Tales of a Muscle Car Builder

“There was no long-range marketing plan”, says Joel Rosen in the new Motorbooks title Motion Performance: Tales of a Muscle Car Builder by Martyn L. Schorr, and like so many legends, things just seemed to take on a life of their own for Motion Performance.

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 for the Holidays!

If you’re a long-time visitor to my website, or just know us, then you already know how we enjoy the hell out of saving our clients and friends some cash… simply because we love saving some ourselves! From time to time (usually a few times per month), we’ll hide a deal someplace on the site… it might be a free t-shirt, a sticker, something from one of our pals in the industry, a break on design work and costs… or even a coupon for the online store! With the Holidays approaching and money tight all around with the economy in the current state, I’m stoked to offer…

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!

Hot rod art prints…

…that really “pop”.

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!

Two Continents. Two Titles. Eleven Pages.

I’m quite psyched about our press coverage this month…

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!

Shopping for a Hot Rod Designer

Over the last decade, we’ve seen explosive growth in the hot rod and custom car industry and hobby as a whole. This can be attributed to the popularity of television shows like Overhaulin’, American Hot Rod and others, as well as Powerblock TV, the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Events, and of course, the access to great personalities like Chip Foose, Stacey David and others. This brings in new enthusiasts, and naturally, more project cars!

Not since George Barris snapped thousands of photos and wrote hundreds of articles promoting the hobby back in the 1950’s and ’60’s have we seen so much attention on our hobby, and it’s amazing to witness. Yet, while there’s all of the excitement, many of these new fans and participants are feeling lost when starting a project. It can be a daunting task to say the least, but when taking those first steps, having the right footing can make all of the difference in the world.

Naturally, any success in a project requires a plan, and building or modifying a car requires very careful thought at this stage. I’ve often heard guys say “I just build as I go… no plan, just what feels right”, and sadly, it certainly doesn’t look like it must feel in many cases. Disjointed design, half-assed “fixes” to make parts fit, and often unsafe “engineering” (“engine-beering”, most likely) have sent many a project to an early grave. Thus, the best advice would be to bring on an experienced designer to help guide you along. As a professional hot rod and custom car designer with over twenty years experience in the auto industry (from parts and service to body and after-market accessories), as well as training in design and fine art, I’m here to offer some advice on taking those first steps.

Rough sketches for Resilience

Five things to consider when hiring a designer:

Unless you have a background in design, you’ll want to seek out a designer to help you refine your vision. The importance of having a vision on paper, especially when working with shops and others on a team cannot be overlooked. You’ll have a vision of the finished product for everyone to work from, and it helps to avoid gaps in communication, and errors in describing what you want to accomplish.

When shopping for a designer, keep some things in mind:

1. Look for one with a style you like.

Not only are you hiring someone to assist in laying the groundwork for your project, but this person must be able to convey your ideas and tastes, as well as create a piece that will inspire your build team. You’ll want some “wow” factor, but also be sure that your designer draws with proper scale and proportion! Taking a cartoon or shoddy “Photochop” to an experienced builder will get you laughed out of the shop. Sure, the kid you hire in a forum can make that ‘58 Edsel bumper look like it fits your Monza, but in reality, would it? (and are you looking to blow your budget on wild changes before the car even hits primer?) Look around, and study the artist’s styles and prior work.
Much like you chose a car that excited you, be it for nostalgia reasons, a certain feeling it gives you, or just the fact that you liked it overall, you’ll be miles ahead by selecting a designer in the same way. When the car is torn apart and looking bleak, the artwork will serve as an excitement generator.

Resilience rendering

2. Find a designer you get along with.

Spend some phone and email time conversing with designers. See if you get along, and can communicate freely. An open exchange with your designer will pay off in a HUGE way when working. Look for someone who can help guide, if asked, but also take an idea you have and run with it. Nothing can be more disappointing than getting going with a guy who doesn’t listen, or is looking to create a portfolio piece on your dime. On the flip side, simply hiring a “wrist” to make some lines based only on what you say is boring, and will; leave your design “flat”. On the same note, just hiring an “artist” who rehashes the same 3D model their last 40 customers got, but with different paint and wheels will get you, well, the same car as those other 40 guys.
Make your budget known, and make sure that your designer understands that.
Make it an open exchange where ideas can flow freely, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised how an idea can grow or be refined to mind-blowingly cool in the right hands.

