View Single Post
  #20  
Old 04-18-2008, 09:02 AM
COPO COPO is offline
Yenko Contributing Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Atlanta, GA & the Middle East
Posts: 3,022
Thanks: 399
Thanked 376 Times in 200 Posts
Default Re: 67 Baldwin/Motion chevelle 427

Hello Ron and welcome to the board. I was the one who purchased this car from Tom in Trumbel, CT about 5 years ago, but sold it about 6 months back to another member on the board as I had way too many cars that needed to be restored. It is currently being restored in VA and should be finished in about a year. This car is certainly one of the most significant Baldwin Motion cars that survived. When I purchased the car, it still had the title in the name of Ann Mason who would be your grandmother signed over to your uncle Eddie and then to Tom.

The car was as you described it, still had the remnants of the blue shag carpet, the rear speakers that looked like pipe organs, and the remnants of side pipes. I also found an empty pint of bacardi rum in the car, which perhaps is related to the story you told about your uncle hitting a parked car. The motor and trans were gone, but the original 12 bolt rear was still intact and matched the original protect-o-plate. The front sheet metal was mostly gone as well. The other thing I found interesting was the car had a tow hitch on the back. I spoke with Joel Rosen several times about the car, and he remembered it very well and it remains one of his favorites.

You may have heard the story of how the car went from the original black vinyl top to the white one that you remember. It happenned sometime around 1968 / 69 at New York National Speedway when Joel Rosen himself was racing the car. Apparently the car got sideways near the starting line and left the track and rolled over and came to rest on the roof with Joel inside hanging upside down with his seatbelt holding him in. He wasn't badly injured, but the car then needed a new roof and the old one was cut off and a new one welded on. That's when the car got the white vinyl top.

Joel also indicated that this car was the one and only '67 BM Chevelle that was sold that year as there were very few '67 Baldwin Motion cars built that year of any model as it was the first year of the new program. The original paperwork showed the car was sold from Baldwin Chev. in August of 1967 so that also makes sense as it was the very end of the model year. To my knowledge, it is the only documented '67 BM car of any model that survives except for the Astoria Chas 67 Corvette.

The other thing that was interesting about the car's history is that it was a test bed for many of the new speed parts that were coming out back in the day. It was the first car to run an experiemental edelbrock tunnel ram intake. When the car had the tunnel ram, and the clutch flite trans, it was running 10 second quarters. All of this is in some of the car magazines from the late 60's.
There are about 4 or 5 vintage magazine articles about the car and one in particular tells all about how the car left Baldwin Chevrolet with all the Motion modifications.

I am sure the new owner will contact you soon, but perhaps you culd see if your dad or uncle still have some old photos of the car and post them.

Reply With Quote