need help on 1 st Motion Vette?

[Pantera]

I am trying to find color pics of the first Motion vette at the International car show as pictured in the Aug & Oct. Issues of Cars Mag.
If anybody can be of assistance I would love the help. Back in the early '70's I bought a vette that had been
repainted black with a gold stripe that I feel is that same car. It has the slant back window and the gas cap. It looks
just like the car that is pictured in my worn out issue of CARS Aug. '69.
The tank sticker is in bad shape but it came from Dealer # 019 (zone27) Paint was Monaco Orange 02990AA, Black Leather, 427 435 hp. Transistor Ing. Turbo Trans,
order # AWN406. I called Joel years ago about this car and he said it sounded like the same car. Now days
he wants money for the same info.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif

[68z302]

Pay the guy! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
It will be the best investment in respect to the value of your car. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/scholar.gif
It may be more than you would like to spend but WITHOUT documentation I think the value of the car would be considerably less. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif

[MosportGreen66]

Pantera,

You have quite the collection of Motion cars! I agree, send Joel some money for that info. He is your best bet!

-Dan

[55chevy]

Larry, If there's anyway you can get that vette out in the sunlight, try and get some good pics of it and take them with you to the supercar reunion. Since Joel will be there maybe seeing pics of the car would refresh his memory. Just a thought. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif

[JoeC]

welcome to the site
The first Motion Corvettes were 1968s. I have pictures of a few with Motion hoods and other mods.
Do you mean the first Motion Phase III GT? The Phase III GT got the window and headlight mods. There should be holes for the "GT" emblems and the "SS427" emblems.
here is a cover shot of a 69 Motion Phase III GT

[55chevy]

Joe, could you post that article? Would love to read it. Thanks /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif

[sixtiesmuscle]

Does anybody have the dealer # info on this car??

[COPO]

Those are the correct zone and dealer codes for Baldwin Chevrolet.

[sixtiesmuscle]

Well Charlie, I guess "Pantera" owes you a big thanks, huh? Sounds like $1500 is a pretty good investment to verify a , oh I don't know, maybe a $250,000. car?

[Pantera]

Joe that is the car that I have today. I have had it since '72 I am desperatly trying to find the pic of it at the auto show. or a different article. they ran the same pics two months later on the cover again. this was his personal car and you can see it didn't have the headlights but did have the rear window.

I sanded above the license plate today and the holes are there but they have been filled in when the car was repainted black. I will look for the GT holes on the sides. the hood has been closed in and all emblems removed.
Do you know what the dealer # 019 was? I have the tank sticker off it. My car has everything in the article that I can see in the pic's It also has a rear window defroster/Blower. It was not red though and it was a turbo 400.

[Pantera]

You guys would not beleive what I paid for this car back then. In fact all my friends thought I was nuts for giving $2,800 for it. (Big Grin)...

You could buy a nice big block '70 air car, for $2900 back then. I bought and sold many of them.

[COPO]

Pantera, In my previous post I confirmed that Zone 27 Dealer 19 is Baldwin Auto Company. Based on your tank sticker there is no question the car was originally shipped to Baldwin from the plant. given the value of this car, I believe it is foolish to not pay Joel R. $1,500 for the certification letter as soon as possible. You can buy me a beer at SCR6 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif

[Jeff H]

Tell us more about the car. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif And make sure you buy him a certified beer!

[Pantera]

That is wonderful info to me. I just wish that I had more time to get this car out and on a trailer to bring it up to the convention. You can now see why I want to find the origional pic's from the auto show.
The cover of Car's shows the car as red and mine is Monoco Orange which is almost red but not quite. Editors love red on covers and it is easy to make it look red when the actual car is orange using their color
tricks. Also the article does not say anything about the trans in this car. Oct 69 issue uses the same pic's and info = nothing new.

[Mr70]

Sounds like a Very Nice Vette.
I would not drag my feet on paying Joel the $1500.00 Verification Fee.
After the Reunion this weekend,that fee COULD go up.
Just a Thought.....

[JoeC]

The car on the cover of the magazine may be Monaco Orange eventhough it appears to be red. The photo/print work back then had trouble with reds and orange. I have that as the correct dealer/zone code in my notes. Does your other Motion car have same dealer code on it's tank sticker? Also check for signs of the bolt on traction bar. The early cars had clear plastic headlight covers but this was stopped because they were outlawed. If it is in fact a real Motion car, you should get the documetation from Joel while you can. If somthing happens to Joel then you may not ever get documentation and if you ever go to sell it the buyer will want to see the docs. I have been going through my Motion articles and have seen this car in a few other articles but not many color pics back then.

