A couple of years ago at a local VFW car show in New England I got to see a Vega wagon done up as a Motion tribute, copper metallic with a healthy small block and Rocket wheels. It was so well-done and period correct I asked the owner, a fairly young guy, if it was in fact a real BM car or a clone. He revealed it was a clone, but it was an impressively executed one for sure. The color looked fantastic on it in the afternoon sun. Of all the dozens of great cars of every description at the show, that Vega was one of the true standouts. It looked as though it could have been right out of 1973 or 1974 and someone dropped it into the middle of 2021.
Saw an orange Motion Vega with white striping at a show in 2002 as well. Never spoke to the owner so didn't get a chance to ask about its provenance, but it certainly looked authentic. I recall it had an E/T differential cover. Funny what sticks in the memory after so much time.
I saw Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins one time back the mid-90's in a V8 street Vega. It was on the I-110 Freeway at about 6:00 PM in the San Fernando Valley. There was a lot of traffic, and I could tell it was him from the big cigar he was chomping on. I do not know if it was a Baldwin Vega, but he was capable enough of building his own V8 Vega.
Bill Jenkins ran NHRA super stock back in the 70's with a string of Vegas nicknamed Grumpy's Toy. In the early years he ran a 331 small block that was a screamer.
@@RobFarish I bought a '72 Vega GT new. Shortly after taking delivery, I saw the ads in Hot Rod Magazine for his V8 kits. I'm not sure whether he ran an operation like Baldwin Motion and could sell a finished V8 car but I know he was selling kits at that time.
I’ve had 2 Yenko Camaro’s, both 1969, one brand new in 1969, the other a few years ago that my son and I restored from an original car, but was a basket case, missing a lot of parts. We restored it with a built BB, a Hughes Transmission Turbo 400, the original 12 bolt 4:10 was still there, came out great. But even in 1969, I wanted a Phase III Motion Camaro, Just didn’t have the budget for it, they were a few levels above the copo cars, Yenko’s included, but they were a few levels above cost wise as well. I’m 74 now, so maybe when I grow up, I can get one! LOL I did clone a 1971 Z-28 into one, but with a nasty small block, was nice, but nothing like the original beasts.
Interesting, since BM had their own valve covers for the big block swaps, and they didn't use Multiple Spark Discharge ignition systems in the 1960's, they had a Phase III captive discharge ignition system which gave them the idea to call cars "phase 3". however, MSD was a business in 1970 and Rosen would certainly use it if a customer asked. the rims are interesting, a lot of BM cars came on Cragar SS rims. I believe by 1971 they had found out the stock radiator was incapable of cooling even the small block and used their big block radiator option on all Vegas.
Love the car! Did anyone feel seasick watching the 2nd part of this video? Anyway, I must admit that I never saw one of these Vegas, or knew about them even living in very eastern Pennsylvania and having relatives we visited many, many times in Levittown Long Island. Very interesting Smokey Yunick intake manifold too...
Two things to remember here , first they never offered a black Vega from the factory , and second the white band across the rear quarters should come farther forward before tapering down to a point at the front of the car .
@@RW_TractorPilot First off Cosworth Vegas were newer than this one . Secondly, by the time the Cosworth Vegas came out , Baldwin Motion were under the cease and desist order , so none were converted . Third , at the price they wanted for a Cosworth , nobody could afford to buy and convert one , unless you had an oil field in your back yard .
This looks very similar to the Australian Holden LX Torana (the A9X) was unstoppable at Bathurst I’m a new fan of these BM rare street racers your guys in the USA have such a rich modified car history and culture totally amazing
You would have loved the 1970's. You could drive up and down Bragg Boulevard in Fayetteville North Carolina, (Where Fort Bragg is located), and there were 40 or 50 used car lots that sold every type of muscle car that a ARMY GI might want. We used to stop at all of them to see what they had gotten in, since the week before. There were areas where hundreds of cars would cruise through the fast food restaurants, movie theaters, skating rinks, and there would be areas where specific brands, and models of cars would park to show off the car, and engine. Of course they do that today as well, but a lot less hassells back then.
