Simply hearing or seeing the words, “Baldwin-Motion” makes our little gearhead heart start to run faster, but when we were informed that the very last Phase III GT Corvette ever built by Motion was found, restored, and will be making a public debate soon, our ticker found another gear. There were only 12 GTs produced between 1969 and 1971, making them the most rare, raucous and revered cars ever to roll from the shop of Joel Rosen. These babies were certified man-eaters that had both the unique look that Rosen envisioned and a level of horsepower that did not exist in more than a handful of cars in the country at the time they were built.

The last Pase III GT was purchased by a doctor named Henry Rollings in 1971 who was a certified gearhead nut. He flew old war planes and was a noted road racer, and once he took a ride in a Phase III GT Corvette, he signed on to have one built. The day he picked up the car, he promptly drove it all the way to Georgia, 500 hp big block and A/C blowing the whole way! Current owner Adam Tuckman purchased it from the good doctor’s family in 2008.

So what made these cars such monsters? A 3400lb curb weight and honking big blocks, that’s what! Starting with an LS6 454, Motion would tead down the motor and rebuild it to LS7 specification, adding L88/ZL1 aluminum open chamber heads, a high performance GM hydraulic lifter cam, headers, a big Holley carb, and time on the dyno to tune the whole thing to within an inch of its life. This car was optioned with a Turbo 400 transmission which was torn down and beefed with better internals and a shift kit. Finally the rear end was packed with 4.88 gears and just upstream of that a Hone-o-drive auxilliary o/d transmission that would make that 4.88 a 3.42 when engaged. Rumors of these cars running in the 10s with slicks on them are true. It would spin and skate into the 11s on hard bias-ply rubber. Adding some real shoes transformed the cars into legitimate ground pounders at the track.

Oh, we forgot to mention the motor has 12.5:1 compression. Back in the day, it was Sunoco 260 only for fuel!

In 1971 this car cost $16,283, which was big bucks, but obvioulsy worth every penny. Being that this is the last of the breed ever produced, it has been verified by Joel Rosen, and the only change to it since new was a repaint in the 1980s, it is believed to the be most original GT on the planet, we’d say it is worth a little more than $16,283. Just a shot in the dark there.

This car will make a public debut at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals car show in Chicago, Illinois, on November 20-21. Make sure you stop by and check it out. Tell ’em BangShift.com sent you!

Thanks to BangShift pal Marty Schorr for the info!