Built during the height of the muscle car wars, Dave Ankenbauer’s 1972 Phase III ZL-X 454 Corvette stands as a surviving Baldwin-Motion icon — blending big-block power, period performance upgrades, and a deeply personal American story.
On the cover was a bright yellow 427 Corvette, branded, “Baldwin-Motion SS-427 Phase III Corvette”! On top of the standard ’68 big-block hood bulge was a grafted-on ’67 Stinger 427 scoop that totally looked like it belonged there. On the sides of the Stinger hood were badges that read, “SS-427”. WOW
Scott: Welcome back to Far Out Radio. Joel “Mr. Motion” Rosen and Marty Schorr, the creators of the Baldwin Motion Phase-III supercars of the 1960s and 1970s, are here with us this evening. We’re doing some bench racing and talking about those ground-pounding Chevy supercars from back in the 1960s and 1970s. So Joel, you got the drag racing bug, huh?
Joel: Yea, yea, I got that drag racing bug. One of the things, just to digress just a bit, is that back in the gas station I had, I was one of the first guys with a dynamometer in New York. I was into things like oscilloscopes before people knew what an oscilloscope was – on a car anyway, and I started to teach myself about that stuff. Then a product came out that was a capacitive discharge ignition system, the forerunner of all of the capacitive discharge units, and MSDs and all that. It was an EI-4 and an EI-5, and started to read up on this and the material said that you could run .005 to .006 sparkplug gaps and the engine will run much better and keep it in tune, bla, bla, bla.
This interview appeared in the July 2017 issue of Vette Vues Magazine. Part 2 coming soon! – Marty Schorr is the former editor of CARS Magazine, the founder of Vette Magazine, and is the current editor and chief of CarGuyChrolicles.com, and PMPR, an automotive public relations form. Joel Rosen is the former owner of Motion Performance, on Long Island, in New York, and currently owns and runs Motion Models, a world-renowned, scale military model company in Florida.
In June 2013 I had the pleasure of interviewing Marty and Joel on my radio program, “Far Out Radio.” And now, you get to read the story from the guys that made it happen – Marty Schorr and Joel “Mr. Motion” Rosen. The guys created a legend and we’re still talking about it over 50 years later!
It’s a Friday Night Car Show at Far Out Radio! Our guest will be 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 renound scale military model company.
In November 2011 there were a few automotive bomb shells dropped on the MCACN Muscle Car Show. Namely three unique Baldwin Motion Corvettes. One Survivor Phase III 454 Corvette, one restored Motion Mako Shark Corvette, and one garage/barn find Corvette, the ‘76 Can-Am Spyder.
Since I have covered all of the Motion Performance Corvette cars in my Illustrated Corvette Series column, I decided to create a new print depicting all of the Motion Performance Corvettes. The basic Phase III Corvette, the Phase III GT Corvette, the Motion Maco Corvette, the Motion Manta Ray Corvette, and the Motion Moray Eel Corvette. Hopefully, more of the Motion Performance cars will surface. From survivor cars to extreme barn finds, it’s a good thing when they are brought back to life.
The last of Rosen’s Sharks was the Moray Eel. Built on a ‘72 Corvette, the Moray Eel was part Maco Shark, part Manta Ray. The flip front end was devoid of scoops, vents, pop-up or fared-in headlights and featured the Mako Shark II-style hood bludge. The roof section was pure Maco and the back end had the rear flipper-spoiler from the Manta Ray. The car shown here was the one and only Moray Eel built. As an aside, when the car was originally painted, something went terribly wrong with the paint. What was supposed to be pearl yellow turned out to be lime green. The paint was corrected when the car was totally restored in 2006.
Car Guys Who Lunch started in 2003 when a group of dudes with gasoline in their veins got together for burgers and bench racing in a cafe in Sarasota, Florida. A good time was had by all with everyone agreeing, “Lets do it again!” Within a year, “Sarasota Cafe Racers was officially launched, or should I say, “lunched.” (Arr, arr!) There are two aspects of Car Guys Who Lunch that make it so unique.
First, it’s a non-denominational car club – kind of a unitarian-like club. “What” you drive isn’t as important as your “passion” for driving and appreciation for unique automobiles. When the gang gets together for burgers and bragging, the issues, troubles, and concerns of the world are put on hold and the ONLY thing that exists is cars and a good lunch.
Second, if you like the concept, Marty and his team will help you start your own “Car Guys Who Lunch” chapter! How cool is that?!