Howd they shoe horn an LS5/LS6 In between the fenders of the super vega's and what spring held it up. Because BM cars always had the perfect stance. Love this car. Needs a cross ram and a M22 And the proper solid lifter cam out of the 67-69 Z's
From what I see the wheels are American Racing Aluminum slots that were not made in 73. My understanding is that Joel put a big block into the Vega not a 302. Anyone who though they had an original would spend the 2k for Joel to verify knowing rhe value would increase bu 30-40k
I'd have to Agree. The sidepipes are not correct and That's not one of Butch's paint jobs either. It's an "interesting" Tribute and if priced accordingly you "might" be able to Twist My Arm.
Those are Cragars from the early seventies and the Vegas were available with any V8 engine available at the time . Most commonly the 350 LT1s , but a 302 was certainly available. As for the King Kong big block cars very few were built and most of them were exported to foreign countries .
the Rat'ified Vega is what brought the house down. the Feds saw a magazine article making it sound like Motion Performance was pumping these things out and showed up to charge $10,000 for every emissions device taken off...about a $50K fine for each car. And even Joel realized what Don Yenko figured out on his 427 SC Novas...too much for the average driver to handle, like 427SC Cobras you wanted your buyer to live long enough to make all the payments.
Memories - had a Hooker 71 vega - vette 327 1963 12 1/2`s ported - black with flames - Oakland Ca - in 2days standards would B average but back then fast fast fast - !!!
Because they can't tell if it was or not, not even Joe Rosen who built them back in the day could tell with out looking up the vin in his record books, he wanted 2000 back in the day to do that, I told him we were not selling anywhere near the price of a real one, it was a trade in for us and we were only getting out our principle money we had in the car, not trying to make a profit on it. I was into quick flips back then and didn't want to tie up the money we had in it for months. As i remember we sold it before we got this video up on our website. Thanks, Tony Keep Cruzzzzzzin
I love the car but the camera person has made me dizzy. Hold it still or let somebody hold the camera while you talk about this wonderful car please, Take the breather off so we can see the intake please. Reveiw your video before posting. Need to hire a person with steady hands to for video recording. But it is a great car..
From what my friends father told me, the DZs were 4 speeds and the 350s and big blocks we're auto, I could have misunderstood but he owned one of the first ones built and it was a DZ and Muncie set up...
Seen a lot of Vega, seen a lot of v-8 Vega, I would question your calm as a Baldwin motion, any paper work on the car? I would like to know how much mud is in the flares? I have seen a couple Baldwin motion Vega at car shows, and it looks to me as it is setting a little high. Never seen a fat man bar on a 70era Chevy. Vega also had the tack in the dash, not screw in to the dash. I could be wrong, but it looks like a fake to me. Where the BM name plate on the back of the car? IMO it looks like a mud bucket to me. With know paper work on the car, it looks like a fake…. Imo
It does have the tach in the dash and it is the GT dash with adjustable tack rev limiter if you look close but it looks like the wrong steering wheel and speedo
@@joediblasio1846 All Vega GT's had a Camaro Steering Wheel in them, notice it says GT on the horn button, no Camaros were built as GT's. Thanks Joe for your comments, Tony KEEP CRUZZIN
Not a real Baldwin, my friend's father Charly Bertocchi had one of the first ones built, him and his father (my friends grandfather)was a big part in the design of the campinelli style homes and they both were big dogs in the company, I worked for the campinellis for a year and in 75 he bought every part mail order to build another one out of his 73 Vega but never built it, he had them in his garage side by side with his mint 58 matching numbers Impala and 62 409 motor Impala, after he showed me everything in 1996 he wanted to finish the Vega before he was too old and he wanted to give one to his son, my friend, he wanted to buy my 66 tubbed and caged nova for the drive train but I wasn't selling but told him I'd build him an engine, transmission and set up a rear end for it, we got a 75 wagon, it had a 400, turbo 400 tranny and 12 bolt, I built a 406 with the 350 rods, I ported up my spare fulie heads for it, I had to cut it down the 12 bolt and have the axles resplined, welded on the perches, I made adjustable upper control arms.. I'll bet 20k on that and my 79 big block Camaro Z28, my 76 Vega GT notch back with a 383 AND my 86 big block T top grand prix, shit I'll bet all my cars against it, 5 of my Camaros, my 2 novas, against it that it's not a real Baldwin... I have 2 period correct blocks that the casting numbers say they are DZs but they're not stamped DZ, they are the correct casting numbers but one came from a 70 Monte Carlo and the other was from a 69 Z28 but was a 350 so any Chevy guy knows, that Chevy can stamp anything for the need of it or anyone can mill the block and restamp it and in today's era, any good fabricator can have anything made for your needs...
