A genuine Corvette supercar, a Baldwin-Motion Phase-III GT Corvette has a new home!
Dateline: 1.12.18, Image – Mecum Auction – One of the 10 Baldwin-Motion Phase-III GT Corvettes went “On The Block” today at the 2018 Mecum Kissimmee Auction. This was the only Phase-III GT Corvette built with the Shelby Mustang-style B-pillar scoops. The car was also featured many times in Marty Schorr’s “Hi-Performance CARS Magazine”, as well as “Corvette Fever” and “Chevy Rumble”.
Back in the day, this was a SUPER expensive custom car. In 1969 a fully-loaded 427/435 Corvette cost just over $6,000 – as much as a Cadillac! A Phase-III-GT could easily cost over $12,000! Continue reading “
1969 Baldwin-Motion Phase-III GT Corvette SOLD for $95,000! – VIDEO” →
Several very interesting and unique Corvettes will be ON THE BLOCK at the Mecum Kissimmee and Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Auctions over the next few weeks.
Dateline: 1.5.18, Images: Vette Vues, GM Archives, Mecum Auctions and Barrett-Jackson Auctions –“Auctions”, be they car or even farm auctions, are a lot of fun because it is the best example of “The Marketplace”. Things sell based on what people are willing to pay and not what sellers think something is worth. If a vehicle has a Reserve that isn’t met, that means that the Seller’s notion of the car’s value isn’t in alignment with the Market. If a vehicle has No Reserve, the Market will determine the vehicle’s value.
Bidding Wars and Feeding Frenzies can wildly drive prices up, making an auction a lot of fun to watch. On the other hand, excellent vehicles are often “Well Bought” at very good prices for a variety of reasons; rough condition, poor presentation, high production numbers, and cars that are just plane weird!
Two major car auctions are upon us with some very interesting and unique Corvettes that may or may not find new owners. The Mecum Kissimmee Auction starts today, January 5, 2018 and runs to January 14, 2018. The Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Auction starts January 13, 2018 and runs to January 21, 2018
Of interest to Corvette and Chevy fans are the following cars;
January 12, 2018 – Mecum Kissimmee, 1969 Baldwin-Motion Phase-III GT Corvette. Lot F139
Dateline: 8.1.11 An intimate conversation with Marty Schorr – Baldwin Motion, VETTE Quarterly, and other adventures…
(Our conversation picks up with an enterprise that’s still being talked about! You can catch Pt. 1 of this interview, HERE.)
Prototype 1968 Baldwin Motion Phase III SS-427 Corvette
ST – That’s a great segue Marty, let’s talk about the Baldwin-Motion experience.
MS – Baldwin Chevrolet was an old, local, mom & pop Chevy dealership. Joel was friends with John Mahler, the parts manager, and it all started out as a sponsorship with a strippo, red, big-block Camaro that they dropped an L-88 427 into and went drag racing. It was an advertising / promotion thing. The car ran great and we put our heads together and pitched a program to the Baldwin Chevrolet owners for a full line of supercars called, “The Fantastic Five” that included a Camaro, Chevelle, Nova, Impala, and of course, a Corvette.
We would start off with the biggest optioned engine and heavy-duty suspension and drive train, then we would drop in a 427 with a lot of hot rod parts. Because we were starting off with the toughest stuff available from the factory, the cars were amazingly durable, and still under warranty. We added aftermarket wheels, custom stripes, and badges that created a complete brand. The cars put Baldwin Chevrolet on the map and everyone made money. I did all the branding, catalogs, and ads, we had a shop do the custom stripping, and Joel did the conversions and final tests. Every car was guaranteed to run 12.5 in the quarter-mile with a professional driver. For a time we were the biggest specialty car maker under Shelby. When we got into the V-8 Vegas, Baldwin Chevrolet really didn’t want to have them branded as “Baldwin-Motion” cars because they were front heavy and didn’t handle very well. So if you ever see any of the Vega cars we did, you notice that they are “Motion Performance” car and not “Baldwin-Motion” cars.
