John started racing with a big Plymouth in 1947 and had a Hudson-based racer built for him for the next year. Kvarnström won the big races in Helsinki and Copenhagen in 1949 and he and his hideous Hudson became one of the leading stars in the Nordic special class on ice and gravel for several years. The Hudson was pensioned and Kvarnström got himself an Allard and in 1954 he bought a Ford-based special that had been rebuilt to a sportscar. Kvarnström shone with that Ford spl at the international sportscar race at Hedemora that year.
In 55 he drove Bonnier's Alfa Romeo 6C in the sports car race at Kristianstad and for the next season he bought Gunnar Carlsson's Ferrari Monza. It resulted in yet another victory in the big Helsinki race in May. In the WC race at Kristinastad in August Kvarnström, together with Erik Lundgren, won his class and was placed fourth overall behind three factory Ferraris. In practice for the '57 race his old Ferrari was totalled against a tree, by the co-driver Olle Persson, but Kvarnström co-drove Gunnar Carlsson's car to a 7th place in the WC event.
Kvarnström later got another old Monza, but didn't race as much in the following years.
Kvarnström was an amateaur driver and would most certainley have been a big international star if he ever would have been given the possibility. His driving style was very smooth and he became a big favourite by the spectators at the Rally to the Midnight Sun, where he ususally drove big american cars, such as Ford Crown Victoria or Edsel (!). He even drove a Ferrari 250 GT in the rally!
Kvarnström more or less quit in 1960, but he was seen in the Swedish rally as late as 1966 (second in class in a Ford Corsair).
I met him several times, and he helped me a lot in sorting out the history of the 50ies racing. He was a very gentle man and a good story teller.
Edited by Tomas Karlsson, 18 November 2009 - 08:17.
