1969 corvette BM shop car?? With attempted murder and ties to Watkins Glen track
 

Hello all, new to the site. I have a 1969 427 corvette that from what I have been told was a BM shop car (#2 car??). I purchased the car from a guy who flipped it from the second owner. Here is the story in brief:
Original owner purchased the car then in 1970 took it to Motion Performance to do some engine work. The original owner raced at Watkins Glen. Reportedly he ran the car a time or two on the track for fun. He had wheel well flares put on it to run wider tires. He had evidently the engine rebuilt there to his specs. Has a high capacity oil pump that pegs the 70 psi factory gauge. A pretty decent cam, other inside work I am not sure of. He also had from the shop installed an Edlebrock high rise 396C manifold ( round port heads), Holley 780 cfm dual feed, fly eye air cleaner, Motion valve covers, Hooker headers and a fiberglass stinger hood. The car has period decals from Watkins Glen, blue and yellow Motion Performance and House of Corvettes ( buffalo NY. Once a corvette institution on the east coast) stickers. He sold the car to a a lawyer on the east coast ( not allowed to use his name or location). He got a divorce, started dating some young thing ( reportedly in that order), she stalked him. One day he and his new squeeze went out, parked and left the vette. She went to the car to break in, tried to force the drivers door with a huge screwdriver ON THE HINGE SIDE (LOL), leaving 2 sizable indentations in the fiberglass door. She then took paint and spelled out WHORE on the windshield on the passengers side in 3 inch letters. She then hid in a Bush. They came out, saw the car, jumped in. She came out from the bush with the screwdriver, slammed it into the side glass 3 times taking out 3 chunks of glass but did not break it trying to kill the girlfriend. He floors the car, loses controlsmacks something with the front end, cracks the nose some, cracks the hood a little, slight bend to the bumper, put a dent in the oil pan and drove home and shoved the car in an old out building where it sat for over 20 years. He sold it to the flipper who I got it from. He removed the painted WHORE on the windshield with steel wool. It is all scuffed except for the impression of the word left in the glass still readable after all this time. I have the car. It runs very well, took some work to get it back. It is left all intact, untouched excepted to intake carb setup and headers were removed and the factory original pieces put back on the car. I still have all of the original MOTION items untouched with all the patina still there. I have put the Motion valve covers back on. I have not seen this type before except for one photo in the blue Baldwin Motion book. They are stamped steel units chrome plated with the Motion emblem stuck to them. They are clearly real items by the age on them. They are not just factory covers with the Motion emblem stuck one. Has anybody seen these before. The engine retains all the original hoses, clamps plug wires and shielding. Truely amazing. I am currently trying to get the Motion hood back from the flipper, hopefully to finish off the car. So here are my questions:

Did Joel keep records of shop cars??? Mine is NOT a real Baldwin Motion car. A private party car brought into the shop to work on it.

Are shop cars valuable today with all the original Motion items still with them?
All I see is fake Tributes/ clones that come up for sale, are the shop cars with the Motion equipment that hard to find?

And last, all I hear about is the finned Ansen valve covers. Has anyone ever seen the stamped steel/chrome versions. There is a photo of them in the blue book, think it is page 144 or 149 somewhere around there on an engine with dual quads.

Thoughts?? Thanks for the responses. Amazing car with crazy provenance. The life these cars lead and this one is preserved. If someone can tell me how to upload photos i will do so. Great site!!

Great story, I can’t wait to see some pictures!

Tell me how and I will !

There’s a button below where you type your post that says “manage attachments” but you may have to resize them first if they are too large or else they won’t upload. Another alternative is to upload them on another site such as photobucket and post the link.

Ok, here you go. Please see facebook link below to the car. Any thoughts, answers to the questions will be very much appreciated.

Well the pictures don't really show much of the car. If you want feedback from the knowledgeable folks on this site I think they're going to need more to work with.

Ok, what would you like? Sorry but we are building a new house and the cars are in the new garage with everything else with the driveway completely blocked with building materials so getting the car out is not going to happen for a while. Curious on comments on the valve covers and how many shop cars are still around. I will provide whatever I can

Cool car and story. The valve covers look like factory installed chrome dripper covers with the Motion emblems attached.