3. Understand the designer’s terms.

Get it ironed out immediately when speaking, just how many revisions you’ll receive, and what the cost may be above that level. Know how the work will be delivered. Hard copies? (one for you, the shop, and maybe for promotional purposes?) Digital copies for magazine ink? (how about sponsorship proposals?) Can you use the artwork to promote the car? Who owns the Copyright?

A professional designer will furnish a contract spelling this out, allowing for worry-free design time. Check this out from step one, and you’ll avoid starting over when your forum buddy disappears with your PayPal payment.

Understand, too, that work will often depend on payment. If you want your designs quickly and well-done, be prepared to pay a bit more, and respect the time required to perfect a design. Much as you wouldn’t rush a surgeon reconstructing your body, giving the same consideration to your designer will breed equally functional results!

4. Don’t be the “I’ll know what I want when I see it” guy.

That guy is the enemy of designers, and it translates to “headache” to any pro. Have an idea at the first consultation, even if it’s vague, and ask for direction/advice if needed. Know what you’d like to do with the car. Will it be restored? Modified? A combination of the two? Something wilder? A professional designer will offer examples, and throw ideas around with you, hitting on your likes and dislikes before pencil hits paper. Many great cars develop during these “bench racing” sessions, and you’ll save a ton on revisions. Communication is your best friend here. Simply jumping from style to style will burn you and your designer out, and close doors on really creative ideas.
Research the hell out of your project and ideas. Go to shows, cruise nights, rod runs… Pick up magazines, books, videos… Look around at what’s been done, and find a style that you like. Make a list of things that you enjoy about cars. Perhaps you enjoy good handling, or maybe straight line performance is more your thing. Maybe it’s all about the look of the car, and you’re after a show car that’ll make people stop and drool. It’s this stage that will help determine a direction for the project, and is of HUGE importance.

Custom billet wheel design

The milled wheel

The completed and polished wheel

You should have a list of your dreams for the car, and one alongside that is more realistic, taking into consideration the reality of the car you’ve chosen. Approaching a professional designer with these will save time, frustration, and above all, help to nail that “perfect” concept.

5. Don’t fall victim to trends.

Simply shopping at the “popular kids” table will, inevitably, breed you a cookie-cutter car. Simply saying “oh man, that car that won Street Machine of the Year had a cool hood, so I want THAT hood, and the same wheels, and the same paint, and then that car that won the year before had those seats… I want THAT interior…” and so-on will not design or build YOUR dream car. Much as you may have enjoyed looking at that model in a magazine ad, would you marry her? Chances are, you’d rather find someone who fits your life, who matched that often undefinable set of criteria that just “does” something for you.

This project car should be no different.

Seek out a designer who understands the style you’re planning to build your car in, and can offer unique approaches to design problems that not only make your eyes pop out, but will keep a few bucks from doing likewise from your wallet.

The completed car!

If you’ve seen a teal green and gray car with a tweed interior and 15-inch billet wheels lately and thought “wow… the 1990’s called, and they want their car back”, imagine what response a car built in a trendy style today will elicit in ten or fifteen years. “Build to YOUR taste, not someone elses’” is my credo in the studio. Approach modifications tastefully, respectfully, and with the thinking “how does this change affect the rest of the car? What purpose does it serve?” If it makes sense, do it. If it’s questionable, question the hell out of it.

That said, head on out and explore… look at work, compare styles, and talk with designers. Your decision should go beyond price, and be the RIGHT fit for your project. Seek out a designer that can listen, offer ideas, and above all, nail your design. After all, simply setting sail on the ocean might take you SOMEPLACE, but is it where you WANTED to go? Hiring a designer will help chart that course, and the end of the journey, when plotted correctly, will have you itching to hoist the sails again, and that’s what this whole car thing is all about anyway… feeding that passion.

