Motion Performance: Tales of a Muscle Car Builder

Winner of International Automotive Media Silver Award 2010 It was a driver's dream: Along with the full factory warranty, your car came with a guarantee of 11.5-second quarter-mile times. It was also Joel Rosen's dream, and in 1964, he set out to make it a reality. First he built fast cars. Then, taking a page from Ford's win on Sunday, sell on Monday strategy, he built a reputation by beating all comers on drag strips and in street races. By 1967, Rosen's Motion Performance was the place to go if you wanted a true muscle carand, if you ordered a Baldwin-Motion Chevrolet, a muscle car with a full factory warranty. Motion Performance tells the inside story of how it all happened. Brilliantly illustrated with period pictures and modern color photos, the book takes readers along as Cobras, Chevrolets, Oldsmobiles, even Volkswagen Beetles roll into the shop to get torn down and rebuilt into cars unbeatable on the streets and drag strips. Marty Schorr gives a first-hand account of seven years of high-performance life--and of how it all came to a screeching halt at the hands of the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency. A once-in-a-lifetime tale of power and speed, told by one of the principals who put that performance within reach, Motion Performance makes the story of a briefly and thrillingly lived dream available to everyone.

About the Author :
Martyn Schorr has a history with high-performance cars that dates back to the beginning of Ford's Total Performance era over fifty years ago. He rode with Carroll Shelby and was at the press conference in New York for the debut of the Lola-built Ford GT that became the GT40. Schorr drove the GT40 on streets of New York City and went with Mickey Thompson in 1969 to Bonneville to set a book full of records. He personally knew all the key players from Ford's racing program from his years as a magazine editor. Schorr is the author of Motion Performance (Motorbooks, 2009).The author of several books on muscle cars, Joe Oldham began his career in journalism in 1964 as a writer/editor for Magnum-Royal Publications, where he road-tested every muscle car for magazines such as Hi-Performance Cars, Speed & Supercar and Supercars Annual until 1976. He then spent the next thirty-two years at The Hearst Corporation, the last nineteen as editor-in-chief of Popular Mechanics. He currently resides in La Quinta, California with his wife, Nina.

Review :
"Whether you're a diehard muscle car fanatic or just have a passing interest in American performance cars, there is no doubt that you will enjoy reading this highly entertaining book. As part of the team that built Motion Performance into the ultimate icon in the world of '60's hot rodding, Schorr's firsthand account of some of the operation's noteworthy cars is absolutely riveting. The whole story... is very inspiring. The read is mesmerizing, as if you're sitting on your grandfather's lap and he's telling you tales of all the old hot rods that he and friends built - and that's exactly how the book is written. If there ever was a muscle car book that can send you back to those carefree, high-octane days of street racing and big-block power, this is it. A must-have book that every muscle car enthusiast is certain to read many times over." - Hemmings Classic Car "Marty Schorr gives a first-hand account of seven years of over-the-top, high-performance life--and of how it all came to a screeching halt at the hands of the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency. A once-in-alifetime tale of power and speed, told by one of the principals who put that performance within reach. MOTION Performance makes the story of a briefly and thrillingly lived dream available to everyone. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the radical new Baldwin-Motion 540 Camaro SuperCoupe was debuted at the 2005 SEMA Show and won the coveted GM Design Award!" - IMPACT (International Motor Press Association magazine) "Armed with an enthusiast's memory for detail and a fine archive of period and current photography, Marty tells the tale as a car nut, business partner, friend, and overall nice guy. For over 22 years we've had the skinny on Don Yenko and his PA-based operation, but Joel Rosen's story has not been told in full . . . until now. Motion Performance: Tales of a Muscle Car Builder is a must-have for any musclecar library no matter what allegiance you have--even if you hate Chevys!" - Diego Rosenberg, Examiner.com "Martyn Schorr writes about these events as if he were there right from Motion's beginnings in 1963 -- which he was, in dual roles, as the editor of High-Performance Cars magazine who moonlighted as Mr. Rosen's advertising guy. Thus was Mr. Schorr able to provide inside information about every model that flew the Motion Performance flag, from Cobras to VWs, along with terrific street, strip and shop photos. The author also includes an illuminating introductory chapter, "Muscle in America," that recaps the high-performance builders whose tradition Mr. Rosen upheld. Whereas other "hot-rod books" tend to be long on photography but short on accuracy and technical details, this rare exception excels on all counts." - Dave Wallace Jr., The New York Times