Mr. Schorr brings the Motion Mystique to life with his in-depth, highly entertaining and enjoyable book. This is a book that reads about as fast as the cars Joel “Mr. Motion” Rosen put together. The author begins with a little history lesson about auto racing, going back to 1904, when the cars from Buick Motor Division were cleaning up at the tracks. We are treated to some racing history about the Duesenbergs, Stutz Bearcats and the Hudson Hornets (the Hudsons won 27 of 34 NASCAR Grand Nationals!), and the inspiration that a young Joel Rosen would draw from these cars. Interestingly enough, the exponential growth in speed and power over the years from these early supercars would be mirrored in his own brand of high-powered muscle.

Joel Rosen and a Motion Corvette

In the mid-1950’s, Joel became tired of the lack of hands-on experience offered in his college engineering courses, decided to join the Air Force and hone his talents working on airplanes. Shortly after his discharge, Joel opened his own auto shop and in his spare time competed in gymkhana and hill-climb racing with his wife. They raced a Corvette and did very well, but it was a street Cobra that brought major attention to his tuning talents prior to his alignment with Chevrolets. It was Joel’s magic touch in dyno tuning that created a name for his shop, and soon, there was little time for wrenching on the neighborhood grocery getters… It was performance-only from then on.

A Baldwin-Motion 427 Camaro

Having a keen entrepreneurial spirit, he struck a deal with Baldwin Chevrolet to “built to order” street cars with a money-back guarantee. His success with the big block Camaros found buyers waiting in line across the U.S., Canada, Germany, Iran and Switzerland to mention a few…. and the list of Motion supercars was as impressive. Motion-prepared engines were finding their way into Novas, Chevelles, Vegas, full size Biscaynes and Corvettes. The success of all the Chevrolets brought interest from Pontiac and Oldsmobile as well, and even an Iso Grifo sporting a 427!

Joel Rosen was not a one-trick pony. His love of horsepower led to building super fast boats at Motion Marine, as well as performance street VW’s and dune buggies at Motion Mini Car. Overcoming the obstacles placed before him by the oil embargo and the Clean Air Act of 1970, Joel ventured into building Mako Shark Vettes, IROC Grand Ams and Monte Carlos well into the 1980’s. In 2005, he debuted an all new Camaro at the annual SEMA show in Las Vegas.

The book documents the vision and keen determination of an automotive genius. We are treated to a bevy of photos which add to the enjoyment of the story. You get the feeling that you are one of Baldwin Motion’s satisfied customers… As my father put it, “I know my left foot kept looking for the clutch pedal. For anyone who has ever raced or even dreamed of racing this is one book you should own.”

Phase 3 Motion Camaro

Truly a great addition to any high performance lover’s bookshelf, the book is one of those rare works that brings the historical, emotional and factual ingredients together in a slick package. It has some great “repeat” value, meaning you’ll find yourself cracking it open again and again… if not just to enjoy the great collection of photos and car features. Truly a wonderful documentation of something uniquely American.

PHOTOS CREDIT/COURTESY MARTYN SCHORR

Motion Performance

Motion Performance
Tales of a Muscle Car Builder
Martyn L. Schorr
Illustrated. 176 pp.
Motorbooks
$35.00

Grab your copy here, and save almost 35%

Mystery Print Packs!

The new “Mystery Print Packs“:

How cool is this:

8×10-inch prints normally sell on the site for $12.00/ea. I’ve decided that a fun way to get more bang for the buck (and handle some Holiday shopping, too!) would be to offer some “package” deals.

Amplifying the “fun” part works like this: You buy a “Mystery Print Pack” for $30, and you get two random 8×10 prints, PLUS a special 8×10-inch print (one not normally offered as an 8×10), AND…. how about this: Every fifth pack sold gets a signed, 19×13-inch print (it’ll be a cool one) thrown in! There you have it….

A great gift idea for the hot rodder on your list!

You get a print for 1/2 off PLUS a shot at a limited-edition, signed print (could be a $50. bonus!)… make that a one-in-five shot!

Check it out here!

Traditional Lakes Roadster artwork

As we were packing up some prints to ship out the other day, a friend stopped by and began to rave about the color and quality of these pieces. Naturally, I was stoked to hear this, and realized that I’d never really given much thought to it. After all, I see them from loose pencil roughs on paper, right though completion in digital, and all of the post-print work that goes into them, and simply want to deliver a piece that looks good. To me, each piece just has to look “right”. My pal then gave me an idea: Show some of these pieces as they look on paper, complete… ready to ship. So, I snapped a few pics of some pieces, and wanted to share a few examples with you, just to show what kind of quality you’ll receieve when ordering one of our prints:

1955 Chevy rendering

Our renderings for example, are delivered on superior quality, acid-free archival paper, and the work itself is created using an 8-color pigment process (UltraChrome K3 by Epson), and all post-print work (airbrush, etc) is created using Createx and House of Kolor products for the truest color matches and best ‘flakes and pearls where needed. I’ve never really promoted these facts, as I assumed that all renderings and prints were created equal, but after receiving a ton of positive feedback, I thought I’d share it here, and hopefully swing anyone thinking about grabbing a print over to the “yeah, I’ll take one” camp!

