Phase xxx Chevelles

[396guy]

I'm doing research for a book on 1969 SS396 Chevelles and trying to find information on Baldwin-Motion "Phase" Chevelles. All I can seem to find is data on Phase III cars. Were there Phase I and/or Phase II Chevelles as well? Anyone know the difference or can point me to somewhere that can. I have Marty Schorr's "Tales of a muscle car builder" but can't find information on anything but Phase III cars. Was Phase III just a sales gimmick?

[JoeC]

Motion "Phase III" was used in different ways but I think was meant to represent the top of the line , best , or highest quality, most expensive, of a certain thing.

for example, The Phase III Camaro had many options and was set up similar to the Modified Production Camaro drag car that MP raced but not all Motion Camaros were built with all those options. They were not all "Phase III" Camaros but there was not a Phase I Camaro or a Phase II Camaro

The "Phase III Super Spark CD System" was a capacitive discharge ignition box sold by Motion Performance

here are some other examples how "Phase III " was used in the Motion Performance ads;

Baldwin Motion Performance Group Phase III SS 427 Supercars

The Phase III GT is the quickest and fastest GT in the would

Join the Phase III winner's circle

Phase III Super Spark CD System

Powered by the Phase III engine

[Mr70]

This goes to 11..

[whitetop]

I have never heard of a Phase 1 or 2. As Joe C pointed out Phase III sounds better than Phase I

[Hawkeye]

Baldwin Motion did offer options to build Phase I, II & III supercars. In the full size 1968 catalog on the inside cover is "A Message From The Baldwin-Motion Performance Combine".
In that message it states, "The sky's the limit. Besides our programmed Phase I, II & III street/strip cars, we will build on special order blueprinted motors and ready-to-run race cars." None of the following pages really acknowledge the Phase I & II options, but they were options since you could order any car anyway you wanted it. It seems they only spelled out exactly what options were in a Phase III car. I was told of a Phase II 1968 Camaro that is not an openly known car, but until documentation is verified it is just that.
Phase III was the whole package and could be added to a 302 powered Z/28, SS396 or the SS427.
To answer the original question posted, there are documented Phase III SS396 and SS427 Chevelles, but I have not seen any documented Phase I or II. But, that doesn't mean they aren't out there. What of the old CARS article chronicling the 1969 Chevelle that Motion Performance did the intake, carb and header work? Would that be Phase I? Need to dig up the article and reread it.
Attached is a photo from inside the 1968 catalog and then one from the 1969 catalog for some additional reference.

[JoeC]

I don't recall any Phase I , or Phase II cars.
I think that ad is referencing Phase I , Phase II , and Phase III engine options which is in some of the ads, but I don't think those were used very often either.

In the second part of this interview Joel Rosen talked about the “Phase-III” name.

http://www.corvettereport.com/the-mo...ience-part-ii/


quote from this interview....

"Being a Corvette guy right from the beginning, that’s where my roots were, so now, I had an “in” with Baldwin Chevrolet. I went to them and talked them into doing a package, which was our SS-427 basic car and we went on.

Part of the name was that because we used our Phase III Ignition system, we decided to call the cars “Phase-III.” We also had our own Grant steering wheel business, which very few people knew. The capacitive discharge ignition system we had built for us, we called it a Phase-III Ignition. "

[Lee Stewart]

https://www.mecum.com/lots/SC0513-15...n-chevelle-ss/

1 of 2 Phase III 1969 SS396 Chevelles that BM did.

You could order a 427 Camaro/Chevelle/Nova SS or a Phase III SS396 Camaro/Chevelle/Nova or a Phase III SS427 Camaro/Chevelle/Nova

[Hawkeye]

JoeC, thanks for the link. Both parts were great reads.

[JoeC]

He said that was from a radio interview in 2013

I wonder if he recorded it

[Hawkeye]

Found it on YouTube. Enjoy!


https://youtu.be/5O2SdKfoxvs