Muscle Car Special Editions

By Duncan Scott Brown

“Get one before one gets you!”

Motion Performance’s catchy sales pitch for builder Joel Rosen’s Phase III Specialty Muscle Cars sums up the escalating performance scene in the late 1960s. Special edition muscle cars were essential to keep pace. Joel and other independent car builders (such as Carroll Shelby, George Hurst, Dick Harrell, Mr. Norm, and Jim Wangers) did what the factories couldn’t do: take the muscle car and turn it into a tire-burning monster.

Although the Pontiac GTO established the muscle car category in 1964, a host of corporate safety restrictions restrained factories from offering turn-key race cars off the showroom floor. Independent car builders enhanced appearance and amplified performance in an attempt to do what the manufacturers wouldn’t. Motion Performance issued a written guarantee: Phase III cars would run 11.5 at 120 mph down the quarter-mile!

Some of the most iconic nameplates in automotive history were applied in this era with names that included Cheetah, Black Panther, Royal Bobcat, Super Hugger, Manta Ray, Super Snake, Deuce, Fast Track, and The Machine. How did manufacturers stealthily promote these special edition muscle cars as “halo cars” while pretending not to endorse them? What happened to these innovators when factories assimilated their ideas? It’s all covered inside.

Muscle car historian Duncan Brown takes us through these special edition muscle cars, their creators, and the behind-the-scenes forces that shaped these wild beasts into legends that left a lasting legacy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Car Tech
• Release date: Aug 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9781613257449

Duncan Scott Brown

Duncan’s history of muscle cars takes us back to a time of excitement. Muscle cars are a jolt of lightning: a daring statement from an optimistic time. Chronicling these cars uncovers the people who sparked the movement and brings us back to that era. Muscle Car Special Editions is Duncan’s second book published by CarTech. His first book was Lost Muscle Car Dealerships.

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CHAPTER 1

CHEVROLET

Chevrolet Motor Company was founded on November 3, 1911. It was named after racer Louis-Joseph Chevrolet, who was born on December 25, 1878. Louis left the company prior to Chevrolet’s May 2, 1918, merger into General Motors (GM), but performance marketing continued. GM ignored the 1957 Automobile Manufacturers Association racing ban until a 1963 AMA publicity statement and a potential anti-trust action from the government reined in GM.

Baldwin Auto Company’s showroom window advertises The Fantastic Five and The Sensational Six from Motion Performance. Left of the building’s entrance, Baldwin claims status as East Coast Headquarters for Chevrolet Racing Division. Except for the stock Chevelle SS with factory mag-style hubcaps, the run of cars out front are Motion-ized beasts with aftermarket mag wheels. (Photo Courtesy Marty Schorr)

Chevrolet restricted the installation of 427-ci engines to Corvettes and full-size B-Body vehicles. In the late 1960s, Chrysler mashed Chevrolet underfoot with visually appealing Hemi and 440 intermediates. Ford Total Performance crushed the street with Cobra Jets. Chevrolet was underwater with a self-imposed 400-ci, single-carburetor limit on intermediates and pony cars.

Chevrolet enabled specialty muscle car builders while feigning innocence. Executives Vince Piggins and Pete Estes pushed ZL-1 projects, and GM Engineers Dick Rutherford, Don Stoeckel, and Jerry Thompson refined high-performance parts under the cover of RST Engineering, a private company in Utica, Michigan. Specialty muscle car builders took the heat for moves that Chevrolet was forced to disguise and created radical rides that would have snarled up Chevrolet’s mass assembly lines.

Baldwin-Motion

Baldwin, New York

August Gus Simonin established Baldwin Chevrolet Company Inc. in the 1920s at Merrick Road and Central Avenue in Baldwin, Long Island, New York. Motion Performance relocated nearby in 1966.

Motion Performance was established in Brooklyn by avid racer and tuner Joel Rosen. Joel’s military aviation training as a reciprocating engine mechanic translated into flawless work tweaking high-performance cars. Joel plucked the Motion name from an electronic ignition system called the Motion EI-4 CD, which was made by Tung-Sol Electric.

