[Boxer]

Any chance of getting Tom to join FLife?

[champagne612]

Originally Posted by Boxer

Any chance of getting Tom to join FLife?

Would be a great addition - amazing stuff!

[viscount aero]

Originally Posted by Boxer

Any chance of getting Tom to join FLife?

Slim to no chance of that. But never say never.

I actually showed him how to join F-chat and how to post, making it very clear etc.... long time ago but he never did any of it.

[viscount aero]

I met with Tom today for about 7 hours and took copious notes. An article(s) shall follow within the week. I must sort it all out and have him check it. It was great to meet up with him again and rekindle things. It was a great day good vibes. I saw many pieces of the car and they're quite exceptional. Each piece is in some form a hand-made work of art. Lots of lead crystal is being used to create trim and accessories and light assemblies.

[viscount aero]

I filled about 11 pages of a legal pad including writing small in the margins, so please be patient as we create the articles I feel it shall be well worth it.

[Boxer]

Originally Posted by viscount aero

I filled about 11 pages of a legal pad including writing small in the margins, so please be patient as we create the articles I feel it shall be well worth it.

That I have no doubt.

[viscount aero]

Just to update the community for Saturday, October 8th, 2011:

I met with Tom again today at Elysee Cafe' in Westwood to go over revisions and additions to the draft of the article (which will now be regarded a sort of 20+ page booklet of several installment articles).

We're getting close but yet we're so far

It's a lot to transcribe and sort through properly as the latest briefing is rather extensive. To give you an idea, as we are talking, a couple of sentences become a couple of pages as he recalls more information.

Basically what you can expect (soon enough) includes prior knowledge of his cars and life but much more elaborated upon. And of course there is new stuff concerning the Thomassima IV project. So just hang tight and the articles will eventually begin to flow out.

At this point expect weekly or bi-weekly update articles as opposed to one giant article. Thanks to all following the thread for your patience.

[Boxer]

Originally Posted by viscount aero

At this point expect weekly or bi-weekly update articles as opposed to one giant article. Thanks to all following the thread for your patience.

Very cool. Looking forward to it.

[viscount aero]

Tom Meade Update
From: Elysee Bakery and Café, Westwood, California.
Artwork and writing by Chad Glass.
October 2, 2011


As the October morning sun permeates the Sepulveda Pass, heading south out of the valley, I find the Sunset exit and the old drive comes back: I’m going to UCLA in Westwood to visit Tom Meade. It’s long overdue as I ponder the months, as they came and went. Sparked by my recent viewing of a resurfaced “60 Minutes” segment on Tom Meade in Modena, Italy, in 1970, I am finally making time to meet him today, to resume where we had left off.

Thinking back, I believe the last entry I made about Tom Meade was on 12-29-2009. So for almost two years I have not been in touch with the man. Has it really been that long? Surely I must have spoken with him after the last entry but made no further writings. The thought of two years seems hard to believe, seeming like an eternity in this context. But life has a way of getting in the way, and things just seem to get on by.

Rising early to make the 11 am meeting, I rubber-band a couple of pens together, fetch a yellow legal pad, and a camera. I would take as many pictures as he would allow. I would write as much as he would give until I could not write anymore. Maybe a voice recorder was in order, but I did not prepare one.

Reminiscing over the last time I took this specific drive, I am taken back and begin to take personal inventory: Last time I did this I was in a sports car of my own. But it is now long totaled and sold for parts. I have since moved house, and lots of things in life have changed. But the sun is the same, and the twisting road presents the same enticing curves for a well-tuned suspension. Today I only expect good things. “Tom is still doing the car,” I say to myself. “That hasn’t changed.”

Calling ahead, as I am early to arrive, Tom answers and says he’ll be right there so come on back. Navigating the sloping narrow way around down to the back I find a spot, turn the car off, and get out. He hears me arrive and says to give him a minute.

As I’m standing by the car waiting he signals for me to come forth and I greet him on the porch. It’s good to see him again and we assume the behavior as if no time has elapsed. I’m glad to be there.

Ascending the sloping driveway we drive a short jaunt through some narrow streets and a back alley to Elysee Café, park, and order a coffee and a cappuccino. Seated prominently outside at a corner bistro table we begin our long visit among the wonderful humdrum of the in-town environs. The neighborhood humanity on parade and the bustle of a Saturday in LA frames this slice of life as I take a sip. As I’m getting the pen out to write Tom and I are already chatting:


Car Design

“I don’t want to ruin the mystery of what the new design is so I don’t want you to draw a collage of sketches. Sketches would never capture what it is. I can’t have an exclusively valued car and have people not excited about what it might look like.

“They do it in Detroit and Italy, leaking out artist’s renderings. But nothing can replace the real car. Concept drawings usually make everyone prematurely disappointed in the new car prior to its birth, so I don’t want that.”

