Vehicle Description
One of Motion's conversion cars. Beginning with an unassuming gas
station and then specializing in high-performance tuning by 1963,
Motion Performance was set up in new premises during 1966 in
Baldwin on Long Island, NY. Regularly featured in Martyn Schorrs
Cars magazine in period with advertisements heralding an outrageous
11.5-second/120-mph quarter-mile performance or written money-back
guarantee, Motion's performance-tuned muscle cars, mainly
Chevrolets, remain legends with a faithful following today. This
1969 Camaro began as a Z/28 model that was ordered new on April 29,
1969, by Chuck Hamilton from Curtis Person Chevrolet in Tennessee.
As recorded on the order form, he specified Hugger Orange paint,
black vinyl upholstery, Soft Ray tinted glass, a center console,
posi-traction rear axle, power front disc brakes, special
instrumentation, AM radio, manual rear antenna, Style Trim group,
special interior group and special performance equipment, otherwise
known as the Z/28 package. It was drag-raced by Hamilton until
1974, when he shipped the car to Motion Performance in New York for
conversion by Rosen with a dual-carbureted, tunnel-rammed 427ci
big-block engine, including special ZLX open-chamber aluminum
cylinder heads, a Liberty 4-speed manual transmission, and
suspension updates to handle the power of the new 427. As
completed, the Camaro carried a late-60s Pro Stock look and feel.
According to a 2008-dated letter, Joel Rosen stated, "It was one of
our most expensive and extreme conversions done during that era."
With a copy of his original invoice totaling nearly $12,000, he
further stated, "I personally test-drove the car upon completion
and it definitely performed up to its build cost." Of particular
significance, this shop conversion was completed at Motion
Performance during the last quarter of 1974, just before tightening
federal regulations forced Rosen to stop performing this type of
work. Following completion, Hamilton's reborn Camaro was raced as
the "Mr. H." He retained the car through the late 1980s, eventually
selling it to its second owner, who intended to have the car
restored. It was later sold untouched to the third owner, with the
car passing through several more owners in the vicinities of
Atlanta and Augusta, GA, before dropping from sight for several
years until it was purchased by Tim Lopata in 2001 on behalf of
Mike Guarise, who restored it to its Motion-converted form.
