Joel Rosen, known to legions of muscle car fans as “Mr. Motion” and as one of the founders of Baldwin-Motion, passed away peacefully surrounded by his family on October 9th, 2023, after battling bladder cancer for more than a year. He was just two weeks shy of his 84th birthday, and had been admitted to Hospice Care on September 30th.
Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1939, he graduated from James Madison High School at age 16 and attended Brooklyn College, majoring in Engineering. Frustrated by the lack of hands-on experience available, he left after two years and joined the Air Force.
Photo: Provided by Author
It was at the Reciprocating Engine Mechanics School at Shepherd Air Force Base in Texas where Rosen honed his skills as an engine tuner, diagnostician and builder. He also led the the General’s Drill Team while at Shepherd AFB.
Driven by a competitive spirit and an endless passion for fast cars and racing, in 1963 Rosen opened a small speed shop – Motion Performance – in Brooklyn, specializing in performance modifications and race car preparation. It was one of the only shops of its kind in the New York City area to have a Clayton chassis dynamometer and offer high-tech tuning.
Joel Rosen and the 1963 Chevrolet Corvette, along with a small sampling of the trophies the fuel-injected car had won. Photo: Provided by Author
Approximately three years later he and his wife, Judith, relocated Motion Performance to a considerably larger facility on Sunrise Highway in Baldwin, Long Island, where it was operational into the 1990s. Shortly after opening Motion, Rosen purchased the first fuel-injected ’63 Corvette split-window coupe sold in the New York City Metro area! Nicknamed the “Skunk” because of its Daytona Blue paint with a bold single white racing stripe, it was prepped for competition, and raced by both by Joel and Judith Rosen as well as being driven daily.
The Rosens drag raced and soloed the “Skunk”, finishing the 1963 SSSC & BDS (South Shore Sports Car & Beer Drinking Society) gymkhana season with “Overall Champion” honors. The Sting Ray was also a local drag racing champion.
“Each Wednesday evening, we ran at Roosevelt Raceway (eighth-mile drags), Fridays it was Islip (eighth-mile drags) and Saturdays it was Westhampton (quarter-mile drags). Sundays were reserved for road racing and solo gymkhana events,” said Rosen in a magazine interview. “One Wednesday night I won Stock Eliminator at Roosevelt, blowing the doors off the undefeated local champ, Gary Stowe, in his 409 Impala. I also unseated the reigning Islip champ (who was racing a modified 409/425 Chevy) the first time out. We raced the ‘Skunk’ between four and five times a week.”
The Rosens’ dyno-tuned, Atlas-Bucron shod, street-driven split-window Fuelie coupe became the car to beat at Roosevelt in 1963. It also was a consistent Street Eliminator winner at Islip. That year Mr. & Mrs. Motion won the LISCA (Long Island Sports Car Association) Championship, and filled one room in their home with more than 100 trophies and awards! In addition to Judith racing alongside her husband, in the early years she helped build the speed shop business by working behind the counter, helping customers and selling speed equipment.
Photo: Provided by Author
In 1967, Joel Rosen and friend and editor of HI-Performance Cars magazine, Marty Schorr, co-founded the Baldwin-Motion brand, which grew to become one of the most successful builders and marketers of limited-production brand new Chevrolet supercars.
Rosen was one of the early (drag racing) adopters of Chevrolet’s big-block L88 road racing engine, fitting it into the first Baldwin-Motion 427 Camaro racecar, sponsored by Hi-Performance Cars. The second application was the iconic KO-Motion I967 Corvette. The L88 engine was available on any Baldwin-Motion Chevrolet. Baldwin-Motion offered the most performance and custom options of any specialty car builder, including Shelby-American!
The machines that were built under Rosen’s watchful eye are known the world over for being top-tier in American muscle car lore. This 1974 Phase III Camaro, for example, has lived in Iran since new.Photo: Provided by Author
As “Mr. Motion”, the dyno-tuning speed merchant from Brooklyn, Rosen turned 427 & 454 engine swaps into an empire, building ultimate performance Chevrolets, many being exported to Canada, the Middle East, England, Norway and Germany. Rosen’s story and the history of Motion and Baldwin-Motion were the subjects of a book, MOTION Performance: Tales Of A Muscle Car Builder by Martyn L. Schorr.