Baldwin Gains Motion

Motion’s new premises at 598 Sunrise Hwy. in Baldwin, New York, led to good relations with Baldwin’s parts manager, John Mahler. Joel also gained support from Martyn L. Schorr, the honest but fair editor of Hi-Performance Cars magazine. Marty featured Motion in Hi-Performance Cars articles and created appealing Motion catalogues and newsletters.

427 Camaro Race Car

In the fall of 1966, Motion transformed an ordinary 1967 Camaro from Baldwin’s inventory into an L88 427 drag racing car that was sponsored by Motion Performance and Hi-Performance Cars magazine.

427 Customer Camaro

An explosion in performance parts and sales at Baldwin Chevrolet inspired it to team with Motion to offer 427 Camaros. Baldwin supplied a Camaro SS 350, which became the Baldwin-Motion Camaro 427 demo car. In the fall of 1966, the SS 350 was the best Camaro that Baldwin had available in inventory.

The new 350 was exclusive to the Camaro SS for the entire 1967 model year. Hot Rod magazine praised the 350 as a really sweet little small-block. When Ford added its 390 engine to the 1967 Mustang options list, it spurred Chevrolet to make the 325-hp version of the 396 available in the Camaro SS midway through the model year.

In early 1967, when Chevrolet included the solid-lifter 375-hp version of the 396 as a Camaro SS option, Motion ordered six at once. The yanked-out 375-hp engines were an easy sell to performance nuts, which offset some of the cost of the crate 427 engines. The Motion-ized Camaros received dyno tuning before the 427 transplants were listed for sale.

The basic SS 427 package was popular, but absolute speed freaks could order the heaviest package, which was named Phase III. After selecting a package, the customer tailored the car to suit his or her needs and budget. Motion catalogues listed a vast reservoir of additional goodies that a customer could load onto his or her car. Baldwin Chevrolet rolled the whole thing through General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC) financing.

The addition of an aftermarket ignition, headers, heavy-duty clutches, mag wheels, a high-rise intake, and other goodies only marginally increased monthly payments once consolidated over the term of a loan. Aside from Chevrolet and aftermarket high-performance parts, Joel’s proprietary body parts were available in kits. Fiberglass hoods with fresh-air scoops that permitted clearance for aftermarket high-rise intakes were quite popular.

Many street freaks could install parts on a car, but the Motion cars were more than a conglomeration of speed parts. These cars were tuned correctly and assembled from a vast reservoir of knowledge. Trial-and-error work done at home voided the warranty and was paid for up front out of pocket.

Camaro SS 427

The basic Motion Camaro SS 427 retained the factory-provided close-ratio 4-speed, Posi-Traction rear end, heavy-duty suspension, heavy-duty radiator, and red-line tires. The SS 427 added the 427-ci engine, traction bars, specialized ignition reworking, dyno tuning, and unique Motion stripes and emblems.

Many supercar dealers listed the 427 as a 450-hp engine in the 1960s. Initially, Chevrolet promoted top 427 engines as having 450 hp but later downgraded the rating to 425 hp during the third week of October 1965. Baldwin-Motion referred to the 427 as a 425-hp engine, and Motion-ized cars were more powerful than factory examples, which made 425 hp even more of an understatement.

This 1968 Baldwin-Motion Camaro Phase III has a white surround stripe that highlights the L88 identification. Chrome 427 badges on the raised stinger hood provide fair warning as to what’s powering this Camaro.

This 1968 Baldwin-Motion Camaro Phase III L88 427 fires with an aftermarket Mallory ignition. The original Holley 3-barrel carburetor was being rebuilt and is not on the engine.

The Baldwin-Motion installed stinger hood is secured with hood pins on this 1968 Camaro Phase III. Joel Rosen’s love affair with Corvettes fed into his use of the Corvette-themed hoods when building Motion Camaros.

Joel Rosen installed a color-matched aftermarket steering wheel in this 1968 Baldwin-Motion L88 Camaro Phase III along with a Hurst Indy shifter. Stewart Warner gauges include a 160-mph speedometer, full-sweep tachometer, and oil pressure, fuel, and water-temperature gauges. The odometer shows only 10,539 miles.

