Tom Meade

Thomas Gabriel Meade (19 January 19391 August 2013) was an American automobile designer and dealer best known for his Thomassima series of custom cars based on Ferrari engines and chassis. He was based in Modena, Italy from the early 1960s through the early 1970s, where he met and collaborated with many Modenese carrozzerie, manufacturers and mechanics.

Biography Early life

Tom Meade was born in Hollywood on 19 January 1939, to a single mother. He spent his youth with her in Australia and Honolulu, Hawaii. When he reached the high school age, they moved in Newport Beach, California. He graduated at 17 and enrolled in the U.S. Navy where he was trained as an avionic engineer, until his leave in 1960.

One day, during his walk home from work in Costa Mesa, he spotted through the open door of a garage the back of a 1957 Ferrari 500 TRC, calling it the most beautiful car he had ever seen. The owner initially tried to sell the car to Meade for a disproportionate amount with no avail; then he revealed to have bought the car in Rome, Italy, where there was a warehouse full of old racecars for sale at a low price. Fascinated, Meade decided on impulse that he would put his hands on one of those cars at any cost. In the autumn of 1960, he left home with only $50 and hitchhiked to New Orleans where he signed on to a freighter heading for Stavanger, Norway, as steward's assistant. Once he arrived, he crossed Europe and made his way to Italy. image1 = Ferrari (4890058932).jpg alt1 = caption1 = image2 = Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder.jpg alt2 = caption2 =

This first project allowed Meade to establish a network of contacts in Modena that would allow his future projects of rebuilding, customizing and dealing cars. In addition to Bertocchi, Neri, Bonacini and Fantuzzi, Meade's contacts included Piero Drogo, David Piper, Alejandro de Tomaso, Count Giovanni Volpi, Road & Track journalist Peter Coltrin and Carroll Shelby. Meade took up residence in the Carrozzeria Fantuzzi workshop and took instruction in hand-forming and repairing bodywork from Medardo Fantuzzi. He briefly left Italy in 1962, returning in 1963 whereupon he began renting an apartment and garage adjacent to the Aerautodromo di Modena. Soon after, Meade began buying and selling a higher volume of cars, including many which were exported to the United States. These included another Maserati 350S, a Maserati Tipo 63, Ferrari 250 GTOs, a 330 P3, a 250 LM, a 250 GT SWB, 250 GT Lussos and others. Meade's customers included Richard Merritt (founder of the Ferrari Club of America) and Los Angeles–based Ferrari importer Edwin K. Niles. During this period from 1963 to approximately 1970, Meade constructed his Thomassima series and several other projects based on various chassis and engines. At one point during this time, Meade shared a storage space with David Piper's racing team. By 1970, Meade established a business in Modena under the name "Tom Meade's Used Sports Car Center of Italy," where in addition to buying, selling, rebuilding and customizing used cars, he sold and manufactured spare parts and accessories with an emphasis on selling to overseas customers. His estate is maintained by his adopted son, who works in the luxury goods industry. was requested in late 1966 by Harry Windsor from Los Gatos, California. Windsor wanted a mid-engine car resembling the Ferrari 330 P3 or P4. In later times the car was crashed, then purchased in the early 1980s by Larry Hatfield and later restored. It starred at the 2015 Concorso Italiano at Monterey.

The Thomassima III was not built before 1968, and its completion required over a year of work. and on Walter Cronkite's talk show, won awards in car shows in Italy and the U.S., and became a Hot Wheels scale model. As of March 2020, the Thomassima III is owned by Meade's son and still kept in Italy.

Meade modified seven or eight Ferrari 250 GT Lussos with 330 LMB-style front bodywork, including triple "nostril"-style air intakes and/or aerodynamic covered headlights. These cars were mostly purchased in wrecked or non-working condition from the Emilia-Romagna region near Modena, rebuilt and modified, and then resold.