I sold this car in 2004, not much was know about Baldwin Motion Cars back then. I say in the video that the parts were orginial back in the day parts and if it was a clone it was built with Baldwin Motion Parts. Listen to the video at 5:50. Also, I personally talked to Joe Rosen, owner of Baldwin Motion about this car, he said he would charge me $2000 to check documentation that he had to see if he could verfiy if he built it. He also said the parts were his parts. I told him I was not selling the car to be real at the price of a real one, far less. Thanks, Tony KEEP CRUZZIN !!!
Sweet Baldwin Motion Vega!!!Please check out my 1968 Barracuda fastback powered by a rowdy 512 stroker backed by an A833 4 speed manual. I think you'll approve. 👌
why don't you just sell the intake and the wheels if they are so rare and take them stupid looking side pipes off put some crager ss and a polished bowtie intake on it and wal-law good street car😆😆😆😆😆
Why not ? Because although that may not be an actual Motion built car , it was possible to order all of the parts mail order thru Motion to build it yourself at home . Those wheels and side pipes are era correct for 1971 .
And on the 1/4 panels it sain Motion Super Vega and they had LT1 350 in them not a 302. 302's were stick shift motors they never had automatics. This is just a vega someone built the way they wanted. According to the tag this car was blue when new. You guys should really do some research before making a video and get some video skills while your at it.
You can use wood under tires to safely get a car off a hauler even at 2 inch clearance at front of vehicle and that looks like 6 to 8 inches so how the hell did you screw up the spoiler? Very unprofessional!!!
The transport company that brought the car to us had to pay for the damage. Damage happens to cars from Transport daily all over the USA. The worse i have seen was a major transport company was shifting their load in our lot and put a rare Packard Convertible through the roof of the truck trailer, the top was crushed completely down to the dashboard and took out the glass, windshield and window frame. I will gladly take a small crack in a front spoiler than the catastrophe I just decribed.
Also known as a L88 hood
Cool V8 conversion, but neither Baldwin Motion nor Smokey Yunick ever touched this car. It is a tribute.
Smokey Yunick *intake*
@@bbb462cid Mr. Blutarsky....ZERO POINT ZERO! (Sorry...couldn't resist)
@@bbb462cid actually an Edelbrock SY1 Smokey Ram intake . I had one .
A couple of years ago at a local VFW car show in New England I got to see a Vega wagon done up as a Motion tribute, copper metallic with a healthy small block and Rocket wheels. It was so well-done and period correct I asked the owner, a fairly young guy, if it was in fact a real BM car or a clone. He revealed it was a clone, but it was an impressively executed one for sure. The color looked fantastic on it in the afternoon sun. Of all the dozens of great cars of every description at the show, that Vega was one of the true standouts. It looked as though it could have been right out of 1973 or 1974 and someone dropped it into the middle of 2021.
That's the closest to a go cart you can get with a car!!! I had a 302 in one of my Vegas and I loved it!!!
I got closer. A 1990 Festiva with a B6T Mazda turbo in it.
Saw an orange Motion Vega with white striping at a show in 2002 as well. Never spoke to the owner so didn't get a chance to ask about its provenance, but it certainly looked authentic. I recall it had an E/T differential cover. Funny what sticks in the memory after so much time.
I grew up in Baldwin, I remember when Motion was still in business. There was more rubber on Sunrise highway than at a Goodyear plant
I saw Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins one time back the mid-90's in a V8 street Vega. It was on the I-110 Freeway at about 6:00 PM in the San Fernando Valley. There was a lot of traffic, and I could tell it was him from the big cigar he was chomping on. I do not know if it was a Baldwin Vega, but he was capable enough of building his own V8 Vega.
Bill Jenkins ran NHRA super stock back in the 70's with a string of Vegas nicknamed Grumpy's Toy. In the early years he ran a 331 small block that was a screamer.