Marty discovered that if he ran a hot Corvette on the cover of a magazine, news stand sales would improve. That's called "Corvette power."
ST – I was a teenager when you were splashing those incredible Baldwin-Motion and muscle car road tests in CARS. You assembled a group of writers that made the magazine something to look forward to every month. How did that all come together?
MS – When it comes out right, you’re a hero, otherwise, you’re a bum. The perception was that East Coast magazines only sold to East Coast guys. Remember that back then, because Hot Rod and Car Craft owned the newsstands, it looked like nothing was happening on the East Coast. The image was that the West Coast shops were these giant sophisticated shops – palaces – at least, that’s the way they looked in print. The first time I went to the West Coast I was shocked to see the Bill Thomas’ shop was just a little place. Dana Chevrolet only did their high-performance cars for about 1-1/2 years. Baldwin-Motion made cars for six years. The East Coast places like TASCA, SRD, Stahl, Baldwin-Motion, and Grumpy hardly got any attention at all. (Grumpy became one of drag racing’s rock stars after Pro Stock exploded in ‘70 – ST) And the editors of the West Coast books were all treated like heroes and you had to get an appointment just to talk to them. We had a lot to work with on the East.
Joe Oldham was a street racer kid that used to deliver flowers in my neighborhood and then one day he came into the CARS office to sell a Pontiac-go-fast article. It turned out that Joe used to deliver flowers in my neighborhood and knew my red Bonneville Coupe with the eight-lug wheels. Joe is now the editor of Popular Mechanics and for a long time was my road test driver and a columnist.
Roger Huntington was an engineer that used to write tech features for us. Not many readers knew that Roger had been wheelchair-bound all his life, but he wrote good tech features.
One of our early guys, Fred Mackerodt, started with CARS in ‘64 and today he’s a PR guy with a GM account. Fred was a very good editor even though he never graduated from high school. He was a good humorist writer to and used to do stories under the pen name of “Dilbert Farb.” (His trash truck road test had me in stitches when I was a kid. – ST) Cliff Gromer was another one of our regular guys, along with Alan Root, Alex Walordy, Stewart Yale, Fred Cohen, Joel Rosen, and others. Continue reading “Interview With VETTE Magazine Founder & First Editor, Martyn L. Schorr – Pt. 2”→
The Phase III GT was only a few months old, and Joel Rosen rolled out an even WILDER version of his ultimate Corvette GT.
A few months after Joel Rosen and Marty Schorr rocked the house at the ‘69 New York Auto Show with the Baldwin Motion Phase III Corvette, plus, got the official blessing from Corvette chief engineer, Zora Arkus-Duntov, the next version of the GT was shown on the September ‘70 issue of High-Performance CARS Magazine. The fixed-headlight was a real polarizer, but it was definitely unique. It’s too bad that federal regulations did not allow for the clear lexan headlight covers, because the covers were available for “show” or “off road” use only, and looked great.
From 1969 to 1971 only 12 Phase III GT Corvettes were built. Due to the extensive custom body work on top of the performance enhancements, the Phase III GT Corvettes were THE most expensive of all of the Baldwin-Motion Phase III Supercars. Continue reading “The Baldwin-Motion Phase-III GT Corvette – Version 2.0”→
Here’s how Rosen’s Sharks got started. MORE TO COME!
As if the Phase III SS-427 wasn’t enough, Joel Rosen unleashed his version of what he thought a GT, or “Grand Touring” Corvette should be at the New York International Auto Show in April 1969. The European GT concept was based on a car with a strong chassis, big engine, heavy duty breaks, room for two, plus space for luggage. Rosen ascertained that the only American car that would fit that bill would be a 427 Corvette. While I didn’t get to see the car at the show, I could NOT miss the August 1969 issue of CARS Magazine with what looked like a stunning, blazing red, ‘68 Corvette with some very interesting body work. Actually, the car was Monaco Orange, but it sure looked RED in print.