When Baldwin-Motion started producing serious high-performance Corvette Stingrays in 1968, Rosen was befriended by Zora Arkus-Duntov, widely considered the godfather of the Corvette. He later introduced Joel to Chevrolet’s head performance guy, Vince Piggins, a close personal friend of road racer Don Yenko who was also building 427 Camaros.
While best known for his signature Baldwin-Motion and Motion branded Chevrolets and AHRA and NHRA National Record holding A & B/Modified Production Gen 1 & Gen 2 Camaros, L88 Corvette and small & big-block Shelby Cobra racecars, Rosen’s passions also included a love of animals and marine life. He was an accomplished diver, underwater photographer, and during the 1980s was the largest breeder of rare boas and pythons in the U.S. He was an expert on breeding ultra-rare snakes, including the Australian black-headed Python, and was often consulted for zoos here and abroad.
Fascinated by 18th and 19th century life in Japan, his years of studying Japanese culture led to him and Judith amassing the largest collection of rare vintage ningyō dolls outside of Japan. Many of their dolls have been showcased in museums and shows in the U.S., and have been featured in prestigious books. Rosen was considered an expert in the field.
The 540 SuperCoupe Camaro on display at the 2005 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.Photo: Provided by Author
Many years had passed since Motion and Baldwin-Motion’s glory days, but in 2005 Rosen partnered with Joel Ehrenpreis and Larry Jaworske to bring the brands back to life. Marty Schorr was brought in to handle public relations and advertising. Rosen was the guiding force behind MOTION, LLC’s 540 Camaro SuperCoupe and the new generation, limited-edition 1969 Baldwin-Motion SS-427 and Phase III big-block Camaros.
The new 540 SuperCoupe was launched at the 2005 SEMA Show, where it won GM’s Best Design Award. The SuperCoupe represented a quantum leap beyond anything previously badged as Baldwin-Motion. An article in the April 2006 issue of Musclecar Enthusiast referred to the SuperCoupe as “America’s Greatest Supercar.”
The SuperCoupe, purchased at the 2006 Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction by collector Ron Pratte for $486,000 (including buyer’s premium) further validated the revival of the Motion and Baldwin-Motion brands. It paved the way for the second stage of the iconic brands: a limited build of 1969 SS-427 and Phase III Baldwin-Motion Camaros announced in March 2006. Total production of new Baldwin-Motion Chevys was capped at just 12 vehicles.
When the fifth-generation Camaro was introduced, Rosen partnered with Howard Tanner at Redline Motorsports and Dan Carlton at DeNooyer Chevrolet to produce a new series of 2011 SS and Phase III Camaros with 427 and 454 engines that were rated at 525 to 800 horsepower. Just a few were built, with Rosen taking delivery of the first, a Phase III 427-SC powered by a serious 800 horsepower supercharged 454 big-block.
Kasey Alford and Joel Rosen, in front of 2011 Motion Phase III Camaro. Alford is now the owner of the archived Motion and Baldwin-Motion documents and has taken over as the new “Mr. Motion.”Photo: Provided by Author
In 2021, Joel Rosen made the decision to retire, selling his Phase III 427-SC Camaro to Chevrolet performance enthusiast Kasey Alford. Alford also purchased all of Rosen’s archived Motion and Baldwin-Motion paperwork and is now the source for documenting high-performance cars built at Motion Performance. He is now the new “Mr. Motion” and can be contacted at officialmotionperformance@gmail.com.
Joel Rosen was a loving husband, father and grandfather and is survived by Judith, his spouse of 62 years, daughter Robin Sue Rosen, son Shawn Rosen, daughter-in law, Robin Rosen, and grandchildren Zachary, Travis and Bailey Rosen. His favorite pets, Ragnar (dog) and Archie (kinkajou) also survive him.
Photo: Provided by Author
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