UBETRUN

Elderly friend of the family is thinking about selling his 1970 convertible. He has owned it for 20+ years and bought it from the original owner. It is a silver convertible with a 427, 4 speed, 4.11 rear, open sidepipes, and the Baldwin Motion III package. It is supposedly 100% original, never restored. The car is mint, cherry, like new, etc., - only driven to car shows once or twice a year and kept covered inside a climate controlled garage. Because of the family relationship, I have first dibs on the car, it is not offered for sale to the public yet.

Couple of questions for those with more knowledge:

1) The VIN and motor numbers do not match. According to the owner, the original motor was replaced as part of the Baldwin Motion III package with a 427 crate motor. Is this true, did the Baldwin Motion III package include a motor swap? And if so, what effect will non-matching numbers have on the value of the car if the swap was done as part of the dealer-installed package? He replaced the cam and carb to make it more driveable but has the original parts, said it was almost unstreetable with the originals.

2) How can I verify the authenticity of the car without offending the owner? He's a long time friend of the family and this is his baby, I don't want to question his word but I also don't want to inherit his mistakes if the car is a clone. If I have the VIN and motor codes, is there a registry of Baldwin Motion corvettes that I can check? A club that specializes in verifying authenticity?

3) Assuming the car is 100% as described, original Baldwin Motion III and cherry, what is it worth?


Appreciate any assistance, I am a very happy C6 owner but don't know much about the earlier models. Thanks!

Sidepiper

If it is truly a Motion Vette........ Jump on it and don't tell any locals before you get it.

400hp427vette

http://www.yenko.net/dealers/motion.htm
first this car is super rare, Almost as rare as the 69 ZL-1. Baldwin motion has a service that can tell you if the car is real or not.

Earthquake Driver

Ask, Joel Rosen.


http://www.officialbaldwinmotion.com/contact.htm

UBETRUN

I will contact Mr. Rosen, I didn't know they were still in business. Thanks for the assist and keep your fingers crossed for me!!

Earthquake Driver

UBETRUN

One more bit of info that may help, the motor is solid lifter 12.5:1 compression. Would that be consistent with the Phase III package in a 1969/1970 crate motor? Thanks again!

jr9170

Can you post some pics,sounds like a beauty....

UBETRUN

I will post some pictures but it will take a few days, the car is in PA and I live in VA.

pbcanney

75k minimum

UBETRUN

Thank you.

krafty79

You guys need to watch more Barrett-Jackson. A motion owner turned down $280,000 on one that need A LOT of work. One headlight was stuck up, paint gone, seats torn, etc. Anything under $350,000 would be a good price. If your getting it for less than that, it might be what it is.
Barrett-Jackson has one reportedly sold at $750,000.

A quick search showed 10 built between 1969 and 1971. There was also a registry that showed 5 still exist.

Good luck and keep us posted.

UBETRUN

The owner is from a small town in PA and loved to hit the local car shows with his wife. She died a couple of years ago and he hasn't taken it to a show since. They enjoyed this car together and it's now a constant reminder of his loss.

A little while ago, I spoke with my father who is good friends with the owner and lives in the same small town. As I said, our families have been friends a long time, since I was a baby. The owner believes with all his heart that it's an original Baldwin Motion but hasn't done anything to authenticate it, he didn't think it was worth the money. He's not dumb but he's not worldly either, $1500 is a lot of money to him and a slip of paper would not have made them love the car any more.

I've done some internet research since starting this thread and sent an email to Mr. Rosen. I am prepared to spend the $1500 necessary to have him check its authenticity. Everything I already know about the car combined with what I was able to learn from the internet makes me optimistic. If it is legit, I will have a very tough decision ahead of me, it's worth *much* more than I'm paying but if I sell it, I'll never be able to own another.

I asked my father to send me some pictures, I'll post them here when he gets them. Thanks for all the help!

jr9170

If you look through the threads here, there is one from SILVERDEVIL that took pics from a NCRS judging meet in LI and Kevin Mckay had a BM Phase III GT that he restored.As far as prices go these do not change hands often but when they do it is not for chump change.From prices i have seen and heard you could be talking the 250-500k range.

56early

Try this site , very interesting and there are Motion people here.
http://www.yenko.net/

krafty79

I think I left out my earlier post,these prices are for the Phase III pkg that draws the big bucks. Hopefully you'll get some news from your Rosen email but I heard he's not the informative without the check to do the research. If you can get it for a fair market price for a nice 70 BB, then buy it for that and do the research after.

UBETRUN

That is my plan, the price is very attractive even if it's a clone.

Knowing how long he's owned it and him buying it from the original owner though, I'm still optimistic.

68 NJConv 454

capevettes

If he isn't in possession of any paperwork to confirm it as a Baldwin Motion car I would presume it is not. My understanding was that the numbers should match as the original motor was used in their build up.

Derrick Reynolds

Can you find out what it says on the stamp pad? I'm not knowledgable about the stampings on Crate motors (but I don't think it would have a VIN derivative stamping at all), but others here will know what the stampings mean, if they are from the factory.