1972 Motion Moray GT. Photos courtesy Barrett-Jackson.
Maco Shark (misspelling deliberate). Manta Ray. Motion Performance clearly had an obsession with the denizens of the deep, but so did GM, which first produced Corvette-based concepts called the Mako Shark and the Manta Ray. GM never produced a Moray concept, but Motion Performance did, at least as a one-off styling exercise that lacked a proper name until its 2006 restoration. Next January, this one-of-one creation from the legendary Long Island speed merchants will head to auction in Scottsdale, where it will cross the stage as a no-reserve lot.
Motion Performance and Baldwin Motion are perhaps best known for building fast-in-a-straight line Camaros, but the shop also turned its attention to Corvettes in 1968. The SS427 Phase III was Motion’s first range-topping Corvette, followed by the Phase III GT, which featured a number of styling revisions in addition to its performance upgrades. Headlamps, for example, were tucked into front fenders, a la the later Datsun 240Z, while the Kamm-style rear made use of narrow slit taillamps, similar to the original Pontiac Firebird. The Corvette’s vertical rear window was replaced by a significantly larger sloping piece of glass, and front fender gills were hooded (and thus more pronounced).
Motion’s next custom Corvette was the Maco Shark, which featured a front end with exaggerated fender peaks, wide fender flares (in front and rear), hidden headlamps and a second-generation Camaro-style rear. Even by far-out 1970s standards, it was a bold design, and Motion reportedly produced just a “handful” of this model, which was built concurrently with the Phase III GT. In 1973, Motion debuted its last custom Corvette, named the Manta Ray, which blended the Phase III GT’s front end with the Maco Shark’s rear. By then, however, Baldwin Chevrolet had been sold, and its new owners were less interested in producing custom performance cars; as a result few Manta Rays were ever assembled, but all were built from 1973 Corvettes.
Sometime prior to the Manta Ray’s official launch, Motion Performance’s Joel Rosen got the idea to blend a Maco Shark front end with the rear end of the upcoming Manta Ray. When presented to potential customers, most said they preferred the more subtle front end design of the Phase III GT, so the car entered its limited production run in this configuration. The unnamed styling exercise was eventually sold off, then more or less lost to history until 2005, when it was discovered by a Corvette enthusiast in search of a Manta Ray (and later featured in the December 2006 issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines magazine).
It wasn’t until the buyer contacted former Cars magazine editor Marty Schorr and Motion’s Joel Rosen that the pieces of the puzzle began to fit together. Rosen remembered the car, though couldn’t remember where or when it was sold. In keeping with the sea creature motif, Rosen even suggested a name, specifically the Moray GT, and in 2006, with input from Rosen, the car was restored to its as-built-in-1972 condition, though this involved primarily body work and paint. The carpeting is new, but the button tuck interior is the same as when the car left Motion Performance in all its 1970s splendor.
The Moray GT’s 454-cu.in. V-8 (which produces an estimated 475 horsepower and 525 pound-feet of torque) is the same one the car left the St. Louis factory with, making this a rare numbers-matching example. During the 2006 restoration, the 60,000 mile engine was “freshened,” but not rebuilt, a testament to the big-block’s durability, even in tuned form.
Given the car’s one-of-one status and documented ties to the glory days of Motion Performance, it may be hard to even guess at a value. Barrett-Jackson doesn’t give pre-auction estimates on no-reserve lots, but the Moray GT has been offered in recent years on online auction sites with a purchase price of $600,000. Whether or not it will top this number in Scottsdale depends upon who’s bidding and how badly they want to own the world’s only Motion Moray GT.
Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale sale will take place from January 23-31, 2016. For additional information, visit Barrett-Jackson.com.
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