Jack Romans asked about the purpose of the Masi Gran Criterium.
Buried deep in the archives you will find Brian Baylis giving a crit of the GC. Essentially not enough of what it was named to be. This assessment was held back in the 70's too. If one got past the name, in the middle to larger sizes it was a balanced all around bike. I had a different Criterium weapon with a very short wheelbase and very high bottom bracket, but the Masi was the all day bike.
In comparison to its predecessor, the GC was more upright and had a very modestly higher BB, with a slightly shorter rear triangle. I guess that was Criterium to Faliero. Remember the GC was not really rolling until later 1970, Masi was still building Specials in 1969 and even 1970, there is some overlap.
At the shop I worked at, we felt the name was wrong, but the bike was good, and presented a complete package of aesthetics, function and value, it looked like it was worth the price. Masi was not the only top tier brand, but in 1974-75 some of the Colnagos and even Cinellis did not look the price, nothing about function, just back then the appearance of quality was important too.
John Jorgensen
Torrance CA USA