Tom Meade, car designer | Page 7 | FerrariChat

Tom Meade, car designer

Discussion in 'Vintage (thru 365 GTC4)' started by ExcelsiorZ, Sep 5, 2011.

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  1. Boudewijn

    Boudewijn F1 Rookie
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    Boudewijn Berkhoff
    #151 Boudewijn, Feb 6, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  2. El Wayne

    El Wayne F1 World Champ
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    Aug 1, 2002
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    Yes, I have these images from when 2573GT was listed for sale in eBay way back when. I'm still convinced that this most likely the same car as the the silver example shown in GSJFerrari's photo. This is especially true as my records show 2573GT as being with Jerry Curtis in 1997-98, having Meade-style covered headlights, silver exterior with black interior, and having no engine at that time.
     
  3. Boudewijn

    Boudewijn F1 Rookie
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    #153 Boudewijn, Feb 6, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Yes, the silver car is the same.
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
  4. kare

    kare F1 Rookie
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    Nov 11, 2003
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    Hope you noticed the 2nd series bodywork and dashboard.
     
  5. PAUL500

    PAUL500 F1 Rookie

    Jun 23, 2013
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    How is it a fake 250 GTO spider? as Ferrari never made such a car so you cannot fake something that has never existed, and there are no claims made than it is anything other than based on a converted 250 GTE as per the chassis plate shown.

    Way too much mud slinging on this site for the sake of it sometimes.
     
  6. Boudewijn

    Boudewijn F1 Rookie
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    Historically spoken this model design is not authentic or genuine, therefore may be given a definition of fake. Artistically the model is an original effort to show an alternative interpretation regarding Ferrari design history.
     
  7. kare

    kare F1 Rookie
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    Nov 11, 2003
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    For me anything rebodied in the period (within 5 years or so) is a rebody, anything else is a fake. There is nothing personal, no mud-slinging or anything - quite the opposite: I don't want to grade fakes into a dozen caterories (replica, continuation, facsimile, re-creation etc. ad infinitum) as the terms were only invented to tip-toe around what the car really is: a fake.

    I have no idea which chassis was used for the "GTO spider" (I've been told it uses an unknown 2nd series GTE-chassis, but was denied access to further information - that actually being a clue in itself), so I have no idea or opinion what that car really is.

    3919 is the correct identity of that "meaded" GTE now renumbered as 2573.
     
  8. PAUL500

    PAUL500 F1 Rookie

    Jun 23, 2013
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    A fake is something purported to be/claiming to be an original. An original 250 GTO convertible never existed hence its not a fake of anything, in fact its unique.
     
  9. kare

    kare F1 Rookie
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    Nov 11, 2003
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    You confuse fake with counterfeit.
     
  10. PAUL500

    PAUL500 F1 Rookie

    Jun 23, 2013
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    No I dont, you use the derogatory term "fake" to justify your views.
     
  11. GSJFerrari

    GSJFerrari Formula Junior
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    #161 GSJFerrari, Feb 17, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  12. 121Designer

    121Designer Formula Junior

    Aug 15, 2013
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    Joshua Lange
    Thank you.

    250 GTO Spider? I want to point out that Tom had enough class to name his cars with original names. They were, after all, original cars. The Nembo was not called a 250 GT Spider to gain status, and yet it inspired Chinetti to build his NART Spiders somehow...

     
  13. Rollinart

    Rollinart Rookie

    Feb 24, 2015
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    I am a newbie to your forum but I am curious to know how many Tom Meade cars are out there? I am a car hunter and found a car with Tom Meade Modena spinners. Can any one help
    Thanks mike
     
  14. Rollinart

    Rollinart Rookie

    Feb 24, 2015
    2
    I was looking for cars per usual and came across a car that looked ferrarish from afar.
    As I got closer to the acerage it has spinners with Tom Meade Modena on them
    Can anyone shed some light ? Thanks
     
  15. 121Designer

    121Designer Formula Junior

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    Joshua Lange
    #165 121Designer, Mar 6, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    What kind of car was it? Pictures for us fchat folks? Do you mean knock-offs? He did knock-offs only, and rims were not something he was able to pull off until the Thomassima IIII (I have those rims, knock-offs and the molds that spun them and they are beautiful). We were doing the centers in carbon with all of the bells and whistles. Leaded crystal inserts for the centers in dichromatic crystal.Tom was an artistic genius who was eccentric and even sharp tempered...so was Enzo.

    Tom told me several times that he modified approximately 50 cars. Mostly all Ferrari, but starting with the 350s under Fantuzzi guidance. He said he sold around 1,500 vintage Ferraris... that's more than anyone that I know of.

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  16. bitzman

    bitzman F1 Rookie
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    In one of the articles about Meade on the net I saw a reference (line shown here) re the Nembo Spyder sold to Lebanon, but another article I read (not same one referenced here) said he got it back. So should I forget about buying passage to Beirut?


    Ferrari 250 GT Nembo Spyder -
    **************
    www.**************/cars/1075.html
    At their London Automobile Auction, RM Auctions sold Nembo Spyder Chassis No. ... "1777 GT was brought forth by two protagonists; the first was Tom Meade, ... spyder, possibly 2707 GT, with a shark nose, which left Modena for Lebanon ?
     
  17. El Wayne

    El Wayne F1 World Champ
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    Wally, I discussed the Lebanon-bound car with Tom personally on more than one occasion. Tom said that he rebodied a 250 GT SWB Berlinetta for a client in Lebanon. The car was not even completed when the man who commissioned the work began pushing for delivery, so it was shipped off in an incomplete state. Tom never saw the car again.

