Photo: eBay
Ah, Italian exotic at its best, what more can you ask for? And it’s not a particular kind of new Ferrari some oil tycoon hired engineers in Maranello to create. Oh, no, this Prancing Horse goes all the way back to 1967, and it thrives on exquisite engineering, passion for coach built automobiles, and classic design.
So here’s a story to remember. Tom Meade was an American designer known for going to Modena to pursue his dreams of coach built automobiles. Evidently, he made it there, considering he managed to get the best in the game and created three extremely exclusive cars. They were named Thomassima, and today only number II and III exist, as the first was destroyed in a flood.
While the last one built is currently on loan at the Ferrari Museum in Modena, the second one was considered lost since 1971. The current owner actually bought it in 1983 and stored it for some time after that. According to the seller, the body and design of the car were built by Piero Drogo, of Drogo Carrozeria Sports Cars, a famous bodybuilder of many famous Ferrari and Alfa Rome race cars.
There’s a Ferrari 250 V12 power plant running this thing, which itself is quite a rare bird. The chassis is from a modified Cooper Climax F1 from 1957. The rare beauty recently got out of a 7-year restoration process that saw the vehicle carefully being brought back to its previous glory.
As a matter of fact, the same company that restored it - Red Car Restorations of Rockwall, Texas - is also selling it on eBay. They claim the vehicle was finished by Tom Meade in 1968 and brought over from Italy. Very soon after arriving, it was shown at the 1968 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
The adjacent pictures allegedly prove the car was built and designed very carefully, with Ferrari and Maserati engineers and mechanics, as Tom Meade had previously worked for the Maserati race car division.
Bottom line, we’re looking at one piece of engineering worth all of Ferrari fans’ attention, but we still don’t see how any collector out there would pay that much for it.
While the last one built is currently on loan at the Ferrari Museum in Modena, the second one was considered lost since 1971. The current owner actually bought it in 1983 and stored it for some time after that. According to the seller, the body and design of the car were built by Piero Drogo, of Drogo Carrozeria Sports Cars, a famous bodybuilder of many famous Ferrari and Alfa Rome race cars.
There’s a Ferrari 250 V12 power plant running this thing, which itself is quite a rare bird. The chassis is from a modified Cooper Climax F1 from 1957. The rare beauty recently got out of a 7-year restoration process that saw the vehicle carefully being brought back to its previous glory.
As a matter of fact, the same company that restored it - Red Car Restorations of Rockwall, Texas - is also selling it on eBay. They claim the vehicle was finished by Tom Meade in 1968 and brought over from Italy. Very soon after arriving, it was shown at the 1968 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
The adjacent pictures allegedly prove the car was built and designed very carefully, with Ferrari and Maserati engineers and mechanics, as Tom Meade had previously worked for the Maserati race car division.
Bottom line, we’re looking at one piece of engineering worth all of Ferrari fans’ attention, but we still don’t see how any collector out there would pay that much for it.
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