Corvettes on eBay: Mail Order Baldwin/Motion Corvette

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Remember way back before the internet? Like back when ordering parts from a catalog involved filling out that confusing little centerfold sheet filled with oddly shaped boxes, cryptic color codes, and nondescript abbreviations? In today's world if we need something by mail, we just fire up the ole PC, click a few buttons, enter a few numbers and voila! Our items show up at our door stop a few days later.

This uber rare Baldwin/Motion Phase III Corvette is currently up for grabs on eBay. Unlike other Baldwin/Motion cars which were assembled prior to purchase, this 1968 Corvette was modified about 4 years after it was driven off the lot by the original owner. All the requisite Motion Performance parts were ordered through the mail and a local body shop performed the transformation. The car is currently listed on eBay waiting for you to purchase it. Find out more about this stunning ride and the price tag attached to it after the jump.


Baldwin Chevrolet and Motion Performance collaborated on 10 or so Phase III Corvettes between 1969 and 1971. These special cars received several appearance and performance upgrades. In most cases, the cars were purchased new, modified, and then driven home (we imagine quite quickly) for the fist time. We say "in most cases" because in 1968 Joe Robinson wanted a Baldwin/Motion Corvette, but ended up with a regular 427 big block instead. About 4 years later in 1973, he contacted Joel Rosen at Motion Performance and purchased a Phase III kit through the mail. The items he ordered included: the front end with the famous tunneled headlamps and shark fender louvers, rear fender flares, scooped hood, and a polished alloy LeMans fuel filler, He then added chrome side mount exhaust, Motion finned valve covers, a big Holley carburetor, a high-rise manifold, and polished Ansen wheels. The famous GT rear window portion of the package was not ordered by Robinson in order to save some money. Once all the go-fast and look good parts arrived, he had a local body shop perform the transformation which was typically done in-house by the Baldwin/Motion team.

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After all his mods were complete, Robinson sold the car in 1976 with just 32,000 miles on the clock. The 2nd owner added just 4,000 more miles between 1976 and 1978 and then stored the car until it was discovered and subsequently restored in 2003. Amazingly, all of the original Motion goodies were still with the car when it was found.

The seller states that the big block 427, 4 speed transmission, and rear end are all numbers matching and have all the Motion touches still present. They state that the car is "nicely detailed, but not over-restored, so you can (and should!) drive this car with confidence". We couldn't agree more. Cars like these need to be driven and appreciated.

Right now the doubters are probably questioning this cars history, but the seller has a stack of provenance to document this unique car. Included are:

• A letter from Joel Rosen, stating this car as a Baldwin-Motion "conversion" vehicle.
• Several magazine articles including issues of "Corvette Fever," "Cruisin' Style," and "Super Chevy."
• Motion Performance marketing literature
• A restoration album covering the rebuild.

So how much for this unique piece of Corvette history? The Buy-it-Now price is just $199,900. We think this is a pretty reasonable price for rare, documented Corvette like this, but we'll see what the market thinks when the auction ends on Jun 05, 2011at 5:25pm PDT.

Meanwhile check out the ad on eBay. Also, be sure to watch the sales video where you can listen to this beast as it's started up and running at idle and also see way more pictures of the car.


Source: eBay