To allow newer readers to become familiar with Tom Meade and his involvement with Ferraris, what follows is a transcription of a past article:
[size=14pt]Tom Meade. Artist and Craftsman.
Tom Meade was born in Hollywood and raised in Australia and Hawaii. At a very young age he developed a passion for beautiful cars. In 1960, after a four year hitch in the Navy, he returned to Newport Beach, California, where he stumbled upon a Ferrari Testa Rossa. He coveted the car, even though it was priced far beyond his reach --at $4000.
The owner of the car told him about a warehouse in Rome full of used race cars that were being sold for a song. That was it. Meade packed a tennis bag, and with only $50 in his pocket, hitchhiked his way to Rome. He combed the city for the famous warehouse, which of course turned out to be a myth, just like the streets paved with pizza. He heard about a Ferrari being used on a Dino di Laurentis movie, but by the time he arrived at the set it was gone. However, he was offered the part of a British army officer in the film, and was cast opposite David Niven. The months of nighttime shooting left his days free for car hunting, but the results were still zero.
After the film wrapped, Tom ventured to Modena, Italy, home of Maserati --and Mr. Ferrari. While on a tour of the Maserati plant, he spotted a beautiful shape covered by a tarp. He asked the guide what it was, and was told, "scrap." but Meade pulled up the cover and discovered the remains of the prototype 350S V-12 built for Stirling Moss to drive in the 1957 Mille Miglia. After much begging and negotiation, the car was his... for a mere $420! With only nickels left, he found a friendly farmer who let him keep the car in the barn with the cows. Tom slept in the hayloft, ate off the land, and immediately went to work rebuilding the car. He made a daily trips to the Maserati factory to root out parts and eventually was given free run of the racing department. When the car was finished, he shipped it back to the States and hitchhiked his way home again. Back in America, he sold the car $2,700 --a huge profit for the time.
With the proceeds from his big sale, Meade returned to Modena, rented an apartment for $8 a month, and began brokering Ferraris, Maseratis, Lamborghinis, and Bizzarinis. He was the only American broker in Italy at the time, and became the “go to” guy for foreigners seeking Italian sports cars. His business began to grow, and he wanted to begin creating custom coachwork, so he moved his operations to a large warehouse, and his business continued to flourish.
Eventually he was selling many cars a month, with a large and well-equipped shop staffed by skilled craftsmen, many moonlighting from their day jobs at Ferrari or Maserati.
In 1962, Meade named his first custom-bodied car, built on a Ferrari 250 GT chassis, Thomassima 1, which in Italian means “the maximum from Thomas.” It was unfortunately lost in the floods of Florence. The first of his famous Nembo Spyders came in the mid 1960s, also built on a Ferrari 250 GT chassis. In 1967 he built Thomassima 2, a truly beautiful creation. In 1969 he built the third and final Nembo Spyder, S/N 2707, built as a lightweight competizione street version. A Lebanese Ferrari dealer out of Paris commissioned the car. The dealer took the car to Beirut and both he and the car have never been heard of since.
Also in 1969 came the Thomassima 3, which created a sensation when exhibited at Italy’s automobile manufacturers’ show in Turin, the most important and prestigious event of it’s kind in Europe. It was necessary to move the surrounding exhibits further back, to make room for the dense crowds surrounding Meade’s creation. The resulting worldwide publicity included his life story on 60 Minutes and a talk show appearance with Walter Cronkite and Roger Mudd. Mattel manufactures Thomassima 3 as one of its Hot Wheels collection. Feature articles followed in Road and Track and Motor Trend magazines.
As a result of the acclaim over Meade’s bold styling and beautiful designs some customers brought their production Ferraris to Meade and asked him to modify them into something unique and even more beautiful. Sometimes Meade fully re-bodied them, and other times he only modified parts of their factory original bodies, such as the 250 GT/L Lusso “Speciale,” offered here at Monterey, which he customized with covered headlights.
Meade –living in California now, recalled in a recent interview that these “semi-customs” gave him a great satisfaction because they allowed him to add his personal touch to some of the great designs of the period. While he did not keep records, he believes his total lifetime production of modified and custom bodied Ferraris and Maseratis is less than 50 cars, making them exceptionally rare today. Praise for his work was abundant in the period, and his cars are increasingly sought after by modern collectors. [/size]
