The Motion Of The Ocean: What Did Joel Rosen Do After Motion Performance?

Motor Trend

Truth be told, there were several Supercar builders aside from Nickey of Chicago and Yenko in Pennsylvania. In fact, Dana and others also championed the 427/4-speed conversion that was popular on 1st-Gen Camaros during the late '60s and early '70s, but for some reason, it was Nickey, Yenko and their few contemporaries who were celebrated in the American muscle canon.

Car Guy Chronicles

Long Island, New York housed their own Supercar hero during the horsepower war's peak, and it was Joel Rosen who would become the region's godfather of everything Chevy performance. His tried-and-tested merger with nearby Baldwin Chevrolet would become the brainchild of Long Island's street and strip scene, and even the V-8 Vega trend of the 1970s was largely a creation of the Baldwin-Motion Supercar program. In fact, shoehorning a 454 mill into the compact Vega was one of Motion's greatest, automotive achievements.

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Joel Rosen's famed "SS427" and "Phase III" Camaros, the first of which was done with a 1967 platform, were notorious in the worlds of AHRA and NHRA drag racing. This, of course, meant that the Motion-converted 1st-Gens were as strong in professional motorsport as they were at America's stoplights. If anything, for the simple fact that Motion cars--Camaros, Chevelles and Novas--were unique in that they came turn-key with all race equipment standard.

Turn-key cars guaranteed by Rosen to run what he described back then as "11.50 at 120 miles per hour" were what differentiated Motion's builds from the competition, and it was the race-oriented nature of the Baldwin-Motion builds that made them just a tad different then Yenkos and others.

In addition to Camaros, Chevelles, Novas and even compact Vegas, the Baldwin-Motion Supercar program was also known for it's 427 and 454 conversions on the 3rd-generation of the Corvette family (Car Guy Chronicles).

Factory and dealer warranties weren't as much of a thing in the golden age of muscle as they are now, but Rosen did issue the aforementioned guarantee of an 11.5-second pass. After issuing that guarantee, Rosen never once had to refund customers' money, or their cars for that matter.

Official Baldwin-Motion

But what did Joel Rosen do after the EPA smothered his performance car operation in 1974? According to Baldwin-Motion media man, Martyn L. Schorr, Rosen continued to work with contemporary automotive tech in order to keep the supercar spirit alive, "He built Grand Nationals in the '80s to take on the 5.0 Mustangs, but I don't remember exactly what he did to them," says Schorr of Rosen's short-lived experiments with late model machines. Among this list also included a few Motion-modified IROC-Zs and G-Body Monte Carlos.

Motion and Rosen's most recent attempts at high-tech horsepower include the "Supercoupe" '69 Camaro, a retro-modded 1st-Gen that, in 2005, was fitted with the industry's best in adjustable coilovers and unequal length control arms, and a 540-cube Merlin motor that pushed 600 brake horsepower in its base form. It was Rosen's first attempt at a super Camaro in years, and it was more than suitable for the SEMA show block at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Joel Rosen's '69 "Supercoupe" Camaro from 2005 (Conceptcarz.com)

But the fact that Rosen and Motion Performance were willing to stuff small and big-blocks into pint-sized Vegas, while writing off cars as "off-road and export only" proved without doubt that the Motion experience was one that was willing and able to bend to the environmental standards of the time. And the fact that Rosen himself raced a modified Grand National during the '80s showed that Supercar construction could always be made possible, even in the midst of what many motoring enthusiasts have now dubbed, the "smog era."

Joel Rosen and Redline Motorsports built 427 and 454 versions of the 5th-Gen Camaro, until Rosen's contract with the Florida speed builder expired in late 2012 (Official Baldwin-Motion).

Even in a time of electronics and pollution control, however, Motion muscle found a way. In fact, Rosen contracted Redline Motorsports of Pompano Beach, Florida to help in the construction of a series of 5th-Gen Camaros, fitted with various manifestations of GM's LS7 and LSX mills. The late model, Camaro builds were labeled by Rosen and Redline as their "Motion SS" and "Phase III" conversions. Either in 427 or 454 form, the radical 5th-Gens would only last so long during the muscle car renaissance of the new Millenium, "The contract [between Joel Rosen and Redline Motorsports] expired in 2012, almost 2013," Martyn Schorr explains. "The guy who was contracted on the 2005 Supercoupe does still occasionally take assignments."

This "Phase III ZLX" 1st-Gen was one of Motion's rarest Camaro builds, and it was one that started its life as a Z28. Originally purchased from Curtis Person Chevrolet of Millington, Tennessee by Chuck Hamilton, the F-Body was raced until 1974, when Hamilton shipped the car to Motion Performance to undergo a build involving the install of a special, dual-quad 427 with "ZLX," open-chambered aluminum heads. The ZLX mill made over 600 horses, and though Rosen never did fully receive the $12k for the conversion, Hamilton did continue to race and campaign the pony as "Mr. H" (Mecum Auctions).

The story of Joel Rosen and Motion Performance is one that reinforces the Supercar tradition, one that carried itself even into an era of turbochargers and LS platforms. Even during the "hairspray decade," Rosen would continue on in the Motion Performance spirit, Don Yenko simultaneously caving to the turbo performance trend, with the "Turbo-Z" Camaro that became one of Yenko's rare attempts at "smog dog" performance.

(Car Guy Chronicles)

But where Yenko, Nickey and others may have either closed shop doors, or else attempted to make old-school grunt out of new age tech, Rosen brought back one of the American Supercar tradition's most beloved trademarks, and it was one that though diminished only recently, really hasn't gone anywhere at all.

Baldwinmotionreport.com