Janis,
Congratulations! I know you will giver her a good home. I'm salmon color with envy.
Peter and I talked at length about the intimate details of the twin plate crown on the phone this afternoon. This frame is probably one of the very first built with a twin plate crown, as it is perported to be date stamped "10 71". Thing is that it does not have the decal set of the first two years of the GC which would be 1970 and 1971. It does have the decal (used only one year 1972) which has a very thin line for the rectangular border and a set of fine lines that seperate the down tube decal into 4 quarters. I've never seen a "first generation" GC with a twin plate crown. So far we have twin plate crowns with dates stamped from 10 71 to 6 73 (which is the one Chuck has). BTW, the date stamp pertains to the date the fork was built since the stamped numbers have been cromed over. My guess is that from where it was built, it was sent to the plater. The forks were built in "batches" and I suspect all forks were built in the same place (I think the Vigorelli shop) and were mated with frames as they came from the sub-contractors. Then the frames had to be taken to the painter. This is not fact, and I would like to know the poop on this issue. One thing that flys in the face of this is that the Verona frames that I've seen that I know were built by Mario also have forks that at least have Mario traits; but I think were even built by Mario. Sometimes Mario had a way with the drill on the forks, eh chuck? Bottom line is that the date on the fork is not the date the frame was completed or sold, it's the date the fork was built.
The more of these original bikes we collectively get our grubby little paws on the more we can learn, and the more precisely we can date things. Now my question is, why do you keep finding these huge bikes? Think in terms of a frame that would fit INSIDE the main triangle of one of those puppys. Something managable like 50 to 52 cm. Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to ride a bike that is 65cm?
Brian(get me more Masis; I'm loosing ground to these guys) Baylis La Mesa, CA People ask, "how many Masis can you ride at one time?" My answer is "Oh, maybe five or six." I'd be perfectly happy with five.
>
> A N N O U N C E ME N T.......
>
> Jan and Peter Johnson announce the arrival of their newest baby!
> And it's one BIG baby!
>
> **** It's a MASI Gran Criterium ****
>
> Here are her 'vitals':
> 63 cm c-to-c
> Salmon red color
> All requisite Italian components
> The new bundle of love joins three siblings in the Johnson-Masi Dynasty.
> Big sister "Parigi Roubaix" road bike, born in 1962
> Big brother "Special" track bike, born in 1969
> Other brother "Gran Criterium" road bike, born in 1970
> Peter was devastated to learn however that the 'Father' of their new baby was none other than
> Faliero himself. It seems that Jan had one brief lapse of judgement back in 1972, and voila'...
> the precious angel was conceived!
>
> The little darling was delivered via Honda CRX on Friday, October 26th at 6:35pm PST
>
> Thanks to Greg Davis for selling the 'baby' to us and extra special thanks to
> Sterling
> for announcing to the CR list that the 'baby' was for sale!!!
>
> Jan and Peter Johnson
> and the four Masi kids
> Portola Valley, CA