Jason

Yeah, looks like factory chrome calve covers with Motion badges attached.

The emblems could be purchased at the counter or through a catalog and applied to anything.
The stickers were free at the counter.

Totally understand that is what it looks like but I took them off. There is no GM stamping or part number on them an when I hold them up to the factory units that came with the car the quality and finish are completely different. That is why I was wondering if Baldwin sourced out these valve covers and put their badges on them?? I included a photo from their blue book on the facebook site showing the exact same valve covers. Just kinda confusing. Was hoping someone may know. Thanks

The picture with the tunnel ram has a set of different valve covers. Wire standoff is in a different location and so is the motion placard. Not sure what that means, but you can toss part of the story.

Ok, not sure what you mean by toss part of the story??

I think the photo with the dual quads was taken from the Motion book. He posted it to show the similarity between the valve covers.

Correct. Just used the photo from the book to show another example of this valve cover. Did any other source use the drippers other than the factory units? The chrome plating on these is just so different than the factory ones that were originally with the car. Not trying to pull a fast one and slip a faked car by. All the histories of the car line up with the original parts that came with the car. About the only two things I do not have right now from its past is the Motion stinger hood ( trying hard to get it) and the other wheels that had the wider tires the original owner used. Those are lost for good. What is on there are the original steel wheels. I got the car because of its Motion ties, and its crazy past, plus that it was a stashed away barn find which I collect. I still have work to do on it, little things but is very enjoyable to sit behind the wheel of a car with this rich of history. Sorry but I do not see any part of the story that needs to be thrown out. No fake reproduction Motion parts on the car from what I can see. Just a shop car not a high dollar true Motion built car, cant afford $200k for a car, but the ties to the shop and having them untouched is what I was after. Thanks again for all the imput.

those are not break in marks on the hinge side... those are marks from the hinges itself. its a common thing on early c3 corvettes when the door is opened too hard and fast and flexes and hits the hinge bar.... many including my own have suffered from that.

im thinking that someone at some point did what a lot of people did... hit the motion catalog and build book ( indicating the intake manifold choice) and built their own version of a motion car. being a buffalo native myself.. motions influence was strong here and still is in some ways... we still have a blown small block mako corvette driving around that was done in the mid 70s... i love the patina and the car is cool. however i dont think there is any motion lineage other then some parts possibly purchased there.

just to show the influence still in Buffalo... my Corvette and my friends Camaro still being built using motion books and parts.. Corvette Specialties and guys like Larry Bogdan still have parts or worked at House of Corvettes back then... i acquired some motion style parts recently from both places for my corvette..

I knew I would learn something here. You are absolutely correct! Those indentations on the edge of the door do line up with what you are talking about. I was told the ex tried to break into the car with the screwdriver when the attempted murder happened, I assumed those were the marked. There is also a gouge out of the top of the door just below the top crease line of the door by the handle. That must have been where she did it. I figured that was a secondary futile attempt. There you go, you assume and you make a **$# out of yourself. Thanks!! There were some heated moments when she tried to slam the hood down, maybe she went nuts on the door as well. All I know is what I was told that Motion built the engine and did the flare work. The engine is built very well, is very strong, perfect gearing for track work and the 4 speed is very much a close ratio keeping the revs up in the lower gears. So whoever did it built a great engine. Unfortunately I have no written documentation so I guess I'm screwed on that one. I guess I will have to settle for a untouched period catalog car with Motion items on it which I guess is still not a bad thing to have. I will let you all know if I get the hood back. Hopefully will have an answer in a week or two. Wish me luck lol.

BTW, does anyone know where I can get a filter element that looks correct for the Fly Eye?? the original one is now basically dust. If I get the stinger hood back I will put the original Motion items back on but want to make sure the carb is protected. THANKS! Also, WOW! You actually know about House of Corvettes??! You are the second person I have talked to that knew of the place. He was blown away with the decal that was on the car. Thanks for the info and very nice corvette. Good that Baldwin Motion is still alive there. I grew up in Springfield Illinois and right in the middle of the muscle car era. Always wanted a Motion car. This is as close as I will get.

what are the dimensions of the Motion emblems ? (length and width)
the early ones were different then the later ones

3 7/8" x 7/8"

Yup.

Those are the smaller later emblems