documenting original mileage/Motion Camaro

[rustyhale]

I have just inherited a 1969 Baldwin-Motion Phase III Camaro from my grandfathers estate, he bought from Baldwin Chevrolet, it new in 1969. All the paperwork and emblems are there, it has 17493.7 miles showing and I think this is the correct mileage, it was last inspected in 1981 and the inspection showed 15891 miles. I have not verified the car throught Joel yet, I have the original window sticker,invoice,bill of sale and title, so I know it is the real deal. Any info on this car would be helpful because I not know a lot about these particular cars since Joel keeps them shrouded in mystery, here is a description of the car:

Color lympic Gold,White stripe
Interior:Black houndstooth/rosewood wheel, complete gauge pack
Suspension:4.10,with traction bars
Exterior:L-88 hood,big wing,Enduro Bumper, motion emlems on fenders and trunk, 427 emblems on the hood, original paint(in fair to poor condition),sidepipes, and Torque Thrust wheels

My car does not have a curved outlet on the radiator like the big block camaros did, and I noticed that Otis Chandlers does not either, has the radiator been replaced, and I have been told that these cars are not worth nearly what a Yenko Camaro is because they were an engine transplant instead of a COPO. I can't tell what the value of this car is by looking at Hemmings because I have never seen one in there for sale. I want to document the mileage because I intend to freshen the car up and drive it, any help/suggestions/comments would be greatly apprecitated.

[COPO]

Sounds like one cool Grandfather to me! Congrats on an awesome car. How about scanning and posting the paperwork. I am sure most of the board members would love to see it along with some pictures of the car.

[Edited by COPO (01-21-2001 at 08:10 PM).]

[JoeC]

Many of the Motion cars started out as SS 396/375 HP cars. Some of them may not have the curve neck radiator. You can also check all the numbers from the trim tag, engine, trans, and rear, to see what they decode as. Motion had his own wing that has three large posts mounting it to the trunk. Does the car have SS emblems on it and the Baldwin dealership decal? Is the stripe the wide Motion center stripe or the Chevy hockey stick fender stripe? Other Motion items are: the Phase III engine with a Holley 3 barrel carb and Mallory distributor with a CD box, Sun gages, Hurst shifter, Lakewood scatter shield. You should be very careful doing any work on the car. If you are not going to do a complete professional restoration it may be better to leave it in its present condition. It sounds like a great car. Take as many pictures of it as you can. I would like to see some pictures if possible.

[rustyhale]

Joe C.

The car has all the Baldwin decals and Motion decals in place,a motion decal on the left fenderwell under the hood, it has the hockey and wide stripes, the gauges,and shifter, I do not know about the scatter shield, a friend that works for a NASCAR team is going to freshen the engine and get it running and service the drivetrain, it a SS/RS with all SS emblems in place, we are taking lots of pictures for documentation, I have only been in possesion of this car a about a week, do you know how many 69 motion cars were built or how many remain, and why do you never see any of these for sale in hemmings or at auctions like Barrett-Jackson.

[JoeC]

rustyhale- It is not publicly known how many cars Motion built per year. We can only œguesstimate”. I live about 1hr. away from where the Motion cars were built and I know a few guys who are fans of the Motion cars and met guys who knew Joel and his crew from the drag strip and remember the Motion cars. The number I hear the most is about 50 1969 Camaros. Some say less then 50. Another guy told me Motion was doing one or two a week. That would mean 50 to 100. Motion did not have an assemble line. We can look at other non-assembly line cars that we know the numbers for like for example the 1967 and 1968 Yenko Camaros. There were 54 1967 Yenkos and 64 1968 Yenkos. In 1969 Yenko used the assembly line built COPO cars and sold 198 Camaros. NHRA required that 50 cars had to be built to make a legal Super Stock drag car so NHRA must have thought that 50 was a reasonable number for a special built factory car. I am just trying to give you a rough idea for discussion only. As far as the value, again there are no hard numbers to use. I looked at a 1969 Motion Chevelle last summer that needed a complete restoration. The owner had a letter from Joel saying that the vin number was on JoelÃs list. I believe this car sold for about 50K. There was a Motion Phase III GT Corvette for sale on a Corvette web site recently with an asking price of 150K but I do not know if it was sold. Regardless of how you look at it, a 1969 Motion Phase III Camaro with full documentation and varification from Joel is both very rare and valuable. I have a lot of articles on the Motion cars but most photos are black and white. Here is one taken in front of the Motion shop.

[rustyhale]

COPO,

Thanks, I am working on the car now trying to get it running, and working on the numbers to decipher this car, we are taking lots of pictures for documentation, I going to drive this car, this will not be a show car, but I am very proud to have it, and I am planning to attend the Supercar reunion this year. I am not a big time collector/restorer, just a normal guy with some luck, my grandfather was a real hot rodder back in the 60's, he was big on Mopar, we have not figured out why he purchased this car yet.
Rusty

[rustyhale]

Joe C.

Thanks for the pic and info, I am starting to decode the car and I will be sending Joel the authenticity fee soon.

Rusty

[Kurt S]

Several thoughts:
I'm interested in seeing some of the documentation and the # from the car.
Why pay Joel when you have documentation already?
Original paint? I'd keep it that way!
Get it running, then see if the motor needs rebuilt. May need new valve springs, but the rest may be fine.

Kurt S

[rustyhale]

YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY,

Thanks, I will be attending the reunion this year but I do not know if the car will be ready, I am having to work on it at night and when I have time, the guy that is looking at the engine,drivetrain told me today that the transmission is a M-22. Did all the Motion cars have the L-72 or did some have the L-88 or ZL-1, I read somewhere in the last two days on a website that Joel did install a ZL-1 in a 69 Camaro.

[rustyhale]

Kurt S,

Thanks, all the docs are there, but don't you have to get the car verified throught Joel.