I smirk in agreement. I can’t say anything to counter his statement as he continues:

“It’s a very new and updated design but not in a crazy futuristic way. It’s recognizable as being born in the Thomassima cradle. It’s going to be beautifully different and new, an accumulation of 50 years of designing cars. In reality its really thoughtfully honed to exude great beauty. But it’s not going to be a 2020 rocket ship, like the others are doing today which I find unbearably homely.

“I’m not building a car for a 300-pound man or a 3-foot tall woman. The Thomassima was never created for them. It is created for one person, like an Armani suit for an individual. The bigs can’t do that. My weapons against the big automakers are my ingenuity, creativity, and imagination; they’re the only weapons I’ve got.”

Tom indicates (and reiterates from prior discussions) that he is disappointed generally in the direction of the design ethos coming out of Italy:

“I don’t particularly care for any of the new Ferraris, Maseratis, Lamborghinis, or Bugattis; they’re not my cup of tea. I feel that all of the genius and historical designers in Italy are virtually dead an gone.

“The old man Pininfarina is dead. His son is dead (killed in 2008 in Turin in a scooter accident) , and there’s nobody left. Marcello Gandini (who designed the Countach, Diablo, and the Diablo-like Cizeta Marauder V16T –meaning a V16 engine that is transverse mounted) is not active anymore. Even though I liked his Countach, I never really cared for some of Gandini’s other designs in general. And many of his designs were modified by the factories anyway. In this way they were not pure because they were not accepted for what they originally were.

“Vignale, Bertone, Zagato --they mostly do one-off show cars today, and some still create production models. But none are super active anymore, and their sons are not exactly chips off the old block.

“A lot of people will hate hearing this, but my opinion is that the modern cars abuse the names of the originals, such as the so-called ‘supercars.’ Recycling and assigning the original names of the vintage racecars to the new cars does not make them supercars.

“Speaking of which, I invented the ‘supercar,’ which is defined as a race car from the factory modified for street use. The first one was the 1957 Maserati 350S (V12), followed in 1962 by my Thomassima I, then followed in 1966 the Thomassima II, and in 1969 the Thomassima III (all V12s). These are true supercars, race cars for the street; not show cars, not concept cars.

“However, in direct opposition to that idea, the newer, technologically advanced, cars of the present day never earned in blood, sweat, and tears the historic racing prestige of the original race cars. So today people are brainwashed into accepting the ‘cutting edge,’ and the unfixable ‘high tech,’ as desirable things.

“This is strange to me. My philosophy is the fewer of the high-tech components that are incorporated into a car, the fewer things that can go wrong. For example, back in the old days, in Italy, I owned many many used Ferraris. And no matter where I bought them, they always got me back home to Modena. With the old cars, if the car stopped running, the first step would be to check the gas gauges. The second step was to get out of the car, open the hood, and tinker around until you got it started.

“With the new cars (of any make), the first step is to check the gas gauge; the second step is to pick up your cell phone and call a tow truck –don’t even begin to attempt to get it running. There are so many covers, shields, plates, wires, tubing, and other apparatus, that it would take an octopus with highly advanced and proprietary electronic equipment to get into it to try to fix it.”

Sirens wail in the closing distance and a couple of fire trucks and an ambulance clear their way through the loose traffic and we have to pause. I spoon some of the froth off the top of my cappuccino and drink some more. The ambulance pierces the day and I cover my ears. As the noises recede we resume our talk.

“If I didn’t have my cars I’d certainly have died in the hospital. The stay there forced me to adjust my aptitudes. I came out of there feeling better than I was before, more honed and balanced in the details.

“I’m more focused with my crew, asking them to triple and quadruple check everything. I lay awake at nights thinking about this car in every detail. I check the details of the body shape and the mechanicals in my head over and over and over.”

[viscount aero]

Chad Glass | Facebook

[Jimmy Chen Shiba DDS]

Thank you for the update, Chad. Great to hear that Tom is still passionate, live, and kicking. My best. w/ smiles Jimmy

[champagne612]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Chen Shiba DDS

Thank you for the update, Chad. Great to hear that Tom is still passionate, live, and kicking. My best. w/ smiles Jimmy

Agreed and appreciated.

[viscount aero]

updated:
Chad Glass | Facebook

[viscount aero]

updated for February:
Chad Glass: Tom Meade Update: February 2012 -Part 3

[viscount aero]

Chad Glass: Tom Meade Update: March, 2012 -Part 4

[viscount aero]

from:
Chad Glass: Tom Meade Update: April 2012 -Part 5

excerpt:

February in Norway en route to Modena

“I learned electronics in the navy, on North Island, San Diego, my home base. I also went through bootcamp there. As an aircraft electronics engineer, I served for four years on aircraft carriers: two years on the Oriskany, and two years on the Yorktown.

“With my Merchant Marines/Navy I.D., they told me all the freighters leaving from California went to the far East, and that the closest port with passage to Europe was in New Orleans. So I left Newport Beach, California, and hitchhiked, bound for the port at New Orleans with 50 bucks in my pocket. While still in California I was picked up by an Australian, a plumber. Having lived and gone to school in Australia before, he and I hit it off well and became fast friends.

