During the mechanical nuclear arms race known as the muscle car era, there was plenty of snot under the hoods of factory cars. That being said, we all know the cure for all that ills a serious gearhead…more horsepower! A fist full of smart dealerships recognized this and started building small volume super cars using select factory and aftermarket parts,
For some places, it was as simple as plunking a special order 427 into the front of a Camaro. For others, it was essentially re-engineering an entire car with the dealership staff and local racers as consultants and helpers. While the corporate office may not have liked it, the dealerships gained street cred across the country in no time flat and the publicity generate from their cars still echoes today.
We’ve amassed a list of all the big name hot dealers back in the 1960s. Select the one that you think was the single best high performance house in the nation!
I’m a Fordophile so Tasca should be my obvious choice with the A/FX’ers and of course the original CJ but I voted Motion. Those Big Block Vettes, Camaros and Novas are pure muscle car sex.
You missed Hodges Dodges and Ace Wilson’s Royal Pontiac. While it could be argued that Hodges just sold Chrysler’s finest, Royal was THE place for fast Pontiacs.
Dan
Motion for sure,the other were kinda compromised one way or the other. Joel Rosen went all out balls to the wall.
Baldwin-Motion was like Alice’s Restaurant: You could get anything you want at Baldwin-Motion! That’s why there are no two Baldwin-MotionChevys exactly alike.
For Fords I would chose Tasca; Pontiacs,Royal.
They were the really good old days,
Marty
Of those, whom are still in business? Ummmm?
I know of one in Rhode Island that is ; )
That was my vote.
I think Royal was at it first but got surpassed by Yenko and Grand Spalding for Volume but Motion would top the list for “would you like fries with that:” approach.
had to go with tasca. even if they are ford..
they are a very welcoming bunch..
and still in the game, and never left it.
Of course I’m biased but for good reason…Yenko’s cars were all pretty much pre-packaged COPO’s, but he did add stripes and was a competitive guy. Probably sold the most numbers on the Chevy side, but it was Joel who became Dr. Frankenstein and created the most feared of all and Baldwin Motion had guarantee’s!!! Ford side definitely Tasca. Royal Pontiacs also fearsome. Spaulding…? if you say so…
Every dealer in the voting modified what the factory produced. Motion re-created some of the cars. For example the Motion Maco Shark was almost a complete rebuild. The complete Corvette nose & rear body parts were totally replaced as well as the drive line & the interior. The Motion Comaros just looked more radical than what the other dealers were turning out. Needless to say I am partial to Baldwin/Motion
Galpin Ford? For West Coast performance Ford dealerships in the 60’s, I’d expect to see Russ Davis Ford (Gas Ronda) or Foulger Ford.
In addition, Bob Ford Inc – Dearborn and Paul Harvey Ford – Indianapolis. Paul was a VP and part owner of Bob Ford from 62-65, went back to Indy and got his own store. Sponsored factory team cars until 1971.
Look, any site that posts a question like this and gets MARTY SCHORR posting with the rest of us means BangShift is taking us to Awesomeland
Name another car dealer that pulled off a 200 unit “production” run to meet SCCA homologation requirments.L
Yenko Camaro’s and just about everything else they did are/was over rated. Looking at that list and considering what they are/were up against there I cant believe there is the aura/legend around them that they have.
White Bear Lake Dodge (MN) tuned my 69 SuperBee—Four Trophys in F/PSA—Minnesota Dragways—Then got drafted in June 69—
Grand Spaulding dodge! Who else would put a supercharger on your brand new 71′ Demon as a dealer option?
Didn’t know he was a dealer.?
Thought he had a filthy 3 bay store front on Sunrise Highway.
I do know that he worked over a LOT of people.
What a putz Rosen is and was.
However to be fair he was non selective-He SCREWED EVERYONE ALIKE.
And to this day HE still does.
All he needs is clown shoes now with his 150K Motion Camaro.
Gene Wagner-Winston Champion
I think Grand Spaulding Dodge was awesome and ran everything in every class up to funny cars!!!
To understand the success of Royal Pontiac you have to appreciate the difference between ?ǣPerformance?ǥ and ?ǣRacing?ǥ. While Royal fielded competitive Super-Stock Pontiacs, when Pontiac was ?ǣin racing?ǥ, their greatest success was putting their customers in just the ?ǣright?ǥ car. During the 1960?
In ’68 I had a Ram Air 400 Firebird. It came out of London Motor Products, London, Ontario balanced and blueprinted with the Royal Bobcat kit added. It also had headers, traction bars, widened rims and big rubber. The car was slightly quicker than a local 427 powered Chevelle. A very nice street combination. In ’69 I bought a COPO Chevelle. It wasn’t until I added headers and did some fine tuning did I feel that the Chevelle would run with the Firebird. Yenko and Royal owe their success to staying close to what the factory produced and fine tuned. Sure, Motion and some others cars may have been quicker but you sure weren’t going to put 200K miles on them like I did with my Chevelle. I don’t think there were many Motion cars built anyway despite all their full page ads in the car magazines.
My vote was for Fred Gibb Chevy.. Mainly because I am partial to Novas and Fred started the whole 68 Nova COPO order process from Chevrolet and incorporated them with Dick Harrell Racing!!
Rich
Nickey made 1 million dollars a mo. thats over 33k a day. thats back in the day!