Just for kicks, here’s an example of the detail I like to throw in, these shots coming from a ’55 Chevy resto-mod rendering:

1955 Chevy interior drawing

…and yes, you can even read the lettering on all gauges:

1955 Chevy dashboard rendering

That all shown, we’re pretty proud of the finished product, and hope that you will be, too! Even the experimental works have been turning out with a great look:

Automotive fine art

I hope that you like what you see, and that all of the techno-jargon makes sense. As always, if you have any questions, feel free to hit me up, and I’ll get you an answer! Thanks for looking in, and thanks to all who have been collecting my work! Look for more new pieces soon!

…and feel free to browse or grab some hot rod art here!

If you recall the rendering for Resilience, the custom Buick) I had created:

Rendering for Resilience, a custom '52 Buick Riviera

…it’s begun hitting the magazines!

We’re officially big in Japan!

Resilience was shot in Sacto, and grabbed six pages in the kick-ass Japanese title Cruisin’ Magazine! We are flat-out stoked, and the response to the car overseas has been nothing short of amazing. I’m absolutely floored by it, and still can’t get over how incredible Tim’s work is on the car. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, we had a great team in the shop with Tim, Shawn and Dave, and I honestly could never ask for a better car owner team than Erik and Paul Hansen. Simply an amazing experience and time, and be sure to scrape up a copy on the Cruisin’ Magazine site, or from the good folks at Mooneyes!

…and as if that weren’t cool enough, Resilience returns to Rod and Custom this month in finished form!

We were stoked when the rendering was a part of the “Dream Car of the Month” column at the start of the year, and we get to follow that with Mike Chase’s fabulous studio shots of the mighty Buick, along with Tim B.’s great feature editorial. I was floored when I read the piece, and extremely thankful to Erik, Paul, Tim and Carrie for including my name in the article as they did… It was a pleasure just to be a part of it all.

Two guys who were left from the article (however it happened), but without whom this car would have never made the Pomona debut are Dave Neal and Shawn Ray, two remarkably talented builders and dedicated friends. These guys busted their behinds to make it all come together, sacrificing weekends, nights, comfort and time with family to see it through, and were an integral part of the fun and success of the big copper barge. Thanks, guys… amazing work.

And thanks, as always, to the staff at Rod and Custom Magazine for the coverage and support!

But….

Hang on….

…is that… ???

Body double! ...or just thinking too much?

…no way….

It sure as hell looks like Corey Feldman!

"Goofy's a dog. He's definitely a dog."

Awesomeness.

Back in 1980, Len Legere Sr. bought the remains of a ’71 Javelin from a wrecking yard, and took it from a forgotten mess to the ISCA National Championship. The car had a HUGE impact on me almost twenty years ago, and still brings forth that teenage awe that it did when I first laid eyes on it at the Clutch Artists AutoRama in Buffalo, NY. Before we get too deep into it, dig on some video caught by my father those many moons ago (pardon the low quality– time has been harsh to the old VHS tapes, and his transfer was decent, but moving it online has degraded it a bit more…).

The car absolutely jumped off of its turntable that March day, and drove deep into my psyche. Here was a modern custom car… a contemporary take on the radical customs I was already obsessed over as a kid, but oh, so much more! That stance was aggressive, and not typical at all of a custom car, it had billet rollers, and those proportions, man!! Chopped and sectioned, and channeled just right over that custom frame… This was a 1:1 version of the models I was building! I can’t begin to count the hours I spent studying the car as it went ’round and ’round that weekend, but know this much: I was taking notes.

As a junkyard-trolling individual, I recognized the (then)late-model Monte Carlo headlamps, the Fairmont tail lights… but the specifications were branded into my brain: roof chopped 2.5-inches, body sectioned 3-inches, floors channeled 5-inches. I stood there, imagining the car sitting on the ground… how it would have looked, a whole, what… 40 or so inches tall? Awesome.

Anyway, I bring this car up following a week of finishing off a couple of pro-touring style car renderings, and a late night of pondering where that whole movement will go next. After all, custom cars grew to become milder versions of their former selves, save for a few notable examples like we have here, and pro-street became, well, pro-touring… Yet, almost 20 years ago, Len Legere created a car that would easily meld the custom and pro-touring camps, and left an indelible mark on my design sense. Since that day in the Buffalo Convention Center, I’ve worked to add styling cues to my designs that honor that pivotal moment, and have enjoyed the hell out of it all. Here’s hoping you’ll do the same, and thanks, as always, for peeking in….

Cover of Benchrace #9

Weighing in at nine issues (when the new one hits, anyway), the magazine has already nailed some killer content, including stuff from guys like Jim “Jake” Jacobs, Tom Fritz, our good pal Jimmy Smith, Dan Picasso and more! Hell, it’s even had the great Reverend Billy Gibbons on the pages! Good times indeed!