@@RobFarish I bought a '72 Vega GT new. Shortly after taking delivery, I saw the ads in Hot Rod Magazine for his V8 kits. I'm not sure whether he ran an operation like Baldwin Motion and could sell a finished V8 car but I know he was selling kits at that time.
Man you never see rides like this anymore ❤🍺😎
Much like Redline Hot Wheels, these were bought to be played with. Many got damaged. Few stayed in the box.
I’ve had 2 Yenko Camaro’s, both 1969, one brand new in 1969, the other a few years ago that my son and I restored from an original car, but was a basket case, missing a lot of parts. We restored it with a built BB, a Hughes Transmission Turbo 400, the original 12 bolt 4:10 was still there, came out great. But even in 1969, I wanted a Phase III Motion Camaro, Just didn’t have the budget for it, they were a few levels above the copo cars, Yenko’s included, but they were a few levels above cost wise as well. I’m 74 now, so maybe when I grow up, I can get one! LOL I did clone a 1971 Z-28 into one, but with a nasty small block, was nice, but nothing like the original beasts.
Interesting, since BM had their own valve covers for the big block swaps, and they didn't use Multiple Spark Discharge ignition systems in the 1960's, they had a Phase III captive discharge ignition system which gave them the idea to call cars "phase 3". however, MSD was a business in 1970 and Rosen would certainly use it if a customer asked. the rims are interesting, a lot of BM cars came on Cragar SS rims. I believe by 1971 they had found out the stock radiator was incapable of cooling even the small block and used their big block radiator option on all Vegas.
Awesome hot rods all of them 👍✌️
Just small and BAD-ASS!! I’ll take 2 of them! 🥳🤟🏾😎🔥😍👍🏾😆
That's one of my top 3 all-time favorites
Love the car! Did anyone feel seasick watching the 2nd part of this video? Anyway, I must admit that I never saw one of these Vegas, or knew about them even living in very eastern Pennsylvania and having relatives we visited many, many times in Levittown Long Island. Very interesting Smokey Yunick intake manifold too...
heck, you guys had Yenko, and he had Stinger Vegas at the time...
YES THU THE WHOLE VIDEO
Two things to remember here , first they never offered a black Vega from the factory , and second the white band across the rear quarters should come farther forward before tapering down to a point at the front of the car .
Cosworth Vega's were BLACK
@@RW_TractorPilot First off Cosworth Vegas were newer than this one . Secondly, by the time the Cosworth Vegas came out , Baldwin Motion were under the cease and desist order , so none were converted . Third , at the price they wanted for a Cosworth , nobody could afford to buy and convert one , unless you had an oil field in your back yard .
@@RW_TractorPilot, He's right. The Cosworth Vega only had a two year run.
1975 & 1976.
It's called a swing out door bar,,
The Baldwin Motion cars were bitchin'.
Awesome Vega. 👍
This looks very similar to the Australian Holden LX Torana (the A9X) was unstoppable at Bathurst
I’m a new fan of these BM rare street racers your guys in the USA have such a rich modified car history and culture totally amazing
You would have loved the 1970's.
You could drive up and down Bragg Boulevard in Fayetteville North Carolina, (Where Fort Bragg is located), and there were 40 or 50 used car lots that sold every type of muscle car that a ARMY GI might want.
We used to stop at all of them to see what they had gotten in, since the week before.
There were areas where hundreds of cars would cruise through the fast food restaurants, movie theaters, skating rinks, and there would be areas where specific brands, and models of cars would park to show off the car, and engine.
Of course they do that today as well, but a lot less hassells back then.
Baddddd ass car has to rev to the moon and back love the h body's big time
Howd they shoe horn an LS5/LS6 In between the fenders of the super vega's and what spring held it up. Because BM cars always had the perfect stance. Love this car. Needs a cross ram and a M22 And the proper solid lifter cam out of the 67-69 Z's
My buddy had had a motion 454 vega he bought new, car didn't hook up till 3rd gear 🤯🤯
What kind of cars do you have right now because I really want one
That's really cool man👍
From what I see the wheels are American Racing Aluminum slots that were not made in 73. My understanding is that Joel put a big block into the Vega not a 302. Anyone who though they had an original would spend the 2k for Joel to verify knowing rhe value would increase bu 30-40k
I'd have to Agree. The sidepipes are not correct and That's not one of Butch's paint jobs either. It's an "interesting" Tribute and if priced accordingly you "might" be able to Twist My Arm.