Phase III cars are purposeful, mean machines that are anxious to pounce. The first owner of this 1968 Baldwin-Motion L88 Camaro Phase III intended to street race it in his Texas hometown. Joel Rosen obligingly installed a toggle switch on the dash below the ignition key to kill the brake lights and taillights during inevitable police pursuits.

The Hurst Indy shifter in this 1968 Baldwin-Motion Camaro Phase III offers improved shifting ergonomics by offsetting the shifter close to the driver rather than locating it dead center on the transmission hump. You can usually hear an M22 transmission even in beasts like Chevelle SS 454 LS6s.

Blue cars are often considered calm and understated. None of those words apply to this 1968 Baldwin-Motion Camaro with an L88 427. Stormy skies are promised with Phase III boosting the factory race engine. Unlike his later Camaros, Joel Rosen maintained balance on his 1968. The Cragar S/S mags and fat tires perfectly fill out the wheel wells without distorting the lines of the car.

Camaro Phase III

Baldwin-Motion’s second level of Camaro was the outrageous Phase III, which pumped out 500 hp. Phase III engines often exceeded this rating, depending on specialized tweaks that were incorporated into the build.

Some of the Phase III Camaros used L88 427 engines. In stock factory form, L88 engines were above and beyond the regular 427s. The L88 was an actual racing engine that was hidden in plain sight on the regular production order (RPO) list. It was underrated at 430 hp, but its true horsepower easily exceeded 500.

Many Phase III cars were bored and stroked and topped with a huge Holley 3-barrel carburetor, high-rise intake, and functional hood scoop. Each car could deviate in certain ways to meet customer requirements.

Performance Guarantee

Phase III cars had a money-back guarantee to run the quarter mile in 11.5 seconds at 120 mph when driven by a Motion-approved driver. The boldness of that guarantee was justified. Joel Rosen never paid a refund.

Despite the incredible strip performance of a Phase III car, this wasn’t a trailered cantankerous screamer. Phase III cars were streetable but in no way tame. Behind the wheel of a Phase III car, the driver received a blast of noise as it ignited into a thumping pulse of pure rage. The Phase III cars were voracious and vicious, and yet the carburetor wouldn’t crap out in cold weather or foul the plugs in 30 seconds. Joel prepped the cars for reliable street action.

The Fantastic Five

Motion Performance applied the same basic upgrading process that it used with the Camaro to the full line of Chevrolet vehicles. Hi-Performance Cars magazine editor Marty Schorr created the memorable words The Fantastic Five to describe 427-powered Camaros, Chevelles, Corvettes, Biscaynes, and even a Chevy II.

No swap was needed to create 427 Corvettes or full-size Chevrolets that were available from the factory with the solid-lifter 427 engine. Joel avoided the expense of a top-of-the-line Impala by ordering low-cost grunt with lighter-weight 427 Biscayne post cars that were outfitted with a close-ratio 4-speed transmission. Once the small-car craze hit, Motion extended the conversion process to include the Vega.

Between 1967 and 1974, approximately 500 Motion supercars were created. Most are unique vehicles. Customers specified their own personalized modifications.

Camaro Focus

Joel owned and raced Corvettes and Cobras. Although he did business with rich customers, which required fuel-injection Corvette work, it was a small niche market. Joel’s specialty Corvettes similarly sold in small numbers.

Regular people needed a four-seat car with a trunk and gravitated to Camaros, Chevelles, Novas, or full-size Chevrolets. The Camaro became the central piece to the Fantastic Five and the sales leader for Motion. Joel Rosen drove Camaro demo cars to spread the word and sponsored a Camaro race car.

Motion 454 Camaros

The second-generation factory 1970½ Camaros were limited to 396 engines despite how GM rescinded the 400-ci ceiling on intermediates for 1970. E-Body Mopars received Hemis and 440s, but John DeLorean (a performance enthusiast and the head of Chevrolet Division) couldn’t convince GM to put the 454 LS6 into Camaros. Motion, of course, filled that void.

