Baldwin Chevrolet was located on the corner of Merrick Road and
Central Avenue in Baldwin New York. Not far from them was a high
performance speed shop called Motion Performance. Motion Performance
was owned and operated by Joel Rosen who built and raced cars on the
Drag Strip with some NHRA records under his belt. It was the teaming
up of Motion Performance with Baldwin Chevrolet that would produce
some of the wildest musclecars that would ever hit the streets.
A customer would be asked what elapsed time he would like the car
to turn in the quarter mile dragstrip. It was then that the customer
would be given a price on the car with a guarantee for the elapsed
time, or their money would be returned. If the customer could not
turn the times promised in the quarter mile; Motion would send their
experienced driver out to verify it. No refunds were ever necessary
as the cars always performed as promised.
This 71 Baldwin Motion Phase III Camaro would be among some of
the last of the cars to be delivered from Baldwin Chevrolet. Motion
Performance would remain in business to build cars from other
dealers; as well as modifying customer owned cars. But it was
sometime between 71 and 72 that Baldwin Chevrolet closed their
doors, going out of business, thus ending the era of the infamous
Baldwin Motion Supercars. There is speculation as to how many 71
Baldwin Motion Camaros were built, but we only know of three 71
Baldwin Motion Camaros to exist today.
This car was special ordered by a Serviceman named Robert Ross on
7-19-71. It was driven a scant 7,700 miles. Per the original Baldwin
Chevrolet invoice it was delivered with Phase III 454 configured
with Headers, Phase III ignition with burn proof wires, High rise
intake with Holley 3 Barrel Carburetor, Dome style air cleaner,
Scatter Shield, Super-bite Suspension, Electric fuel pumps, M22 HD 4
speed, Hurst Shifter, Phase III striping and Fiberglas Hood,
Hone-a-matic Overdrive, Custom Interior, Interior Accent Group,
Style Trim Group, Console, Special Instruments, Sports Mirror,
Radio, Deluxe spoilers, Chapman Kar-loc, Power Steering, Trunk mount
HD Battery.