The standard Baldwin Motion performance enhancements were applied to the already heavy duty Corvette as a starting point. The new big feature was the fastback rear window that opened up the interior space behind the seats, providing more storage space that a C2 Sting Ray Coupe. Continue reading “CARS Magazine Archive: The First Phase III GT Corvette”→
By the late ‘60s, big-block Chevys were always contenders against anything from Ford and Mopar. Within the story line of muscle car history, the Baldwin-Motion Supercars are legends. For John Q. Public, a regular muscle car was often times more than enough. Then there were those who wanted more.
In the mid-’60s, Long Island speed shop owner Joel Rosen had areputation for building tough street and strip cars. Unlike Carroll Shelby’s deal with Ford to build quasi-SCCA Mustangs, Rosen struck with local dealer Baldwin Chevrolet to offer supercar versions of new Chevy muscle cars that were custom built to order and guaranteed to run 11.5 in the quarter-mile with a qualified driver.
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,
Joel Rosen & Marty Schorr Create a Corvette Legend!
From 1967 to 1969, the hottest street Corvette was the 427/435 L71. Not a bad ride for most folks. But Joel Rosen isn’t “most folks.” Rosen owned Motion Performance in Brooklyn, New York in the late ’50s and ’60s, and was having considerable success as a local drag racer-tuner. In ’67 Joel struck a deal with the owners of Baldwin Chevrolet, in Baldwin, New York, to make 427-engine versions of the new Camaro. When the ’68 Corvette came out, Joel knew that he had to make a special red-hot version. The ’69 Baldwin-Motion SS-427 Phase III Corvette was born.
Adam Tuckman’s “Dr. Rollings'” 1971 Baldwin-Motion Phase III GT Corvette To Debut At Muscle Car & Corvette Nationals!
Story & Photos by Martyn L. Schorr
Intro: I was just a car-crazed lad when I saw my first Baldwin-Motion Phase III Corvette on the cover of CARS Magazine. The bright yellow machine had ‘67 side-pipes, the Baldwin-Motion signature-style ‘67 big-block Corvette hood scoop on top of the ‘68 big-block hood dome, a GTO hood-mounted tach, flares on the wheel openings and deep-dish Cragar mags. WOW! What’a sight! Joel Rosen made sure the cars had a heap’n help’n of red meat and Marty Schorr, CARS editor and Motion coconspirator, made sure there was plenty of sizzle!
Baldwin-Motion cars went on to delight Chevy lovers for years and quickly became legends. In ‘69, Rosen turned the Phase III Corvette to the Baldwin-Motion Phase III GT – the most expensive of all of the Baldwin-Motion cars. After specialty cars roll (or peal out) out the door, many live hard, hard lives, with less than happy endings. But then some become cherished members of their owners families. This is the story of a much loved and enjoyed Phase III GT Corvette.
So, with much delight, let me turn this story over to the ultimate Baldwin-Motion spin master, Martyn L. Schorr. Take it away, Marty! – KST
Not all Vettes are red. Many of Duntov’s mule Corvettes were white – so were most of Bill Jenkins race cars and Jim Hall’s Chaparrels. Sano white was Dr. Rollings color choice for his personal Grand Touring Corvette.
Purchased from the original owner’s family in 2008, Adam Tuckman’s 1971 Baldwin-Motion Phase III GT Corvette is the last built, highest-optioned and most original known. Between 1969 and 1971, Joel Rosen produced just 12 GTs. Continue reading “The Last Baldwin-Motion Phase III GT Corvette!”→
Dateline: 1.12.18, Image – Mecum Auction – One of the 10 Baldwin-Motion Phase-III GT Corvettes went “On The Block” today at the 2018 Mecum Kissimmee Auction. This was the only Phase-III GT Corvette built with the Shelby Mustang-style B-pillar scoops. The car was also featured many times in Marty Schorr’s “Hi-Performance CARS Magazine”, as well as “Corvette Fever” and “Chevy Rumble”.
