Scott Teeters Talks With VETTE Magazine Founder, Marty Schorr

Bench Racing With VETTE Magazine Founder, Marty Schorr

Dateline 5.17.13

To listen to the FREE Archived Show, CLICK HERE.__________________________________

Marty-Schorr-FB-72 Our guest is author and automotive journalist, Marty Schorr. Marty is a “car guy’s, car guy.”

With over five decades of hands-on experience, behind the wheel and under the hood of some of the most amazing cars ever, plus capturing images with his camera and word-smithing the life and times of the American muscle car, Marty Schorr has a unique perspective.

Marty came of age in the ‘50s, right at the beginning of the birth of America’s postwar love affair with performance cars. After joining a hot rod club in his home town of Brooklyn, New York, Marty learned that his real talent wasn’t driving race cars or spinning wrenches, though he definitely is skilled in those areas.

Marty’s gift is in the arena of visual arts and word-smithing. By the late ‘50s Marty got the bug for writing stories and photographing hot cars for magazines. What started out as a passion for cars became a lifelong career.

Baldwin Motion Shop By the early ‘60s after a stint in the US Army, Marty landed a job with a New York car magazine titled, “CARS Magazine.” It wasn’t long before Marty became the editor of CARS, then the managing editor for several other specialty car magazines with the same publisher. A chance encounter, via a letter from a CARS Magazine reader and performance car mechanic named Joel Rosen, soon became a business enterprise.

Marty Schorr's magazines Schorr and Rosen launched the Baldwin-Motion line of Supercars in ‘67 and created an instant legend. Specialty versions of Detroit’s hottest muscle cars were becoming quite popular. The two young motorheads worked a deal with local Long Island, New York Chevy dealer, Baldwin Chevrolet to create ultra-performace versions of five of Chevy’s hottest muscle cars.

Phase III Camaros Marketed as “The Fantastic Five,” Rosen spun the wrenches and built 427 big-block Impala/Biscaynes, Chevelles, Novas, Camaros, and Corvettes, all branded, “Phase III Supercars.” Each car was guaranteed to run the quarter-mile in at least 11.5-seconds with a qualified driver and were loaded to the gills with performance goodies.

Rosen served up the steak and Schorr provided the sizzle. With bold, brash, “in-your-face” ads, catalogs, brochures, road tests and hot cover shots on Hi-Performance CARS Magazine, a performance car legend was born. Today, nearly 50 years later, genuine Baldwin-Motion Phase III Super Cars are some of the most valuable muscle cars of their era.

Baldwin Motion Book by Marty Schorr And that’s just the first third of Marty’s career! In the ‘70s Marty launched VETTE Quarterly, the first “Corvette only” news stand magazine that quickly became a monthly publication that is still being published today. I have been a contributing writer and artist for VETTE since ‘76 and have been a monthly columnist since ‘97.