The basic 1970 Motion Camaro SS 454 was a solid-lifter beast that retained the LS6 factory 450-hp rating despite pumping out more than stock with better ignition and dyno tuning.

Motion’s second-generation 1970½ Camaro Phase III was credited with 500 hp but produced more. The Phase IIIs began with GM’s off-road use parts-counter 454 LS7. Chevrolet considered the LS7 as the stroked spiritual successor to the L88. Shying away from production installation, GM made the LS7 available through the parts department without the intake, carburetor, or water pump. That suited Joel just fine because he put his own tunnel ram intakes and 3-barrel, 850-cfm Holley carburetors on his cars anyway.

This 1971 Baldwin-Motion Camaro Phase III was first purchased by a dentist in Pennsylvania. The second owner was a young kid who made a splash driving the car to the Atlantic City Playboy Club on weekends. The outrageous L60-15 tires jutting far out of the rear wheel wells could barely handle the torque of the LS7 454 engine. Joel Rosen had to jack up this car to clear the crazy rear meats.

This 1971 Baldwin-Motion Camaro Phase III has a 454 LS7 that was not available in factory production cars. The LS7 had one mission: obliterate all other cars from the face of the Earth. Phase III cars featured an Edelbrock intake, Holley carburetor, headers, and finned valve covers. Motion logos and the Motion decal on the driver’s inner fender take credit for the mayhem.

Performance Camaros in factory form reduced power when dual exhaust systems ran into a single transverse-mounted restrictive muffler at the rear of the car. Motion solved exhaust restriction on the 1971 Camaro Phase III by using a pair of small Thrush mufflers that dumped out dual exhaust under the front seating area. The labyrinth of bends leading to the end of the car were eliminated along with the single rear transverse muffler.

Joel Rosen retained the stock gauges, steering wheel, and radio in the Baldwin-Motion 1971 Camaro 454 LS7 Phase III. Motion additions included a T-handle Hurst shifter and Sun Super Tach.

Motion cars have wild hoods that are held down with chrome hood pins. The 1971 Camaro Phase III reminds you that you are driving a specialty muscle car as you peer across elaborate scoops and stripes at the traffic ahead. Chevrolet-style fonts were used for the LS7 hood stickers.

The Baldwin-Motion 1971 Camaro uses a stripe pattern that is similar to the Baldwin-Motion Corvette GT. The side stripes widen and then sweep back up over the rear of the car. The motif is then picked up over the front hood.

Joel’s version of the 454 did not have the hood clearance issues that the factory had, which interfered with the full potential of these motors. Joel’s fiberglass hood hump, which was combined with a flat fly-eye air cleaner, allowed for the installation of aluminum high risers to get every iota of potential out of the 454s. Motion’s LS7 added headers, a high-capacitive-discharge distributor, an electric fuel pump, a heavy-duty clutch, and a scattershield.

Joel’s 1970s Camaros are cartoon-like, featuring wild stripes, scoops, massive oversize rear tires, traction bars, and a jacked-up stance. Motion liked the factory Z/28 as a starting point because it came with an M22 4-speed transmission, heavy-duty suspension that was calibrated for 15-inch wheels, and spoilers. Most commonly, however, the donor Camaros were 396-ci, 375-hp SS cars.

Motion’s Extreme Sharks

Joel indulged his love of Corvettes by creating Motion Corvette packages that included body parts that exaggerated the already-extreme style statement of the factory-built, 1968-style shark Corvettes.

Phase III GT Corvettes

After creating some standard SS 427-ci, 435-hp, dyno-tuned 1968 Corvettes, Joel offered a Mark III SS 427 that had a 160-mph guarantee — the full sweep on the factory speedometer!

Next, Joel produced Phase III GT Corvettes from April 1969 until 1971. These Corvettes included body modifications and, of course, packed insane powerplants.

Joel added a functional hood scoop atop the hood humps and flared the fenders to house ridiculously huge tires. Joel also anticipated the 1978 factory design by a decade when he replaced the vertical, flat, inset rear window from the factory with a big piece of glass that followed the rear C-pillars and made it a true fastback. The front lights were exposed, and rear round lights were changed to slit taillights.

