Baldwin-Motion Phase III GT Corvette Art Print

The term “GT” is arguably one of the most misused automotive designations. The term dates back to the ‘30s in Europe and is an abbreviation for the words “grand touring,” or as they say in Italy, “grand turismo.” In the classic sense, a GT car was a road going , lightweight, semi-luxurious coupe, built on a high performance chassis. If your plan was to take a big trip, you needed a performance car with enough power, a strong chassis to deal with the rough roads, and creature comforts to make the journey more pleasant. Car makers such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Austin-Martin and others, all offered GT cars for their affluent customers.

In the ‘60s, American car makers started to apply the GT term to their new pony and intermediate-size cars. But some enthusiasts wanted more from their cars. Some sought out the help of specialty shops that would super tune or build a package car for a price. The original Shelby Mustangs were the most noticeable of the turn-key super cars. But at a small shop in Baldwin, New York on Long Island, Motion Performance speedshop owner, Joel Rosen was making his own brand of performance cars called the Baldwin-Motion SS and Phase III Supercars.

Rosen was a successful drag racer and turner with a proven reputation for building dependable, high-horsepower big-block Chevy engines. He partnered with local Baldwin Chevrolet to build brand new, under warranty, enhanced versions of Chevy muscle cars. A few others were making similar cars, but Rosen’s cars were much more extreme. And Baldwin-Motion was the only brand building Corvette Supercars.

Phase III Supercars were reasonably priced for a turn-key car that was guaranteed to run 11.5 in the quarter-mile, or quicker with a Motion-approved driver at a NHRA or AHRA drag strip. In Joel’s limited spare time, he was dreaming of his own GT car, a machine that would put a hurt’n on Europe’s best. Within the Chevrolet lineup, there was one obvious place to start - the L71 427/435 big-block Corvette.

Rosen’s Phase III GT began where the regular Phase III Corvette ended. Since every car was built to the customer’s specs, we’ll examine Joel’s prototype GT. First the engine was disassembled and blueprinted. A low-restriction air filter was used with a 1,050-cfm Holley three-barrel carb on an aluminum high-rise manifold. The engine had tube headers, a Motion Super/Spark CD ignition, and M/T finned valve covers. The exhaust was a factory side-pipe system with chambered pipes. Horsepower was rated at 500 on Rosen’s dyno. The suspension received special shocks, bushings, and springs, along with a single traction bar. The wheels were 15-inch slotted alloy on wide Goodyear Polyglass tires.

What rocked everyone at the GT’s ‘69 New York International Auto Show debut was it’s stunning, muscular good looks. The Monza red ‘68 donor car had a distinctive black stripe that wrapped around the back end of the car, up the rear deck, over the roof and ended on the ’67 427-style scoop. All four wheel opening were flared to cover the wide tires, the side vents were reversed, and remote controlled mirrors were used. Most noticeable was the fastback rear window that opened up the rear storage area and a Le Mans quick-fill gas cap replaced the stock gas cap door.

Zora Arkus-Duntov was at the show and spent time with Rosen talking about big-block engines and gave the GT his blessings. Rosen’s promotion literature quickly ran out, but he got two deposits to build cars. The starting price for the GT was $10,500, over double the cost of a stock ‘69 Vette. When Rosen started building GTs, two major body changes were incorporated. The stock pop-up headlights were replaced with single, fixed headlights that were faired into the front fenders. And at the back end, the classic four round Corvette taillights were replaced with two sets of three slotted taillights.

The Phase III GT Corvettes were only built from ’69 to ‘71. Rosen anticipated building 10-to-12 cars per year, but it turned out that he only made approximately 12 cars total and no two cars were alike. No doubt, the maga-buck price was a major factor back then. A 1970 Phase III GT turned out to be one of the most expensive, costing a mind-bending $13,000 in ’70. The car was Daytona Yellow and packed a 535-horsepower 454 engine with open-chamber heads, a modified automatic trans with a Hone overdrive, 4.88 gears, and air conditioning.

In the late ‘80s Rosen began looking for one of his old GT cars. He was able to locate the ‘70 Daytona Yellow GT , had the car fully restored and displayed it at the ’93 New York Auto Show. Joel later sold the car to a private collector in ‘01. Specialty Corvettes have come a long way since ’69 and many others have applied the same concept to their dream machines. Only five of the Phase III GT cars are known to still exist, making this one of the rarest of all the specialty Corvettes ever made.

I am often asked, how I got into drawing cars. Well, I was one of those guys in school that was always drawing cars on my book covers and along the margins of my notes. When I graduated from Collingswood High School (in Collingswood, NJ), I thought I wanted to be a draftsman. It didn't take long for me to realize that my heart belonged to illustration.

I kept drawing drag racing and muscle cars and in 1975 had my first illustration published in "Drag Racing USA" magazine, and have never stopped.

Eventually, in the early '80s, I went to Philadelphia College of Art and studied illustration. After I put together a portfolio, I began my freelance career. In the early '90s I had the unique opportunity to work in the "Boys Toys" R&D Department at Tyco Toys where I worked on Tyco RC, Tyco HO, Matchbox, and Matchbox Collectibles product lines. Not only did I have receive a first-rate education in product design and development, I worked with some of the most talented and creative people I have ever known.

No, it wasn't like the Tom Hanks movie, "BIG," but I did share many wacky times there.

All along though, I kept my hand in the magazine biz and am currently a contributing artist and writer for "VETTE Magazine". And I now produce a monthly online newsletter called "The Corvette Report" with all kinds of juicy tidbits for the Corvette enthusiast.

I also enjoy researching the best mix of cool gear and art for motorhead enthusiasts of all ages and maintaining and updating the the Corvette Gear eBay store, as well as our other websites that are listed below

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Scott