If Ferraris Were Built In California, This Is What They’d Look Like

Photos from Ebay

Thomassima III resides in the Ferrari Museum, which is an incredible honor, given that the three Thomassimas built in total were the product of a Californian, Tom Meade, who was unaffiliated with Ferrari.

He simply wanted to drive Italian race cars on the street, so built his own cars using many parts from the great Italian marques.

The complete story of Meade is fascinating, but I’ll jump right to this car, the 1967 Thomassima II. Until this year, it hadn’t been seen in public since the early ’70s, but a careful stewardship since 1984 and a recent, extensive restoration made it the featured car at this year’s Concourso Italiano. Underneath its sensuous bodywork is a Cooper Climax F1 chassis mated to a Ferrari V12, a combination originally built for Mr. Harry Windsor, a client in California.

Meade was well-known at both Ferrari and Maserati factories, and was able to develop a strong working relationship, mainly around castaway parts and chassis the automakers no longer needed. There’s rightfully a devoted number of followers for Meade’s creations, and perhaps that’s why this car sold so quickly on eBay.

Originally listed with a “Buy It Now” of some $9 million U.S., the car has apparently been sold on, hopefully to a steward who is determined to preserve this unique ’60s supercar for future generations.

H/T to roadandtrack.com and autoweek.com