Those are Cragars from the early seventies and the Vegas were available with any V8 engine available at the time . Most commonly the 350 LT1s , but a 302 was certainly available. As for the King Kong big block cars very few were built and most of them were exported to foreign countries .
the Rat'ified Vega is what brought the house down. the Feds saw a magazine article making it sound like Motion Performance was pumping these things out and showed up to charge $10,000 for every emissions device taken off...about a $50K fine for each car. And even Joel realized what Don Yenko figured out on his 427 SC Novas...too much for the average driver to handle, like 427SC Cobras you wanted your buyer to live long enough to make all the payments.
Nice Vega! 👍
I’d love to buy that Vega
Memories - had a Hooker 71 vega - vette 327 1963 12 1/2`s ported - black with flames - Oakland Ca - in 2days standards would B average but back then fast fast fast - !!!
Just average today?no I think it be a little more than that.
It's called a spilt bumper front
That is a Smoke Ram manifold very rare.
A buddy of mine had one with 327 in it and it was fast
Yes you can still buy that sticker
We sold the car in 2004 , it was an old sticker in window back then. Watch the video at 5:50. Thanks, Tony
KEEP CRUZZIN!!!
People saying its a clone but they dont say why.
Because they can't tell if it was or not, not even Joe Rosen who built them back in the day could tell with out looking up the vin in his record books, he wanted 2000 back in the day to do that, I told him we were not selling anywhere near the price of a real one, it was a trade in for us and we were only getting out our principle money we had in the car, not trying to make a profit on it. I was into quick flips back then and didn't want to tie up the money we had in it for months. As i remember we sold it before we got this video up on our website.
Thanks, Tony
Keep Cruzzzzzzin
@@CLASSICMUSCLECARSTONYBEGLEY - FYI, the Motion owner was JOEL Rosen. Not Joe. 😉
I love the car but the camera person has made me dizzy. Hold it still or let somebody hold the camera while you talk about this wonderful car please, Take the breather off so we can see the intake please. Reveiw your video before posting. Need to hire a person with steady hands to for video recording. But it is a great car..
Nice Very Nice, just wrong stripe,,,
#302nastysbperiod.
Most came with a 350 sbc or a 454 Bbc
From what my friends father told me, the DZs were 4 speeds and the 350s and big blocks we're auto, I could have misunderstood but he owned one of the first ones built and it was a DZ and Muncie set up...
DZ should mean a z/28 302
If it’s real, you should have all documentation from Baldwin Motion. You had to pick all your options just like a Build Sheet.
Should use same replacement seat covers as a 2nd gen Camaro
Seen a lot of Vega, seen a lot of v-8 Vega, I would question your calm as a Baldwin motion, any paper work on the car? I would like to know how much mud is in the flares? I have seen a couple Baldwin motion Vega at car shows, and it looks to me as it is setting a little high. Never seen a fat man bar on a 70era Chevy. Vega also had the tack in the dash, not screw in to the dash. I could be wrong, but it looks like a fake to me. Where the BM name plate on the back of the car? IMO it looks like a mud bucket to me. With know paper work on the car, it looks like a fake…. Imo
Exactly, it's not a Baldwin, it's a replica
It does have the tach in the dash and it is the GT dash with adjustable tack rev limiter if you look close but it looks like the wrong steering wheel and speedo
Go back and listen to the video, I sold this car in 2004. Thanks, Tony
@@joediblasio1846 All Vega GT's had a Camaro Steering Wheel in them, notice it says GT on the horn button, no Camaros were built as GT's. Thanks Joe for your comments, Tony
KEEP CRUZZIN
Not a real Baldwin, my friend's father Charly Bertocchi had one of the first ones built, him and his father (my friends grandfather)was a big part in the design of the campinelli style homes and they both were big dogs in the company, I worked for the campinellis for a year and in 75 he bought every part mail order to build another one out of his 73 Vega but never built it, he had them in his garage side by side with his mint 58 matching numbers Impala and 62 409 motor Impala, after he showed me everything in 1996 he wanted to finish the Vega before he was too old and he wanted to give one to his son, my friend, he wanted to buy my 66 tubbed and caged nova for the drive train but I wasn't selling but told him I'd build him an engine, transmission and set up a rear end for it, we got a 75 wagon, it had a 400, turbo 400 tranny and 12 bolt, I built a 406 with the 350 rods, I ported up my spare fulie heads for it, I had to cut it down the 12 bolt and have the axles resplined, welded on the perches, I made adjustable upper control arms.. I'll bet 20k on that and my 79 big block Camaro Z28, my 76 Vega GT notch back with a 383 AND my 86 big block T top grand prix, shit I'll bet all my cars against it, 5 of my Camaros, my 2 novas, against it that it's not a real Baldwin... I have 2 period correct blocks that the casting numbers say they are DZs but they're not stamped DZ, they are the correct casting numbers but one came from a 70 Monte Carlo and the other was from a 69 Z28 but was a 350 so any Chevy guy knows, that Chevy can stamp anything for the need of it or anyone can mill the block and restamp it and in today's era, any good fabricator can have anything made for your needs...
