Thomassima II of Tom Meade

A classic case of ouch news!

 

Ah yes...one (PPP) is alive and well the other Parravano was as far as is known terminated by contract killing decades ago...

 

Look at the Drogo thread. One photo there of Toms car.

 

saw this Friday evening in Geneva in a shop window, had a big headache after a looong day so it took me a while to realize what I was seeing!
These are cell phone photos very low res sorry.

The models looked very good! Not best in the world if your life is about models only but a very good quality to ratio I felt, though I am no great specialist.

I subsequently found them on ebay too:

http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=400027581576&ssPageName=MERCOSI_VI_ROSI_PR4_PCN_BIX_Stores&refitem=270324373805&itemcount=4&refwidgetloc=closed_view_item&refwidgettype=osi_widget&_trksid=p284.m185&_trkparms=algo%3DSI%26its%3DI%252BIA%26itu%3DCR%252BIA%252BUCI%26otn%3D4%26ps%3D41

best regards,

Marc
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Better pictures of the model. I posted this in the New Model Thread around a month ago. Its not a bad model, but it is simple.

Tom Tanner/Scale Designs/Ferrari Expo 2009 model contest-Chicago April 25th 2009
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Thanks Tom!

It is good enough for me at a fair price.

 

Recently, through friends and contacts, I was able to track down the footage shot by CBS for the segment that 60 Minutes aired on Tom and the (then) brand new Thomassima lll. Last night at my weekly 'salon' at a cafe in Westwood Village, Tom and I, along with several friends, watched the footage, which Tom saw for the first time since it was shot in Modena 38 years ago. It was spectacular including commentary, an interview with Tom and footage of him driving the Thomassima on the Modena test track. Most amusing were clips of the car parked on a street in Modena where the curious Modenesi were trying to figure out what to make of the T3.

 

So when are you going to upload it to YouTube, Stephen ?

 

Would that it were my call to make. I'm not certain what licensing restrictions accompany the footage.

 

Stephen: fantastic!!!

When researching my big article on Tom in 1996 after the 5 hour audio interview I did of him in Santa Monica I tried to contact CBS and get to the bottom of their archives but it was very frustrating: typical big corporation I could not get anywhere and wonderd if this was still extant so this is really wonderful news.

I assume you have the contact info for those in control of the rights? I would be willing to pursue this. Just a thought but a deeply felt one.

best regards,

Marc

 

I will email that info to you momentarily.

 

Got it, thanks much!

Will pursue this and keep you informed.

best regards,

Marc

 

Goddag Magnus!

Yes the car shown in post 40 of the Drogo thread is the very first entire special body that Tom did (as opposed to detail changes): very interesting, although the raised ground clearance at the back is not a good idea visually. If you ignore the latter point I like the back end body treatment a lot. Tom explained in the interview and in later conversations that this car was destroyed in the great flood of Florence.

best regards,

Marc

 

A bit of trivia regarding the 60 Minutes footage: As the commentator stands in front of the Thomassima lll (in Tom's Modena workshop) introducing the segment, Tom can be seen in the background doing something to the interior of the "Anti-Cobra"--another of his creations, which for some reason did not bear the name Thomassima.

 

Stephen.
Is this the car you are referring to (as the 'Anti-Cobra') ? There are 4 shots of it mixed in with the Thomassima III

See gallery of photos from Philippe Olczyk's webpage: http://www.classicscars.com/meade/

 

You are correct--that is the "Anti-Cobra."

 

Museo Biscaretti Di Ruffia, Torino.
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Tom has a photograph of his mother and his dog Pig, a Belgian Shepherd. A normal sort of photo seen in family albums the world over. This one is interesting because, in the background, the voluptuous thrusting curve of the Thomassima III's front fender can be seen. Absolutely sublime.

 

Wich year is this photo from? I was at the museum in 1979.

 

I think it's just after the car was completed.

 

Greetings Mr director

My French version of the story on Tom had a photo of Pig, Tom and T3 as the opening shot of the article.

Dick Merritt once told me he had to ride in the back of Tom's Fiat cinquecento with Pig and he felt a bit crowded!

Speaking of which why don't you do one of your famous video interviews with Tom....replaying his arrival in Modena and then how he would go about conceiving a car today...juste un thought!

best regards,

Marc

 

Good idea, Marc!

 

Huh err: that is pretty wild!

Regards to you and Tom,

Marc

 

I was looking thorough some old black and white photographs and turned this one over of a Maser Vignale spider .. it was stamped Tom Meade Modena Italia..

 

I'll tell him this evening when I see him.