Tom Meade
Thomas Meade (19 January 1939 – 1 August 2013) was an American automobile designer and dealer best known for his Thomassima series of custom cars based on Ferrari engines and chassis.
[1] 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.
[1][2][3]: 89 Once in Rome, Meade found a job as an extra in Dino De Laurentiis’ 1961 film The Best of Enemies: he played a background English officer at night, and fruitlessly searched for the fabled warehouse during the day.
Through Bertocchi, Meade made contact with the shops of Neri and Bonacini and Medardo Fantuzzi, in order to find repair facilities.
Meade met Lloyd "Lucky" Casner of the Camoradi racing team while visiting the Maserati factory, and was subsequently able to purchase a Chevy V8 engine from him.
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.
He briefly left Italy in 1962, returning in 1963 whereupon he began renting an apartment and garage adjacent to the Autodromo di Modena.
Meade left Modena and briefly opened a restoration shop in Milan, where he became friends with former Ferrari engineer Carlo Chiti.
[7][3]: 92–4 Meade left Italy at some point during the 1970s, storing the cars and parts he had accumulated for his business in a warehouse near Lake Como.
He christened this car series "Thomassima", a contraction of his first name and massima, the Italian feminine form of the English "maximum", meaning that these were his ultimate works.
[3][7]: 91 [a] The Thomassima I was made under the request of an unknown Swiss baron who sought a replacement for his Corvette in order to remain competitive against the Shelby Cobras.
[3] He had to radically modify the frame of a Cooper T43 Formula One car, and fitting it with a Ferrari 250 GT Colombo V12 engine coupled to a 4-speed ZF gearbox.
The final result was ready in the 1967, and was a little longer and more muscular car than a P4, weighing less than 2,000 pounds (910 kg) and sporting 240 horsepower (180 kW), with a detachable hardtop.
[3]: 91 [1] The Thomassima II was shipped to California, where Windsor rebranded it as a "Ferrari 250 P/4 Roadster" and exhibited it at the 1968 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance where it won a class award.
[2][4][3]: 91 The bodywork was altered dramatically, even further than the earlier "Thomassima Zero", resulting in an extremely low, muscular, front-engined coupe featuring gullwings, twisted exhausts on both sides and centerlock wheels.
[13][14][15] 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.