I sold this car in 2004, not much was know about Baldwin Motion Cars back then. I say in the video that the parts were orginial back in the day parts and if it was a clone it was built with Baldwin Motion Parts. Listen to the video at 5:50. Also, I personally talked to Joe Rosen, owner of Baldwin Motion about this car, he said he would charge me $2000 to check documentation that he had to see if he could verfiy if he built it. He also said the parts were his parts. I told him I was not selling the car to be real at the price of a real one, far less. Thanks, Tony
KEEP CRUZZIN !!!
Sweet Baldwin Motion Vega!!!Please check out my 1968 Barracuda fastback powered by a rowdy 512 stroker backed by an A833 4 speed manual. I think you'll approve. 👌
How much ya asking?? I have an original 69 SS/RS CAMARO.. WANT TO SEE WHAT YA GIVE ME!! I want something different, if ya still have it.
Is the Vega still available?
Sorry William, we sold it in 2004, thanks, Tony
I just threw up from the camera work , so dizzy
It's that day we're all four fifty fours apparently I was wrong
Baldwin's smallest motors were "350's" . . . . .
good god buddy..were you drinking or what !!!!!!!!!!
Too bad Motion wasn't around long enough to put an LS6 in the Chevette 😲 They certainly would have built it , if you had the money to do it 😅
It’s absolutely not a joel rosen vega.don’t portray it as such. Have respect
Baldwin tags on body by vin tag
Was like a mini Camaro /nova
Smokey ram intake?
Why not run it down the 1/4 thats what it was made for!
It looks slightly lifted
body tag under hood said car was a 1975
Nice Car But, Cowl Tag States 1975
Should have motion valve covers not moroso and i thought they had crager s/s
I had 1 but all it did was smoke.
Yep, the aluminum blocks without steel cylinder sleeves in this cars were a total failure. I believe GM ended up being sued over the engines.
why don't you just sell the intake and the wheels if they are so rare and take them stupid looking side pipes off put some crager ss and a polished bowtie intake on it and wal-law good street car😆😆😆😆😆
Why not ? Because although that may not be an actual Motion built car , it was possible to order all of the parts mail order thru Motion to build it yourself at home . Those wheels and side pipes are era correct for 1971 .
And on the 1/4 panels it sain Motion Super Vega and they had LT1 350 in them not a 302. 302's were stick shift motors they never had automatics. This is just a vega someone built the way they wanted. According to the tag this car was blue when new. You guys should really do some research before making a video and get some video skills while your at it.
You can use wood under tires to safely get a car off a hauler even at 2 inch clearance at front of vehicle and that looks like 6 to 8 inches so how the hell did you screw up the spoiler? Very unprofessional!!!
The transport company that brought the car to us had to pay for the damage. Damage happens to cars from Transport daily all over the USA. The worse i have seen was a major transport company was shifting their load in our lot and put a rare Packard Convertible through the roof of the truck trailer, the top was crushed completely down to the dashboard and took out the glass, windshield and window frame. I will gladly take a small crack in a front spoiler than the catastrophe I just decribed.
Looks like a repop video