Suffice to say, it was cool when Robert threw the idea out there to feature my art… I’m always stoked when anyone takes notice of my stuff, and it was a good experience! As part of the fun, I was asked to offer up a print as part of his monthly prize drawing, and I’ve obliged, offering up on of my signed/numbered and limited-edition pieces, the Mahi Mah-T:

Show rod artwork by Problem Child Kustoms Studio-- Win it!

Add to that (by golly, it just gets better and better, huh?) the chance to win a free set of wheels, compliments of Real Rodders Wheels, just for subscribing (it’s FREE, by the way), and the icing is on the cake:

Win a set of Real Rodders Wheels by registering at Benchrace Magazine!

If you get a chance, check it out… I think you’ll enjoy it.

Got into a great conversation with a friend recently over a few donuts and some coffee, and talk turned to historical cars that offer inspiration from a variety of standpoints…. and it tied in perfectly with what’s going on in the automotive industry… especially with American companies folding. This kills me, as there seems to be absolutely NO RESPECT for the advances made by American car companies, or their impact on technology and the economy at large.

As you may already know, I have a deep fascination with all things Ferrari. The sheer elegance of design, combined with the amazing heritage and utter lust for performance that these machines elicit in one’s mind… hell, one’s soul, even, is the stuff of legend. Yet, surprisingly, for a guy who talks a lot, I’ve never touched on another great car to come from not Italy (although we’ll touch on that later), but from right here in the US, the mighty Duesenberg.

How can one deny the sheer excitement of any of the company’s offerings? Hell, even the history of the marque is filled with the stuff of legend. Two brothers, both self-taught engineers (think about it, isn’t every hot rodder somewhat of a self-taught engineer?) set out to build sports cars. August and Fred built cars in the ’20’s that had features you might find on today’s cars: four valves per cylinder, dual overhead cams, and even juice brakes!

Anyway, the history of the marque is readily available with some minimal research skills, so we won’t waste time on chronology here. What interested me most about the Brothers Duesenberg, was their use of superchargers and other go-fast goodies that seems, well, kind of strange, given the years in question. We’re talking cars in the late ’20’s that had 140 MPH capability! An American, coach-built car (hell, by the time a wealthy owner got done, these things weighed tons!) that could run 0-60 times in roughly eight seconds! Again, that’s PRE-1930! If that’s not engineering and hot rodding at its finest, well, grab some stronger coffee, sir, and wake up.

Moving along, an interesting point was brought up regarding the partnership of one Virgil Exner and Fritz Duesenberg (son of August) on the Stutz Bearcat…. here was the prime example of Chrysler design, working with the heir of the genius that was Duesenberg. Sadly, this was a doomed marque (but sure made creative use of domestic offerings from Delta 88’s to Grand Prix’s!) One begins to wonder what may have been, had this partnership been at a more opportune time. In a way, there’s a lot of inspiration to be found in there…. the use of existing, perhaps not-so-inspirational cars to begin with, to create a coach-built car with performance, all while giving a nod to this golden age.
Sadly, we’re at a point where the political agendas and underlying turmoil have destroyed the industry, and are stripping the historical significance of our storied past, and leaving with it a revised version, loaded with controversy. At it’s most basic level, this is an industry that is dynamic, exciting and loaded with great stories of great men and innovation, and to not be inspired by any of it leaves one to consider anyone’s dedication to it in a much brighter light.

We’re in an age now (in the hot rodding hobby) where we have talented builders following on this original path, and creating incredible cars from almost nothing. While it’s exciting to witness, it just seems altogether more interesting when compared to a historical reference point, and one draws out some inspiration from two brothers who simply wanted to build fast cars… Ahh, the good old days.

Surf Cube concept rendering

Naturally, I began sketching ideas for these Cube’s as soon as I laid eyes on them, and the above idea kept knocking on my brain… It just HAD to be drawn first!

The “Surfite” of one Ed Roth has always ranked as a top ten custom car in my book, not only because it’s so damn original, but it’s also surf-oriented, and as you know, I love me some surf ANYTHING. And man… the little Cube not only calls out for a “lifestyle vehicle” treatment, but as a surf wagon??! Oh YES! Taking cues from Mr. Roth’s lilliputian land rover, I plugged in classic hot rod and So-Cal VW styling cues, and attempted to honor the master “hisself” (as he’d say) with a modern take on the little Surfite.

Roth's Surfite

Pop-out side glass? Check. Asymmetrical tail light treatment? Check. Aggressive stance? Checkity-check. Custom trim and mild re-work all over? Double checkity-check. Take a very unusual car and make it even more personal/unique? Check, check, checkity-check check! It’s useful, like the swing-out rear glass and flip-up side windows, to the small step built into the rear fascia, and, well… it just looks COOL.

I dig it, and hope you do, too… And if so, holler at me, and I’ll continue finishing what I’ve started in the sketch book, and show off an entire series, perhaps.

Why not see some more, or grab a shirt or print over on my site at www.problemchildkustoms.com ? You’ll be glad you did… and so will I!