Interesting thought

[supergonzo]

WOW..
What was the quality of work Motion performed back then? I never had work done there myself. So I do not know from personal experience. For the most part I think their work was okay. I was in the shop bays quite a few times, looking at what they were working on. At this time I was young myself and working as a mechanic/car painter in a collision shop, to support my Hot-Rod habit.

What was their reputation in the NY area? They weren't a hardcore one-stop race shop, as they did not have a machine shop, but sent the work out to be done. They then assembled the necessary parts at Motion. This was for short blocks. Other than that they did most of the work themselves. Their reputation was okay I guess, Motion appealed to the guy who knew a little, but not alot about muscle cars/vettes. There were many specialty shops that were more popular among the super stock racers. Motion Phase III Vettes were promoted heavily and appealed to the guy who could afford them and didn't know much else about cars. Don't get me wrong they RAN and were FAST most times.

Custom Corvette Enterprises is another specialty shop with a GOOD reputation. I don't know Robert,so I really can't comment on his situation.
As far as teeneagers working on cars, I don't think I ever saw that at Motion. As far as the quality of work they did overall, I'd say they were okay. To be fair I am sure every place has one or two or more horror stories, sometimes things just screw up.

As far as Joel Rosen not living up to his end of a bargain...well.....
My main point about Motion is that it was a place that was well advertised. Got featured in local magazines, etc. etc. Who do you think paid for all that advertising???
Was their work a good value??? Here's an example:

1973...Buy a Hot new CD Ignition from JC Whitney at $29.95
....or Buy the same Hot new CD Ignition from Joel with a Motion sticker on it for $89.00

.........Funny thing is that....ITS STILL WORKING!!
Buy a beautiful 69' BB Camaro, mostly all original for $25K
OR by nice undocumented "Phase III" BB Camaro for....$100K

[JoeC]

Supergonzo, Do you go the LI car shows? I went to 2 last weekend. One at the PAL Sports Complex in Holtsville and another at Flowerfield in St. James. While talking to some of the vendors (asking if they had any Motion parts) some of them express the same perspective about the Motion cars as you. One vendor was telling me he didn't think Motion was such a dig deal back in the day and could not understand why the Motion cars have high value today. He happened to be a vendor selling diecast models. I asked him why there are so many Motion diecast car models today. He just laughed and said "I can't understand it."

The fact is Motion Performance built cars that are considered SuperCar Legends. It is similar to the Sports or Music industry where certain people or bands become Superstars and others don't. The superstars don't always have more talent then the ones that don't make it but somehow with a mixture of luck, public perspective, and some talent, they rise to the top. MP did win some drag racing titles and did design some of his own fiberglass parts but a large part of the Motion legend was caused by Marty Schorr. Marty was the editor of Cars magazine and other magazines and did a lot of articles on MP. Marty still has a company called PMPR Inc. and works on automotive product promotions and still writes some articles. He created the Motion ads, catalogs, and promotional material. What Baldwin/Motion did was not all that much different then what other hi po dealers did but Joel and Marty had that special mixture of luck, public perspective, and talent, and MP rose to the top of the SuperCar world. I can still remember reading some of the outrageous Motion ads back in the 70s that boasted about 11 sec ETs, 9 sec 454 Vegas, and showed a graveyard with FORD, MOPAR, and AMC on the gravestones. Motion was building hi po cars that came with a 11 sec ET guarantee and you could buy them at a Chevy dealer using GMAC. They continued building, selling, and advertising hi po cars until the Government shut them down. MP history is all there for anyone to see, documented by the old car magazines. Motion cars are SuperCar legends.

[supergonzo]

""Supergonzo, Do you go the LI car shows?"" Sometimes I do, but those shows are in suffolk county and are a pain to get to for me. I have gone to Bellmore when it was going last year. I have been to both of the shows you mentioned, just not recently. I DO still go to test and tune at westhampton track regularily. I race pure stock muscle cars, and belong to the American Muscle Car Association, which runs the national pure stock drags every year in Ohio. Which I go to.

""the same perspective about the Motion cars as you. One vendor was telling me he didn't think Motion was such a dig deal back in the day and could not understand why the Motion cars have high value today.""" I Couldn't agree more

""What Baldwin/Motion did was not all that much different then what other hi po dealers did but Joel and Marty had that special mixture of luck, public perspective, and talent"",...Yes all true, what they did best was promote their NAME..MOTION...other places just did the work and that was that.

""Motion was building hi po cars that came with a 11 sec ET guarantee and you could buy them at a Chevy dealer using GMAC"".Yes the 11 sec ET, ever hear of any body collecting on it??

""They continued building, selling, and advertising hi po cars until the Government shut them down.""
The Government shut down ALL customized car businesses, because of safety reasons, this eliminated alot of dune-buggy manufacturers almost immediately. Motion got some heat for trying to produce BBC Vega's. That didn't go over to well with the then safety minded government.

""Motion cars are SuperCar legends."" I agree, they build some nice cars, it seems stickers and ads however can go along way to establishing a legend.

[Steven J]

Supergonzo, I've attended the stock muscle car race in Ohio, which car is yours ?

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Supergonzo;
what was 'Speedwin' like? Were they a major speed shop in LI?

I have been through that area (Baldwin) a few times...great place to street race...I have seen quite a few of the articles on the Motions..the pictures show cars that look like the modifications were done with a pair of tin snips in some cases..not really that professional of a job...case in point the side exhaust on a '69 Nova...skirts look like a kid cut the clearance cuts...I guess the whole point was going fast..

[djunod]

Some of the work was sub-contracted out. For example:

There's a guy in the area here that when he saw my Maco, came up and started talking to me. He said "We used to build those for Motion". He worked in a shop in New Jersey that did the Maco's and some of the other cars. I never did ask him the name of the shop. I should probably look him up again and ask him about it some more.

[supergonzo]

Steven J,interesting, I have a 69' Judge RAIV it runs mid 13's.
Dan Jensen ran a Blue LS6 car this year, it went high 12's. I am thinking about purchasing a LS6.

Speedwin...not a big shop

Some of the work was contracted out, such as bodies, like Maco's and dune buggies, they were built on Lawson Blvd. In Oceanside L.I. and sent about 4 miles over to Motion.

[Chevy454]

supergonzo:

I'm thinking Jensen's Chevelle went 12.50s...Pete can correct me on exactly where, but that thing was hauling.

[supergonzo]

Dan's LS6 now runs 12.12's....as he now has that car running super.