[Pantera]

Jeff, I seldom bought car magzines back then as I was a struggling barber student, but that Aug 69 issue with the "red" vette on the cover really got my juices flowing.
I took it home and drooled over it for weeks. I remember wishing that I could afford to have something like that. About Dec of '72, I about crapped when a guy that I was dating his sister showed up test driving this same car painted Black/Gold stripe.
By then I was just starting out as a used car dealer and had bought a lot of mussle cars and had a little money and I bought the car when he had trouble getting a loan on it. I loved that car and still do.
I auto crossed it and street raced it till the motor went bad. I went through it and was out crusing the restless ribbon one night when some dumbass was not looking and hit me hard in the R. Rear.
His insurance co paid me for the repairs and I just got busy and never got around to fixing it as I didn't want anyone else to be able to drive it and I had my own bodyshop by then but was too busy to get around to my own car.
So it has just been sitting in the back for years. And that is the rest of the story. It is still sitting in the back of my shop on blocks waiting for me to Get around to it. I did get the paint stripped on the entire body but that is all I have done to it since.
I am just pissed at myself for swaping out the seats with a '71 vette that I had on my car lot and sold cheap with black leather '69 seats in it. I guess I can find some origional seats to put back in it somewhere?
Just as soon as I get my scanner fixed I will post some pic's of my baby. I have a small swimming pool repair business and it runs me in the ground.
I am getting all revved up about my cars because of you guys and finding out about the conventions. I have a friend in the neighborhood that owns all the most collectable vettes in the world.
He has the first '53 on display somewhere and the original '57 Seibering race cars that he is restoring. I have been to his shop and it is just depressing what he can do with money that I just don't have.
His name is John Neese.

[Pantera]

Here is a shot of the area above the tag that was not damaged too bad in the rearend wreck it suffered.
You can see where there was something there at one time. I can feel the bondo on the backside where it came through.
I have the paint stripped on this car but not final sanded yet or primed back.

[Pantera]

Just to update those that are interested. Met Joel and what a nice guy. He was answering my question about how many Phase III GT's were made when he said that a white car was sold to a rich guy in Dallas. I perked up when he said that and he added that it had been totaled and didn't exist anymore. He proceded to tell me that the guys son had called him and said he totaled the car. He said he remembered "Lawler" ordering the "FASTEST" thing that Motion could make. I about had a heartattack right there. I then told him that that was the name on the bill of sale that I had found in the glove box of the vette that I bought in Dallas back in '75. he was suprised to hear that it was not a total and did indead still exist.
I will post a pic of this car. Sure felt good to know he at least remembered one of my cars. I will be sending him pic's of my other car just as soon as I can find someone that can verify if it was a TH400 when it was at the NY Auto show.

[SS427]

Larry,
It was very nice meeting you and talking with you in length Friday night. Sorry that my eyes were getting heavy. We also very much enjoyed looking at all those 70's photos you had. Not one but two!!! Motion Vettes sitting together in some of the pictures! If we could only go back in time! I am sure once you have a chance to go over it with Joel, you will likely worry much less about your retirement. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif See you next year at SCR07 or at VetteFest.
Rick Nelson

[Pantera]

Everybody was so nice to me. I am sure that some think I am a real flaky guy but that is just me. I have always been interested in cars and can remember seeing so many cars here in Tulsa over the years. I remember 2 of the TA camaro's sitting in the front end allingment shop on 15th street back in '68. There was a Nasua blue ZL-1 or L-88 vette sitting in a auto parts store parking lot when it was new. I remember wanting a Motion Vette like the one on the cover of the Cars magazine. You just can't inagine the excitement when I actually had a chance to buy that very same car years later. I only wish that I had been able to just park it instead of using it like it was intended and driving it and winning FTD and FTOD at autocrosses. The first time I beat a FF in a autocross on the first run off the trailer was a real charge.

Now years later, after I have had to force myself to ignore these cars and try to get myself out of debt do to additiction to racing (SCCA) which is like drugs & drinking both at the same time. To meet all the neat people at this event was just wonderful. I am really fired up to get these cars back in good shape.

