Marty Schorr did most of the cover photography. Between his use of wide-angle lens
and very good art directors, Cars magazine covers typically jumped right off the
newsstand. (Photo: K. Scott Teeters’ Cars Archive)Baldwin/Motion Performance Group catalogs and ads have become collector items.
Catalogs typically cost $1.00 (Photo: K. Scott Teeters’ Cars Archive)instead of talk back!” Rosen was a road
racer and a drag racer with a serious
advantage; his shop had a Clayton chas-
sis dynamometer that enabled him to
test and measure setups for his race cars
and customer cars.
The specialty car business was noth-
ing new. During the same time, there
were Shelby Mustangs in Venice,
California; Dana Chevrolet Camaros
in South Gate, California; and Nickey
Chevrolet Camaros in Chicago. The
history of specialty cars is almost as old
as the automotive era. Harley Earl, the
creator of the Corvette, grew up in his
father’s custom coachbuilding business
in Hollywood during the early 1900s.
Earl designed and built custom cars
for Hollywood stars and moguls. Earl
Motorworks would purchase a high-
performance chassis and drivetrain
(typically a Cadillac or Pierce-Arrow)
and custom-build the body and interior.
Baldwin-Motion cars were not unlike
the Earl Motorworks cars. While the
Shelby, Dana and Nickey cars were a
set package with minor differences,
a Baldwin-Motion SS-427 Phase III
Supercar customer first went to Baldwin
Chevrolet and ordered their SS 396
Camaro, Nova, Chevelle, Impala/
Biscayne or 427 Corvette. The customer
could choose the body color, interior
and trim, and have access to the entire
menu of Chevrolet factory options.
Since they were ordering the perfor-
mance SS model, the car came with all
of the necessary heavy-duty suspension
and brake parts.
Upon delivery to Baldwin Chevrolet,
the car was sent to Motion Performance
for conversion into an SS-427 Phase III
supercar. Every Baldwin-Motion car was
unique, but similar. At the beginning of
the ordering process, Joel “Mr. Motion”
consulted with the customer about what
they wanted from their car. Thanks
to Rosen’s racing and shop experi-
ence, he knew which combinations
worked best for street and street/strip
machines. Baldwin-Motion supercars
weren’t just about speed parts, Rosen
created a unique signature look for the
cars. Typically, the cars wore a Corvette
stinger hood, 1965-’67 Corvette side
pipes, mag or slotted wheels shod with
the fattest tires of the day and SS-427
That’s Joel “Mr. Motion” Rosen in
the driver’s seat and Marty Schorr
(the founder and first editor of
Vette) in Adam Tuckman’s 1970
Baldwin-Motion Phase III 454
Chevelle at the 2011 Muscle Car
and Corvette Nationals (MCACN)
in Chicago. (Photo: Martyn L.
Schorr Archive)Rosen started his automotive career as
a Corvette guy. By the time he was build-
ing SS-427 Phase III Corvettes, he was
in his element. Rosen and Duntov hit it
off great. Whenever Duntov was in New
York City, he would get together with
Rosen for cocktails and bench racing.
(Photo: K. Scott Teeters’ Cars Archive)By 1968, Rosen had the Baldwin-Motion
“look” worked out. This SS-427 Phase
III Camaro started out as a 1968 SS/RS
model with the optional hidden head-
lights. The Stinger hood looks like it was
designed to be there. Odds are that Chev-
rolet never considered Corvette-style
side pipes for the Camaro. (Photo: Mar-
tyn L. Schorr Archive)VETTEWEB.COM 45