadn’t splashed the story, “King Kong Is Alive and Living On Long Island” in the January 1974 issue, Joel “Mr. Motion” Rosen would have had a few more years to build Baldwin Motion Phase III Supercars. It seemed that the federal government thought Motion had a huge enterprise that was cranking out thousands of pollution belching, tire burning , fire breathing social menaces. The DOT had some very stiff, crushing fines they wanted to levy against Rosen for EVERY emissions control device that was removed from every car he built. Talk about heavy-handed and over reaching.
In the end, after seeing that Motion Performance was a very small operation, the Feds backed off, fined Rosen $500, and issued a “cease and desist” order that precluded him from selling modified cars for street use. If cars were sold within the USA, a disclaimer went along with the car that read, “This vehicle does not comply with DOT and EPA regulations and is for off-road use only.” The disclaimer had to be signed by Rosen and the owner.
That pretty much put the kabash on the Baldwin Motion Phase III Supercars. However, if you bought a new Chevy or had a Chevy that you wanted “Motionized,” it was up to you as to getting your car inspected. If you were going to buy the car and take it outside the United States, no problem. Through the last half of the ‘70s and well into the ‘80s Mr. Motion built and sold lots of “export” supercars. Continue reading “ULTRA RARE! 1977 Motion Performance “Phase III” Turbo Corvette”→
I’ve been a big fan of Joel Rosen and Marty Schorr’s, Baldwin-Motion Phase III Supercars since 1968. While they were not the only tuners that were offering packaged supercars, they were the only ones to offer a money back guarantee that their car would run 11.50 in the quarter-mile, or YOUR MONEY BACK! Plus, Rosen and Schorr came up with a signature look for their cars that has been imitated by many.
In all the years that Phase III supercars were built and sold, not a single customer ever asked for a refund because their Phase III car didn’t perform!
I’ll be covering all the RED HOT Baldwin-Motion Phase III muscle cars – the Phase III Corvettes, Phase III Camaros, Phase III Novas, Phase III Chevelles, and the ultimate sleeper machine, the Phase III Biscayne. Continue reading “NEW BaldwinMotionReport.com Website!!!”→
Here’s one of the early Phase III SS-427 Corvettes that Rosen worked his magic upon. The side-pipes weren’t designed for the C3 but they sure looked “boss.”
Sometimes special “teams” organically seem to come together. You know, duos, such as, Abbot & Costello, Burns & Allen, Martin & Lewis, Lennon & McCartney. The specialty car market has a similar dynamic duo. But because what they created was so brilliant, it mostly took the spotlight off of them and on to the real stars, the Baldwin-Motion Phase III Supercars. “They” happen to be former editor of CARS Magazine, Marty Schorr and owner of Motion Performance, Joel “Mr. Motion” Rosen.
Be sure to catch our other Baldwin-Motion Stories,
