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The Zagato company took a C7 Corvette Z06 and transformed it into the IsoRivolta GTZ, a "spiritual descendant" of the Iso Grifo A3/C (Corsa).  The original A3/C race car was developed by Giotto Bizzarrini not long after he left Ferrari, where he had served as cheif engineer behind the 250 GTO, which is revered as the world's most expensive car.  Bizzarrini purportedly fancied the A3/C as his "own personal evolution of (and improvement upon) the GTO design."
When Dick Guldstrand introduced the GS80 series in 1986, the car was targeted specifically at Pro-Solo and autocross enthusiasts. He knew all about the needs of these groups, as he was a longtime provider of performance upgrades for the C3 and a direct supporter of a small team of racers from the Western Council of Corvette Clubs. Up to this point, Dick had basically been a tuner. With the intro of the GS80 he was venturing into the realm of small-volume manufacturing.