Score some FREE wheels!

I have an upcoming artist feature in the relatively new Benchrace Magazine, an online publication geared toward the hot rod community, and loaded with absolutely killer feature articles each month, and I’m pretty stoked, as this is really the first online ‘zine to include my work.

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.

Stencilling in a moment or two…

Lately, it’s been rough finding a few hours here or there to do anything, much less create some art on the side… but somehow, some way… I managed to sneak in a minute or two per day, and nail down some visions that had been trapped in my head right where they belong: On paper and canvas!

The finished stencil art piece.

The piece to the left here began some time ago as a digital work, and if you’ve been following along since 2004 or so, you’ll recognize the basics here… I had wanted to throw in the ‘40 on the first Disturbingly Kool tee, but opted at the very last second to incorporate the Valley Custom-style creeper… This time around, well… it needed to be the ‘40, and I broke out the Mylar, frisket and tape, and began the process of creating stencils and masks, oh my!

I poked around the studio and garage for a few days as well, rounding up texturally interesting items, and a piece of expanded metal called to me, as well as some bubble wrap… and pretty soon, I had the background texture flying! Mixing paints, inks, and then mixing different mediums into those paints, I began to just go on “auto-pilot”, letting the layers build themselves. I’m stoked about the result, and hope you dig it, too!

Next up was the painstaking task of cutting the stencils and masks, and figuring out a good system for layering them all, as I wanted to get this as detailed as possible, and have as much depth as I could, but still retain that flat, stencil look that brought this whole project on in the first place…

Detail of stencil art.

If you check out the detail shot here, you’ll see what I was after, as well as a slight shift in the stencils, a product of a very late night, but one of those “happy accidents” Bob Ross used to speak of. I learned a LOT about creating work in this manner, and will DEFINITELY do more… it’s a blast, and really is a ton of fun to put down the stylus and mouse, and just attack materials with an X-Acto knife, some brushes, an the trusty Iwata twins… There’s just that almost Zen moment when David Lee Roth’s voice is drowned-out by the hum of the compressor, and the paints manage to somehow eek out of the air brush, loaded with extenders and matte and gloss medium. It’s almost crazy to think that it had been so long since I created anything without the aid of computers, and shocking how different of a tan you get between a momitor’s glow, and the lighting out in the shop!

I hope you dig this piece, as it’s one of my favorites! (so much so, in fact, that I had it scanned, and am offering a limited-edition print of this monster over on my site at www.problemchildkustoms.com) If you get time, please check it out, and if the mood strikes, pick up a print so that I can buy some more supplies!

Thanks again for checking it out..

A (40-lb.) chip off the NEW block…

Like a Hollywood starlet, the mighty Camaro is mill dieting… think of it as a “crash diet”, but on a CNC machine. The goal is 2700-lbs, and by golly, we’re not leaving anything to chance.

Project “Sick Seconds” is racing toward its debut at the SEMA Show (see it live in the Gear Vendors booth!), and a big part of the assembly process has been removing things… namely any pesky poundage. As a testimony to the serious approach being taken in this respect, imagine looking at the engine block and thinking “yeah, we can lose a few pounds there, too”, and then milling 40 lbs. from the brand new piece? Denny and the rest of the gang at Pro Rides had this thought, and that’s just what the gang at LSM Systems Engineering did, chiseling with fine precision at the outside of the block, working toward the valley tray:

A mechanical work of art!

As KMP Performance and Machine (the engine builder) said, “It’s almost too nice to use!”, and I think you’ll agree with the photos here!

Weight loss in action.

