An Americano In Italia

Fate is a funny thing. Sometimes you read about someone and never think you will meet them. Well, this is a guy I first heard about in Road & Track classifieds and later on I did run into him. He was one memorable character.

I grew up in Detroit. You were lucky if you saw a Ferrari once a year. Those that were in Detroit were owned by car designers. I read Road & Track magazine diligently, even the classifieds, and in those classifieds there was always a piece about this guy named Tom Meade, over in Italy selling used Ferraris.

Who is this guy?

Well, I found out a few years later when I was working for CAR LIFE or Motor Trend and Tom Meade shows up, a big beefy plain faced guy with a thatch of brown hair who says it was he who, back in the sixties, went to Italy and built wild cars. I asked for his resume and he showed me old articles, yellowed ones, and I asked, “What have you done since?” His vague reply was something about acting… read more >