lettered MOTION on the front fender.
When he started winning races, the
buzz around the pits was, “Hey, did you
see the Motion car?” The name stuck
and it all started on Joel’s Corvette.
Once the 1968 Fantastic Five
Baldwin-Motion SS-427 supercars were
up and running, thanks to Schorr’s bril-
liant in-your-face ads and cover stories
in Cars they were getting tons of atten-
tion. From here, Motion Corvettes
became Rosen’s pet projects. From 1968
to 1974, Rosen produced six signifi-
cantly unique Corvettes: SS-427 Phase
III Corvettes, Phase III GT Corvettes,
Motion Maco Corvettes, Motion Manta
Ray Corvettes, the Motion Moray Eel
and Motion Can Am Spyders. Of the
six Motion Corvettes, there were more
SS-427 Phase III Corvettes than the
other five. The other cars had extensive,
expensive custom bodywork. What dif-
ferentiates the six Motion Corvettes is
their theme and bodywork.
Phase III SS-427 Corvette
This was the foundation Motion
Corvette. Distinctive outer markings
included a ’67 Stinger hoodscoop atop
the stock big-block hood dome, flared
wheelwell openings to cover the ultra-
wide tires shod on American mags or
slotted aluminum wheels and 1965-’67
Corvette factory side exhausts. After
1968, most Phase III Corvette custom-
ers used the factory ’69 side pipes and
covers because they fit better than the
C2 units. Phase III Corvettes also had
a single, center-mounted traction bar
and most of the engines had unique
Motion-branded valve covers and a fly-
eye air intake air filter. There was a host
of other options that included a Chevy-
branded (Pontiac) hood-mounted tach,
various stripe packages, and later in
1969, Hooker header side pipes. The
sum of the parts was indeed greater
than the whole.
Phase III GT Corvette
Rosen and his wife liked Corvettes
and big dogs; a tight fit in a C3
Corvette. Joel got to thinking it would
be great to have a fastback rear win-
dow that would be easy to install. That
way Mr. and Mrs. Motion could enjoy
their Corvette and dog, too. What Joel
created was a European-inspired GT
Corvette. A classic Grand Turismo GT
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