Tom Meade, car designer

RIP very interesting automobile designer and enthusiast!

 

i never had the pleasure to meet him in person, but i had a very special private contact to a member of his family ... cant tell more about it, as it was a professional matter.
his unique creations will ever have a place in Ferrari-history.

btw. what s/n was his California Spyder?

 

1951 GT.

Marcel Massini

 

I have spent time this morning looking at Tom Meades and his work. What an interesting man and what a contribution to the automotive world.

I found an incomplete but great Youtube clip of an early interview which features Tomassima (not sure which one). Brilliant.


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jazEBNIV7K8]Tom Meade 60 CBS 60 Minutes Interview Ferrari Nembo and Thomassina.avi - YouTube[/ame]

 

RIP

 

I had dinner with Tom in Los Angeles in April he had trouble moving as he had had a stroke and it was a struggle to get him in and out of my rental car but he was still full of projects, enthusiasm and passion and was not bashful about who annoyed him, particularly cars done wrong or cars suddenly "found" which are obviously new (not talking about a Ferrari here and I will not discuss it).
We then spoke on the phone on May 2nd just before I flew back to Europe...for about an hour as usual and when he found out I was on my French cell phone he scolded me: "Are you crazzzzzzzzzy?!"

Reading the old Road & Track article when I was a teen in the late 70's and then interviewing him for 5 hours in 1996 in Santa Monica -the first article about him in 20 years before others did the same- was very special.

I have a 41 page full transcript of that chat which I will eventually publish in some form but not now.

Here is my article as published in Sports Car International in about 1998, it was later published in Auto Passion in French.

The Auto Channel-Sports Car International Magazine

I am sure Tom is now talking to all his old friends in the pre industrial Modena, in many ways a much nicer era of which he was a very unique character.

RIP Thomassimo

 

Very sad. R.I.P.

. . . . . . . . .

 

When I spoke to him last, he was trying to source a 333SP engine for a new Thomassima. Did anyone see this project?

Goodbye Tom.

 

I saw bits of it, yes. I wonder now what happened to all of his stuff. He had truckloads of it.

 

R.I.P.

Never had chance to meet him, of course, but I firmly believe that my EVO magazine monthly feature devoted to him a few years ago was the only mentioning of him in any Croatian language publication ever.

I might write a bigger feature now as an in memoriam but I presume that legally available photos are quite scarce, as this is quite a specific subject...

 

Marcel,
Do we know how many years Tom had the Cal Spyder?

 

Lucky man: He saw fit to realize his dreams at a young age and is leaving quite a legacy.

RIP Tom.

 

Tribute to a great man...
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Very Nice!

When I sat in that one it had shag carpets.

 

Similar story here. He called and left me a VM. I meant to call him back but didn't get back with him in time and never knew what he wanted.

 

Thanks Jim. I wonder where is the car today ?? Still original or did Thomassima 3 become the aborted "Thomassima 4" spyder project ??

 

RIP he was a one of a kind

 

Any update about this Thomassima 2 "reconstruction" ??

Just curious to see the result...

Thanks in advance !
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Tom Meade, whose life was the stuff movies are made of, passed away on August 1, 2013. Tom will be forever known as the designer of some of the most striking cars of all time. Unfortunately for all of us, Tom did not live long enough to finish his current design. May you rest in peace Tom. We should all live lives as adventuresome.
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https://www.facebook.com/pages/Red-Car-Restorations/182687989069?id=182687989069&sk=photos_stream

 

Thank you but all these pics are from 2010. I was just wondering if the car is finished now...

 

Very sad news indeed. I have a friend who owns a 1964 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso (# 5063) he bought it used in 1975 and still owns it today. His Lusso had several modifications done to it and at one point my friend was trying to figure out when they were done and by whom?

With some help from Mr. Massini, he believes my friend's car was modified by Tom Meade as to when, he wasn't sure. Sadly...we will never know now.

RIP Tom.

Bill P.

 

As every week, I sent you an Email, but no answer. So, like every month in last 30 years, I called you, but no answer. I called the Santa Monica police station, they gave me bad news...the worst.

They use to say R.I.P., requiescat in pacem, but, last week there was a big storm in the sky of Modena, with lightnings and thunders, and somebody swear they saw, confused in the turbolence, a red Ferrari TR 12 driven by Enzo, racing VS a Tomassima... Go ,Tom, I bet on you,...and say hello to Nivola!

your friend, Alex Grigato

 

I defended the civil case that Tom filed against my client (among others) in regard to the stolen Ferrari chassis. I spent lots of time across the table from him during depositions and mediation sessions. He was quite an interesting fellow. Andrew in LA