ASTORIA CHAS’ KO-MOTION L88 CORVETTE

Posted on August 27, 2026August 27, 2026 by MartynL

Fifty-eight years ago today, “Astoria Chas” Snyder lost his life in Vietnam. ASTORIA CHAS’ KO-MOTION L88 CORVETTE is a four-wheeled memorial that speaks volumes about Chas and young Americans and their dreams! In 1967 in Astoria, NY, Charlie Snyder was 20 and living the American dream. He drove a very fast 1967 427/435 Corvette convertible and was a regular at “Connecting Highway” and other local area street racing haunts. Looking like a cross between James Dean and The Fonz, he was, accordin...

CORVETTE MACO vs MAKO: SHARK ATTACK!

Posted on August 23, 2026August 23, 2026 by MartynL

Arguably the most attention-getting, crowd-pleasing Concept Car of the 1960s, GM’s Mako Shark II caught the eye of Motion’s Joel Rosen, resulting in CORVETTE MACO vs MAKO: SHARK ATTACK! Neither Joel Rosen, above, nor I had ever met Bill Mitchell, top, General Motors’ VP of Design, or any of the stylists who contributed to the design of the first Mako Shark II Concept that broke cover at the 1965 New York International Auto Show. But we were familiar with their previous head-turning Conc...

AMC PONYCAR: 390 (SUPER) JAVELIN

Posted on February 7, 2026February 7, 2026 by MartynL

Late to the Ponycar Party, the AMC PONYCAR: 390 (SUPER) JAVELIN was a righteous competitor! With support from AMC’s manager of Performance Activities, Carl Chakmakian, and our friends at LAB Engineering, Motion Performance, and Pacers Automotive back in 1968, we transformed a stock 390 Javelin into a Super 390 Javelin. It turned out so well that I bought it! I had test-driven a 390 Javelin at a Press preview and really liked it. It wasn’t a rocketship for sure, but it had potential. Thanks t...

ASTORIA CHAS: KO-MOTION L88 STING RAY

Posted on November 28, 2025November 28, 2025 by MartynL

Corvette Report’s Scott Teeters blogs about New York's ASTORIA CHAS: KO-MOTION L88 STING RAY, the Buddy Holly of drag racing! As a lad growing up during the muscle car era in the South Jersey/Philadelphia area, http://Hi-Performance CARS Magazine was my favorite car magazine. The publication had a definite East Coast flavor, and slightly favored Chevys, which was perfectly fine with me at the time. One of my favorite cars of the day was the KO-MOTION L88, 1967 http://427 L88 drag rac...

’69 BALDWIN-MOTION PHASE III SS-427 CORVETTE

Posted on March 11, 2025March 11, 2025 by MartynL

After successfully launching SS & Phase III 427 Camaros, Joel Rosen concentrated on Corvettes: ’69 BALDWIN-MOTION PHASE III SS-427 CORVETTE. That’s how author-photographer Randy Leffingwell describes the ’69 BALDWIN-MOTION PHASE III SS-427 CORVETTE in “Joel Rosen’s Saturday Night Special.” The feature appeared in Randy's coffee-table book American Muscle Cars, which is about the late Otis Chandler’s legendary collection. One of the finest examples of Rosen’s cosmetically and mechan...

JOEL ROSEN, AKA MR. MOTION

Posted on October 16, 2023October 16, 2023 by MartynL

Legendary builder of Baldwin-Motion Supercars and national record setting A & B/Modified big-block Camaros and Shelby Cobras - JOEL ROSEN, AKA MR. MOTION – has passed away. Joel “Mr. Motion” Rosen, Delray Beach, Florida, passed away peacefully surrounded by his family on October 9th, 2023, after battling bladder cancer for more than a year. He was just two weeks shy of his 84th birthday, and had been admitted to Hospice Care on September 30th. Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1939, he g...

MOTION MINICAR VW THUNDERBUG

Posted on October 15, 2022October 15, 2022 by MartynL

After setting records for two years in Baldwin-Motion’s A/MP Camaro, in 1970 Bill Mitchell shrinks the Supercar and continues his winning ways driving the MOTION MINICAR VW THUNDERBUG. New model introductions for 1970 reinforced Detroit’s accelerating love affair with performance. It was a new decade and carmakers continued seducing buyers with the most powerful Ponycars and Supercars yet. It was a boom year for Motown Muscle. And it was a record year for Baldwin-Motion and Motion Perfor...

BALDWIN-MOTION PHASE III SS427 CAMARO

Posted on June 20, 2022June 20, 2022 by MartynL

A rare, fully-documented ‘69 BALDWIN-MOTION PHASE III SS427 CAMARO, just out of a major collection, lands on Bring A Trailer. Let the bidding wars begin! It’s not often that a real-deal Baldwin-Motion Camaro, complete with documentation, paper trail and a history of time spent in major Musclecar collections, comes up for sale. Quality cars, like this one, usually change hands through private sales. Most of the ones you see on auction sites have stories, stories without a good ending! ...

MOTION 482-INCH VETTE: THE BEAST FROM BALDWIN

Posted on August 4, 2021 by MartynL

The most powerful Phase III Corvette built in 1969 - MOTION 482-INCH VETTE: THE BEAST FROM BALDWIN was close, but not a true Baldwin-Motion car. It was a 600-horsepower Vette built on a brand-new Stingray from Reedman Chevrolet, supplied by purchaser David McCaughey, a returning Vietnam vet. After serving a couple of tours in Vietnam in 1968, McCaughey returned home to Southampton, PA and gave serious thought to buying the car he had been dreaming about for the past year - a super-perform...

FIVE-STAR: THE AMERICAN SPEED SHOP

Posted on May 2, 2021May 2, 2021 by MartynL

If you are truly interested in the birth and evolution of hot rodding, the speed equipment industry and drag racing in America, Bob McClurg’s FIVE-STAR: THE AMERICAN SPEED SHOP is THE book to read! If there’s anyone who should be teaching Hot Rodding 101 at your local community college, it’s Bob McClurg! He’s an accomplished photographer, scribe, author and a true student of the evolution of hot rodding and drag racing - from four-cylinder and Flathead and OHV V8 revolutions, through mo...