Baldwin-Motion GT Corvettes were street-drivable brutal supercars, unlike the raw factory top dogs. Joel achieved true GT (grand touring) status by opening up the rear storage area with the fastback window. Now, you could carry luggage in a Corvette. Joel’s Corvettes also offered driving comfort unlike the ultimate factory performance Corvettes. Factory L88s were delivered as race cars without air- conditioning (A/C), a heater, or radio to discourage street use.

Joel Rosen stands in front of his Motion shop in the early 1970s sporting a hip hairstyle and jacket. To his left is an example of the best looking of all his Corvette kits. The Maco Shark eschews the exposed headlights used on Joel’s other Corvette body kits, which allows the front end to flow unimpeded by distractions. To Joel’s right is a mighty engine-swapped Vega that is painted with Motion script in the side body stripe. (Photo Courtesy Marty Schorr)

Motion-ized Corvettes pushing 500-plus horsepower could be ordered with A/C. If a customer wanted A/C, Rosen ordered the basic Corvette through Baldwin Chevrolet with the highest-horsepower engine option that was available with A/C. He retained the A/C pulleys and plumbing, pulled the engine, and installed a monster powerplant.

Motion ran factory A/C but employed a nifty trick. To limit RPM during high-speed cruising and spare the A/C compressor from instant destruction, Rosen coupled the

A/C order with a Hone overdrive on both automatic and 4-speed transmissions.

Hone Overdrive

A Hone overdrive not only saved the A/C unit but also made any Motion high-performance car into a well-rounded daily driver. Motion cars with steep gears could dig out of the hole ferociously but also easily cruise as a highway flier.

Overdrive is taken for granted in modern vehicles, but at the time Motion was thriving, overdrive had virtually vanished in factory applications.

The majority of domestic manufacturers offered overdrive until the late 1950s. It was phased out throughout the 1960s when the ideal transmission top gear was considered to be a direct 1:1 rear final drive ratio. If you had a crazy rear end, you were stuck with it on the highway.

This 1968 yellow catalogue car Corvette has authentic Motion Performance body parts, including the hood scoop, LeMans gas filler, flared fenders, reverse side gills, Mach 1 mirrors, and the rear spoiler. Period-correct BFGoodrich Radial T/A tires are mounted on Ansen aluminum slot wheels. Signature Motion stripes complete the look. (Photo Courtesy Joe and MaryLynn Tandle)

This Monaco Orange 1969 Corvette was sold through Norton Chevrolet in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Authentic Motion Performance customization parts (the Motion Phase III GT headlights and hood scoop) were used by a specialty Corvette shop 25 miles from Motion Performance to transform the Corvette into a Phase III GT. (Photo Courtesy Joe and MaryLynn Tandle)

The bolt-on overdrive unit used by Motion reduced the final-drive ratio by 30 percent. A Motion big-block Corvette with a 4.88:1 axle that previously thundered at painful decibel levels on the highway experienced a reduction in final-drive ratio to 3.42:1, which was much more livable.

The purchaser of a factory Corvette L88 (if he or she could get one) had to live with overwound highway revs and without A/C or a radio. The Baldwin-Motion Corvette owner with an L88 had deeper gears out of the hole and the capacity to fly on highways in cooled serene comfort while listening to the stereo.

Motion Maco Corvette

Motion Maco Sharks were built during the 1970s. Unlike Rosen’s other custom Corvettes, these cars adhered closely to GM design. The Maco Sharks were inspired by Chevrolet’s Mako Shark II Corvette show car that directly influenced the factory-production 1968 Stingray.

The Monaco Orange 1969 Phase III GT catalogue car has protruding gills and highly chromed side pipes that feed out of an elaborate swirl of header end pipes. Stock Corvettes had inset gills in the side vent area. Stock Corvette optional factory side pipes were natural finish with a single lead-in pipe. (Photo Courtesy Joe and MaryLynn Tandle)

MERCURY STREEP OVERDRIVE

In 1969, Mercury Division devised a solution to crazy highway revs during its Streep Scene era. Mercury coined the word streep to convey that the car could be used on the street (to commute to work) and strip (for weekend racing).