    He did not write down the chassis number of the SWB at the time, but years later when these things became more important, he took note of what he thought he remembered the chassis number to be. We looked through his collection of notes and found where he had written the number down. I don't have that number with me here in L.A. (it's in my notes back at home), but I recall clearly that it was actually the chassis number of a 250 GT PF Coupe and not that of an SWB. Tom had written the wrong thing down years after the fact and at this point, simply had no clue which SWB he had rebodied.

    Since then, there have been claims by others to know which chassis this car was built on, and some have even claimed that this information came from Tom, but I know for certain that he honestly had no idea.
     
  18. bitzman

    bitzman F1 Rookie
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    The XLR one off Chrysler show car. As I recall the owner had to schlep it around down on a flatbed every time a firefight was starting. but he got it done and sold it for a million or so and it looked great at Pebble Beach. So it makes me think there must have been car enthusiasts there when Beirut was "the Paris of the Mideast."
     
  19. El Wayne

    El Wayne F1 World Champ
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    Surely, you're referring to the Plymouth XNR?
     
  20. Vincent Vangool

    Vincent Vangool Formula 3

    Oct 6, 2007
    1,243
    Zanskar, Kargil district, Ladakh, India
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  21. 121Designer

    121Designer Formula Junior

    Aug 15, 2013
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    Joshua Lange
    Thanks for the heads up. Tom would be happy. He worked hard to get it to debut at Amelia Island three years back, and the deal fell through to our dismay. Bill Warner had got a previous prototype of my work on the field and has considered others since, so it was a welcome venue to us. I'm guessing it was less finished than was suggested at the time. It would have been a big boost to our TIIII work to have seen it complete, as the Tub mold I was building was meant to work for front and mid-engine configurations. We were building parts for three Thomassimas. Thomassima IIII, VI were front. T IV was back to mid-engine TII inspired body.

    Actually two tub molds were built. One by extremely talented Chris Norris and company (chief engineer Swift engineering) and the tub I was hired to build to "flow like water." lMP1 tub design and technology. So much Tom and I kept secret, which led to speculation this was project was hype, which is simply incorrect.


    Last year many pieces of the ThomassimaQUOTE=Vincent Vangool;143900241]Thought this was worth leaving here....

    Thomassima....
    A One-of-a-Kind Ferrari?Resurrected | Concorso Italiano[/QUOTE]
     
  22. Vincent Vangool

    Vincent Vangool Formula 3

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    I'm interested. Also interested in his younger days and any tid bits that fill in the story that is outside of the public eye.

    From what I've read the guy seems to have lived quite the adventure.
     
  23. 121Designer

    121Designer Formula Junior

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    Joshua Lange
    Glad to share. On the note of the good old days in Modena, Tom told many fun stories while we worked. He was adamant that he only stayed in four or five nights in the "apartment." All of the other nights he was out partying with the most beautiful models in Europe. Tom had a thing for the tall blonds, which made sense considering his tall, muscular build. He spoke of many nights of walking out the club to find one of these beauties waiting in the front seat of his 350S Maserati or one his Ferraris. He led life in the fast lane and never looked back. Always looking forward to the next build. So what was next? Can anyone imagine what a Thomassima GTO would look like? How about with an aluminum frame? Oh, yes. Extruded aluminum was going to be sweet. This is what the GTE frame was being used for...to mock that up. Not for a Nembo. Tom realized he could only do so much in his last years, so he became focused on his Thomassima brand. Not to say he didn't have interest in retrieving his lost Nembo from Lebanon.

    I agree it would be great to hear some old time stories and keep the dialog going. Tom was so talented and is missed.
     
  24. Ed Niles

    Ed Niles Formula 3
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    Sep 7, 2004
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    Very good of you to let us into the strange world of Tom. He could be an irascible curmudgeon, especially in his later years, but no doubt he led a very interesting life. I first met him, I think, in 1966, although we had corresponded before that. It was my first visit to Modena, and he was living in a tiny apartment with what we would call a two-car garage. Hanging on the wall was the chassis for what became the TIII, as well as a 250TR body. Years later, I owned 0716TR, which at that time had a Drogo body, and I always wondered if I had actually seen the original body at Tom's. Anyway, in '66 Tom took me to the Modena Aero-Autodromo where we saw some testing going on (his apt. was only a block or two away) and then to a "factory" (another two-car garage, behind a house) where they were making chassis frames on a huge steel plate. He said they were for Ferrari, but I question that. We also visited Drogo, where I took pix of 0977GT (if I recall), and other places of interest. I asked him to introduce me at the factory, but he declined as he was non grata at that time. It seems that Enzo disapproved of Tom's activities. We always kept in touch, and I bought a few cars from him. 1339GT (a PF coupe) and 1777GT (the most famous Nembo) come to mind. The Nembo was gorgeous in it's original dark blue paint with Pumpkin interior. He was always unconcerned about where he lived, and when he was in Westwood, Ca, his place was no bigger than a walk-in closet, with a bamboo screen for a door. He had suffered a stroke and was partially disabled, so he used to beg me to come to take him out to dinner so we could talk about the old days. I've certainly met some characters in the Ferrari world, but he was one of the best. As I've said about myself, he was at the right place at the right time. Let's hear more tales about Tom, please.
     
  25. Ed Niles

    Ed Niles Formula 3
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    Sep 7, 2004
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    Sorry, I said TIII, but I guess it's TII. Anyway, the chassis I saw was from an etceterini and became the P-like car that Tom built for Harry Windsor.
     

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