snipped:
>"When you had your Masi bikes redone, were you tempted
>to not do a clear coat over the decals, and have some over
>spray, or orange peel, basically, reproduce the finish like
>the originals? (seriously..) Personally, I think it's the real
>beater bikes are perfect candidates for a full redo..."

grant-issimo, my goals for the restorations are mentioned here:
http://www.richardsachs.com/articles/rsachsperiod.html
and pics live here:
http://tinyurl.com/2sdvo
i often take some heat from folks with an academic bent that
my restoration was "not" a restoration in the literal sense for
reasons that include not using 35 year old italian paint, or for
creating the reproduction decals from scratch rather than using
old varnish ones (which don't exist...), or for using one washer
in the headset rather than two. blah, blah. yes - jb did an xlnt job
on the paint. there is some clear on the decals but they're not
buried like on his modern paintjobs. i was insistant that the decals
were in line rather than try to affect an exact duplicate of what
was on them; the originals were hap-hazardly placed. the refinish
is austere but it is not exact. it pleases me nonetheless. i invested
4 years in the first restoration and 2 in the second. the project began
in the early 90s - long before i had a computer or knew about the cr
list and ebay, etcetera. i did it as a folly; these bicycles inspired me
when i was coming up. i'm glad i did these 2 bicycles when i did - i
do not think i could undertake projects like this now.
e-RICHIE