Driver, builder, constructor

He was known simply as “Mr. Corvette.” From 1963-65, the former hot-rodder won three consecutive SCCA Pacific Coast Championships in Vettes, including the 1964 Southern Pacific A/P Championship. He was named California Sports Car Club Driver of the Year that same year. In 1966 he won his class at Daytona and finished 12^th overall driving a Corvette for Roger Penske that ended up with flashlights for headlights, then set a record for the GT class at Le Mans in 1967 and led for 13 hours. In 1968 he opened Guldstrand Engineering in Culver City and became a full-time builder and tuner. His clients were racers and celebrities, including James Garner’s American International Racing team, which fielded Corvettes and Lola T70s. By some accounts, in the early ‘70s, Guldstrand was building 70% of the West Coast’s racing Chevies. In the ‘80s, he fielded winning Chevy showroom stock endurance cars and started building limited-edition Corvette street cars like the Guldstrand GS-80 and Grand Sport 90. He was inducted into the Corvette Hall of Fame in 1999.