In Hot Rod magazine’s January 1969 edition, it wrote about a prototype 1969 428 Cougar Eliminator streep car. Double duty (racing and cruising) was possible with a Dana-Spicer dual-purpose differential that used a 0.675:1 overdrive, which could be engaged while the car was in motion. This flexible Mercury concept never made it into production, which left the Motion Hone overdrive cars as a rare example of a dual-purpose muscle car.

The 427-ci engine in the Monaco Orange Phase III GT catalogue car has Hooker headers, a fly-eye air cleaner, Holley carburetor, and an Edelbrock Torker II intake manifold. The finned Ansen valve covers include cast Motion emblems. The Flex-a-lite fiberglass fan works hard on this 550-hp Corvette. (Photo Courtesy Joe and MaryLynn Tandle)

The Monaco Orange 1969 Corvette has a rare Motion slanted back window. The Motion reverse side gills, hood scoop, LeMans gas filler, and Mach 1 mirrors complete the look. As your eye follows the widening black stripe that makes its way to the back of the car, note the bulging fender flares that shield the massive period-correct BFGoodrich Radial T/A tires on Ansen aluminum slot mag wheels. (Photo Courtesy Joe and MaryLynn Tandle)

John Silva’s Maco

Motion entered into an agreement with John Silva, who had already put the Maco body package together, and used his body kit. Later Motion kits were based on molds taken from John Silva. John’s patent (No. 1,029,656) lists his creation as Maco by Silva and Design, X-Avlis Motor Corporation, which was based in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Avlis is Silva spelled backward.

It is estimated that as many as 125 Macos were built by Avlis, and 6 Maco cars were built through Motion. Motion also sold body conversion kits, which resulted in many Corvette catalogue cars.

The Motion Maco version reproduced the factory show car’s pointed front nose and multihued shark paint job, which lightened as it reached the bottom of the car like a shark’s belly. Louvers covered a tapered backlight. Maco also incorporated a tilted front end with exaggerated fender humps. The Maco Shark name was deliberately misspelled, using a c instead of a k to distinguish it from the GM show car.

In 1972, Joel released a hybrid of Maco and GT concepts and named it Moray Eel. It anticipated the coming Manta Ray GT concept.

Manta Ray GT Corvettes

The Manta Ray GT Corvette custom incorporated the Phase III GT concepts and Maco details. Manta Ray GTs were built in 1973. The name originated with a GM show car named Manta Ray, which was a reworked version of the original Mako Shark II. Motion’s version used the same paint scheme and exposed headlights that were seen on the Phase III GT as well as the rear louvered fastback found on the Maco.

Can Am Spyder Corvettes

The final Rosen Corvettes were the Can Am Spyder Corvettes built from 1978 to 1979. These cars emulated John Greenwood widebody racers, which concealed ridiculously wide tires in a smoothly flowing design. Mancuso Chevrolet in Skokie, Illinois, developed a street car based on this design that was named the Sebring GT.

This 1968 white Corvette is either a Motion Performance shop modified car or a catalog car. The 427 M22 4-speed car was sold new at Hall Chevrolet, which is 18 miles from Baldwin Chevrolet. The first owner lived 10 miles north of Baldwin, New York, which may mean that there was a visit to Motion for the first layer of work done to the car. (Photo Courtesy Joe and MaryLynn Tandle)

The original owner of this 1968 white Corvette had the Motion flares, hood scoop, LeMans gas filler, Mach 1 mirrors, Phase III GT headlights, and the slanted rear window installed. Other Motion touches are chrome Hooker headers and side pipes, and period-correct BFGoodrich Radial T/A tires on Ansen aluminum slot mags. The second owner installed bucket headlights, front fender-top vents, and a Greenwood hood and rear spoiler. (Photo Courtesy Joe and MaryLynn Tandle)

Joel’s version once more included driver comfort as a priority. Aside from using his signature Hone overdrive for relaxed highway revs, Joel included a functional hatchback