“We both headed straight to New Orleans and got an apartment together in the French Quarter off Bourbon Street, during Mardi Gras. While staying there, there was a break in to our apartment. But it was the police who broke in –breaking down the front door without a warrant, guns drawn. It scared the hell out of us. After scaring us half to death they realized they were looking for someone else.

“After the time in the French Quarter, I found a freighter shipping out of the Port of New Orleans, the SS Nardo, a Norwegian grain freighter. As a mess hall boy, I landed in Stavanger, Norway. And I was sick for the entire 35 days onboard, which was strange. Of the four years I was in the navy I never got seasick. So in order to function I had to make myself throw up before serving food. After a while, of throwing up so often, there was only green bile coming up. Their remedy was a suppository up your butt. But I didn’t do it. It was unappealing to me. But I did feel better in a prone position.

“With the dry heaves, in order to have something to throw up, I had to eat crackers. That was the only way to cope, as the Norwegians do not consider seasickness as an excuse to not perform duties. The way the freighter tossed and rolled, I didn’t know my name anymore. The Norwegians also loved blood pudding, a jello-like serving of fish blood. It stunk and was nauseating. It only helped me to throw up.

“The Norwegians onboard would also be constantly painting the ship with this anti-corrosion silver paint. And it would get everywhere, including the smell. They would go directly from painting to eating. They had paint all over their hands and it wound up on the dishes and silverware. So they would end up eating paint, literally. Already nauseated, I avoided the contaminated dishware as much as possible.

“So immediately upon leaving the shores of America, and with the immediate onset of nausea at sea, I had to adapt to unfamiliar conditions, which is something I have had to do ever since. But the overseas passage seemed endless. As they paid me a seaman’s salary, I earned only very little money at sea. When the Nardo finally arrived at port it was in the dead of winter.

“From Stavanger, I resumed my hitchhiking towards Oslo. All was quiet. I stayed on the highway for hours, and it was completely desolate. A car passed once every four or five hours. The ice must have been at least two feet deep. Eventually, I was picked up by a farmer driving an old rickety pickup truck. Speaking no English, he kindly shared his cheese with me. It was clear later that the people in this region had never seen a foreigner before, as if I was from outer space. As he dropped me off in the middle of nowhere, north of Stavanger, south of Oslo, I was wearing a flimsy California cotton jacket, with a short-sleeved shirt underneath. But I never felt cold. I was so excited to be in Europe."

[viscount aero]

from:
Chad Glass: Tom Meade Update: April 2012 -Part 5

excerpt:
On the Thomassima IV

Tom Meade comments on the pending Thomassima IV project: “The independent rear suspension of the Thomassima IV is of the F1 ‘pushrod’ type, formed of carbon fiber, with a rear transaxle. The gearbox with clutch, ring and pinion, will weigh 280 lbs. And actually the entire front and rear suspension is pressure molded carbon fiber. This will allow for the lightest unsprung weight possible.

“Everybody around me is sworn to secrecy to prevent information leakage. I am employing techniques and publicly unknown materials in working with Cal Tech’s metallurgy department. A large percentage of the materials used in the Thomassima IV are new. The bearings, some of the structural geometry, axles, are made of titanium or ‘300M,’ a material that is as strong as titanium but can be machined thinner and compete with the lightweight characteristics of titanium.

“For example, the YF-22 Raptor fighter plane has landing gear made of 300M. Los Angeles is the perfect location to work on the new car as it is a center for aerospace corporations. For example, certain parts of the car employ the same materials found in the Space Shuttle. For secrecy and intellectual property reasons, I can’t disclose at this time which parts on the car have these experimental materials."

[Boxer]

Thanks for the update. Great to see it continuing to move forward.

[viscount aero]

Note: the last post was misnumbered and was actually Part 6, not part 5. I have 2 updates labeled for "April" so I must have confused myself. This next one is part 7:

from:
Chad Glass: Tom Meade Update: May 2012 -Part 7

“The way I make things is such that I create the idea and then develop engineering drawings created on a CAD/CAM system for rapid prototyping. This obviously saves time and money and minimizes the amount of physical copies that are made with errors. Mistakes are excruciatingly expensive, often being 4 or 5 figure dollar mistakes.

“Some people will ask me ‘why don’t you make more cars per year,’ and they don’t seem to understand how ‘mission impossible’ it is to even build a car in the first place, without a factory. In this kind of project you’re not accessing pre-created parts. One-offs are prototypes. That is what a prototype is.

“To try to keep costs down I do as much as I can myself, by hand. A body designer, a chassis engineer, all require different materials for every part of the car. But doing as much as possible myself also maintains a level of purity. Mass-produced cars are bastardized and lack harmony. But a beautiful design must have symphonic purity. All parts and areas must merge with one another. My cars must exude the sensibility of a super-tuned Stradivarius violin. Look at the old Ferraris, the old Bugattis –they were masterpieces of art and engineering. There were no modern factories in those days; they were just workshops, a lost practice today. As the saying goes ‘too many cooks spoil the broth.”