You can read more in the June 2009 Popular Hot Rodding Magazine, and be on the lookout for this monster on the show floor, the track… and even the street! The Camaro will be running 1,200 miles between tracks as part of Drag Week, so you’ll have plenty of time to check it out in full race set-up, as well as street guise, wearing a set of absolutely killer Bilet Specialties wheels (16×16-inch beadlocks on the strip, and massive 20-inch rollers for street use) on Mickey Thompson rubber! More updates coming soon over on Studio PCK…

Art imitating…well, what might be art…

In an age when everything is either “inspired by” or “derived from”, or “created in partnership” via some “creative commons licensing agreement”, it gets to a point where we have to celebrate the nearly mundane when it finally produces an original thought. (consider U2 ripping the Escape Club, who ripped Elvis Costello and so on…) This, as you can imagine, pisses me off. Hell, if you know me, kittens can piss me off, so this isn’t really much of a stretch.

Anyway… While discussing the van culture of the ’70’s recently, I stumbled across a video for an old movie “The Van” (not to be confused with the mode of transport your creepy neighbor who works at the chloroform plant is always hauling candy and rags in)… and instantly recognized a similarity between 1974 and the present day (beyond bad acting, terrible haircuts and really shitty cinematography).

This clip:

Is eerily close to any reveal on “Pimp My Ride”…. (pardon the video– not much out there to choose from) :

Odd…certainly. Creepy as all hell… why yes it is.

Considering the two, I think I’ll take vannin’. Less chance of having to listen to rap music and deal with some douchebag with a fauxhawk… and my Converse All-Stars will still be in style. Keep on vannin’, or whatever.

…that said, I got nothin’ else. Enjoy the mind-blowing-ness that is modern entertainment versus van movies.

Let them eat cheese…

…or at least the dust left behind by this monster:

I think I could handle this buzzing around in my garage...

When the AMC Hornets were new, the ads read with slogans like “If you think it looks good, wait’ll you feel it perform!”, “It’s not our strong guarantee that makes our Hornet a tough little car”, and “It’s beautiful when you fill it up”… Taking those sales pitches waaaaayyyy out of context bred the bright yellow beast above.

Right out of the box, I wanted to play up the automaker’s legacy, by using some references to Wisconsin, naturally, and then just say “screw convention”, and mess aound with a largely forgotten car… Thus, we have an AMC, some Green Bay colors, and, uh, well… that’s about it, aside from the crappy “cheese” line at the start.

Moving along, I’ve had this sick road racing-inspired ride “buzzing” in my head for about two years, and have played with the drawing on and off over that time span. I had watched The Man With the Golden Gun some time back, and it re-kindled a love affair with all things AMC (even if it would have been better had they used Alice Cooper’s song of the same name… but that’s another story for another time). When the master, Steve Stanford played with some AMC concepts last year, it re-kindled my interest in the idea, and after seeing just how dedicated the AMC guys are, I finally got all of the sketches into one place.

The concept: A ‘74 Hornet built with a nod to the Mulholland road-race crowd of the ’70’s. A tube chassis with a 9-inch center section IRS and Corvette-based front suspension allows the car to sit right on the ground, and the full ‘cage helps everyone insode feel safe as the world rushes by in a blur.
Speaking of “rushing by”, motivational power would be via a twin turbo 360, backed by a six speed… no LS-motors or otherwise… this baby would be an AMC through-and-through.

Body-wise, a late-model Challenger hood would donate its center, while retaining the stock Hornet hood peak and emblem recess, as it looks almost natural that way. The factory parking lamps would hit the swap meet, and air inlets installed to feed the mighty engine. While we’re up front, let’s drill out the heavy front bumper, add some driving lights, and then lightly tuck it to the body, and rework the fenders for a flush-fit look. A chin spoiler and splitters further play up the idea, and help to cut through the night air.

Side-exit exhaust just looked so damn cool, and sitting as low as this thing does, it made sense, too. Out back, I’m seeing a pair of ‘89 Mustang LX tail lights (nothing personal, just never liked the stock units), and a notched rear bumper to show off the rear belly pan.

Just wanted to share one of the little “side” projects that always seem to be floating around the Studio, and show a little love to the hard-core AMC crowd. Hope you dig it.�..