Thanks
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burnout.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burnout.gif

[55chevy]

Larry,
I had a great time with you at the show. Even though I felt like a chicken running around with my head chopped off... (every time I heard a big block fire up... I was making a bee-line toward it with my camara... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/haha.gif) But we got to spend some good time together talking and drooling over the cars. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif I hope I get a chance to see those diamonds in the rough up close and all your other toys as well. Let me know if you need a hand.. I love getting my hands dirty and got the experience to do it as well. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif btw, I found a place on the way home that had gas for $1.54/gal.. so I saved a penny over your place.. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Pantera]

Good News....! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burnout.gif Finally....!!! I found out today the
answers to the last few questionable things that were still unanswered
about my '69 Motion car. One was the side louvers having wire mesh
behind them. I got some time to go to the shop and check to see if my
car has the mesh and it did. When I first got my car the Motion gas
cap had been molded in with bondo. (This was not a good idea as the
bondo would crack the paint when you put gas in the car) With my heavy
Motion gas cap removed you can see the holes that were drilled in the
deck/gas door area for the Motion cap to fit and the remaining bondo all
around the gas door area to make it fit flush.

And NOW .... Last but not least, the most important item was if the
car in the auto show was a TH-400 or not? Well, earlier today I found
a magazine article on the http://www.motionperformance.com/motion.html
(go to the old magazine articles and it is at the very bottom) website
that shows a rear shot of the back of Joel's car's rear window that
shows the gas cap molded in and if you click on the pic of just the car,
it will blow up bigger and you can clearly see the automatic shift knob
with the little chrome button on top through the back window.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burnout.gif BOY O'BOY ........! Am I ever excited ..!!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burnout.gif
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/haha.gif That was the final and most important Item that I needed to
re-assure myself that for the last 30 years, I do indeed own the very
same car as the car in the pictures in the Magazine articles.

With every picture that has been published of Joel's car, and that I
have been able to find and compare my car to the old magazine articles
of that time, and the statement from Marty Schorr that it was the same
color as my car and not red like it looks on the cover of his Car's
magazine. Combined with the info from the original tank build sheet,
showing it originally came from Baldwin Chev when new.

Finally...!!! I feel confident that this was his first Phase III GT. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burnout.gif
I guess it is now time to send Joel some $$.

Thanks to all of you for your interest help and support.

Pantera
AKA = Larry Clain

[JoeC]

Larry, good work, Sounds like you have enough info to go to Joel R. Maybe he will have some type of work order or other paper for it.

[copo9566aa]

Phase III GT at New York ? auto Show /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif

[Supercar_Kid]

Cool pic. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif Looks like a '69 Motion Camaro was present as well, I can see black hockeysticks and sport mirrors. Wish I could see more clearly, but it looks like those could be my Rocket Racing SS427 valve covers on that display engine in the back. Hmm... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/3gears.gif

[copo9566aa]

Zora /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif and Joel /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif and phase III GT /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif

[copo9566aa]

Not easy a better resolution with only 100K max
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif

[Supercar_Kid]

Hard to tell, but could be. I can see the fins definitely wrap down the ends like the Rocket covers. Can't tell if those are SS427 badges on them or not. Cool pics to look at anyhow...

[Pantera]

Thanks so much... I love to see pic of my car back then. I sure thank you for them.

I have finally got my hands on a GTO emblem that is the last piece of the puzzle on this car. I think I have enough to go ahead with the letter to Joel now. He must have cut the connecting bar close to the letters and used the G & T along with a SS427 Impalla emblem to make the letters on the back. It is easy to see that they fit to the holes that have been filled in on the back exactly. I was starting to sweat that I was on the wrong track till I got a GTO emblem and saw that it would only have one pin to hold on each letter. I had 5 holes that had been filled in(3 are filled by the SS427) and was looking for where the other two must have been when I realized that the GTO emblem solved that question.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/scholar.gif

[whitetop]

Larry
I noticed your hood scoop is closed in front while the scoop on the car in Cars mag had an horizontal opening. Does it look like your scoop was fiberglass shut at one time? Or was your hood replaced?

[Pantera]

It has just been filled in - whoever it was, did a great job. even finished the underside too.

Where the SS427 GT emblem holes were filled in on the back of the car was a first class job also. There was no sign of srinkage and I never saw any sign they had been there till I stripped the paint off. Black usually will show up any previous body work in the right sunlight. This one didn't.